Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Senior Policy Adviser (Underwater Cultural Heritage).

Historic England’s (HE) marine and coastal activities encompass heritage in the sea, affected by the sea, or related to the sea.  Our advice informs and is informed by a dynamic array of policy areas across government, including UK-wide and international dimensions.  This post supports HE’s Corporate Plan with respect to our advice to government departments and public bodies on the development, effectiveness and impact of policy relating to Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH).

HE's activities relating to UCH encompass teams working in several specific areas: designation, licensing, marine planning, heritage information and materials conservation.  This temporary post is intended to progress the development of policy in areas of focus that extend beyond these operational ones, to clarify their scope, collate evidence and frame potential solutions.

Areas of work may include, for example, approaches to managing UCH subject to degradation from natural processes, reporting mechanisms for discoveries made by the public, increasing the visibility of public value arising from UCH, integrating UCH with nature recovery, marine protection and fisheries management, and improving protocols for seabed mapping of UCH.

In this role, you may be called upon to spend a proportion of your time working on other areas of policy development in response to changing priorities.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth and Cambridge. 

Salary

National: £36,603 - £36,800 pro-rata

Cambridge: £39,408 - £42,380 pro-rata

What you will be doing

Develop evidence and insight

Collect and assimilate evidence on policy issues relating to UCH.

Prepare briefing notes and case studies, to include outlining options for further action.

Support colleagues in meetings with key government departments and public bodies by drafting background papers and contributing technical expertise.

Inform legislation, policy and guidance

Anticipate, consider and prepare responses to proposals and consultations, ensuring that proper account is taken of UCH.

Maintain and develop strategic relationships with government departments, public bodies, and other organisations concerned with UCH.

Represent HE at a range of forums concerned with UCH.

Engage and update HE colleagues and the Heritage sector

Work with colleagues across the Policy Development Team to ensure, through horizon scanning and more detailed reviews, that HE understands the latest trends and implications of policy and other changes.

Draft HE advice and position statements relating to UCH to inform colleagues across HE and in the wider sector.

Work flexibly to cover wider strategic issues in response to changing national and organisational priorities, as determined in discussion with senior colleagues.

Who we are looking for

• Robust technical knowledge of current law, policy, guidance and challenges relating to UCH in the UK.

• Well-developed knowledge of UK governance relating to UCH and clear understanding of the wider historic environment sector.

• Significant experience of applying law, policy, and guidance to managing UCH.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills for a wide range of audiences, including writing in both technical and non-technical styles.

• Strong analytical skills and the ability to develop evidence-based policy recommendations.

• Ability to work with a wide range of external partners and stakeholders with both authority and sensitivity.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Interview dates: 16th July 2024 - Virtually

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/3lyhqwvx/senior-policy-adviser-underwater-cultural-heritage.odt