Policy Manager

Job summary

Policy Manager

£64,000 per annum

Bedford

Permanent

Hybrid Working

Ready to make a real difference? Join us at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) as our Policy Manager. This is your chance to play a meaningful role in helping people across the UK build stronger financial futures and to do it as part of a supportive, energetic team.

Why This Role Matters

As Policy Manager, you will help develop the policy, standards, and guidance that support the pensions dashboards service, ensuring legislative requirements are translated into operational requirements for industry and service delivery teams. Working within a collaborative, cross-functional environment, you will provide expert policy advice to service delivery/operations, engage with stakeholders across government and the pensions landscape, monitor the health of the dashboards ecosystem and systemic risks, and develop enforceable standards that support industry compliance, support the management of the dashboards ecosystem, and deliver consistency for service users. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced policy professional who enjoys working at the intersection of legislation, regulation, and delivery.

Job description

What You’ll Be Doing

The Policy Manager will report to the Head of Policy and Standards and will:

• Monitor service and industry performance, identifying performance issues and risks to provide evidence-based policy advice.
• Provide policy leadership in matrix teams to align service delivery and operations with legislative and regulatory frameworks and government policy objectives.
• Support the development and continuous improvement of clear, enforceable standards for pension providers and schemes and pensions dashboard providers, assessing their effectiveness.
• Work closely with regulators and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop shared policy positions.
• Communicate and represent policy positions and standards to external stakeholders including industry parties, government, regulators, and other key stakeholders.
• Analyse the impact of emerging policies, legislation, and regulations on the service and its customers, sharing insights and identifying strategic opportunities and risks.
• Collaborate with service strategy teams to ensure policy/legal alignment; with operations teams to support operational decision-making and escalation; with data and insights to identify risks and compliance issues; and with research and evaluation colleagues to build the evidence base for the service.

Person specification

What You’ll Bring

To be successful in this role, you’ll need:

• Proven experience in leading policy development and translating policy and/or legislation into service delivery requirements or operational practice.
• Strong relationship management skills, able to engage with internal and external stakeholders to influence and build consensus.
• Excellent organisational skills, able to balance competing priorities and manage work flexibly and adaptively, keeping track of timelines, and ensuring high quality outputs.
• Experience of working with data and insights to support understanding of product/service impact, compliance/performance and risks.
• Experience of working in UK pensions policy.

Desirable:

• Understanding of government operations and pensions/financial services regulation.
• Experience in policy development within the public sector.

Benefits

• About Us
  
  

  MaPS is based in bright, modern offices in Bedford, and we’re here to help people across the UK feel more confident and informed about their money.

  Our values guide how we work together:

  • Caring – for colleagues and the communities we support
  • Connecting – building supportive, positive relationships
  • Transforming – creating impact that truly matters

  We’re proud to foster an inclusive, welcoming culture. Our colleague networks include LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, women’s health, men’s health and ethnicity groups — and we welcome applications from all backgrounds.

  What We Offer

  • 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
  • Contributions matched 2 to 1 (employer contribution up to 10% of your salary)
  • Season ticket loan
  • Cycle to work scheme (up to £3,000)
  • Subsidised eye tests & flu jabs
  • Life assurance
  • EAP Assist & Life
  • Enhanced family and sick pay
  • 2 paid volunteering days
  • Recognition scheme
  • Retail discounts portal

  Flexible Working

  We believe work should fit around life. This Bedford‑based role offers genuine flexibility so you can balance work, family, and personal commitments. We come together for purposeful team collaboration to stay connected and drive great results.

  Career Development
  We love supporting internal growth and progression, while continuing to follow fair and open Civil Service recruitment practices.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Important Information About Applying

• Please apply only via official MaPS links - we can’t accept applications via email or unauthorised sites.
• MaPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship.

Reserve List: If you're successful at interview, we may place you on a reserve list for up to 6 months. If a similar role becomes available, you may be offered it without the need for another assessment.

If you believe your application hasn’t followed the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles, you can contact resourcing@maps.org.uk. If unresolved, you may then contact the Civil Service Commission.

Our Recruitment Process

We keep things simple, fair, and transparent:

Step 1: CV Submission

Applications open: 09th October 2026 I Closing date: 25th October 2026

• Please submit your most up-to-date CV, highlighting your skills and experience that align with the job specifications.
• Along with a cover letter no more than 500 words, highlighting how you meet the criteria of the job specification.

Step 2: Telephone Interview

Taking place between: 13th October 2026 – 27th October 2026

• Candidates who meet the initial criteria will be invited to a friendly and informal telephone interview with the Reed team. This is an opportunity to discuss your experience in more detail and learn more about the role.

Step 3: Final Stage Interview

Scheduled for: 12th November 2026 – 13th November 2026
(Dates subject to change)

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a final interview via Teams.

Interviews will last 1 hour and will be conducted by a panel of three.

The interview will include competency‑based questions to assess your skills, behaviours, and alignment with the role.

We follow fair, open, and merit‑based recruitment in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

Job Reference: MaPS01330

Close Date: 25/10/2026

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Nicholas Heron
• Email : Nicholas.Heron@reed.com

Recruitment team

• Email : Nicholas.Heron@reed.com