Senior Policy Advisor

Job summary

We are MHCLG

Do you enjoy building solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders? Are you able to confidently back your own ideas and opinions with the ability to explain your thought process in a clear and effective way?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a SEO Senior Policy Advisor to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

We are seeking motivated individuals, who can quickly get up to speed with a range of complex policy issues and communicate with clarity. In response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, the department established the Building Safety Programme to ensure that buildings are safe, and people feel safe, now and in the future. This is a high-impact, outward-facing SEO policy role in a policy area with significant Ministerial, media and public interest.

The postholder will help develop policy and translate policy intent into operational delivery, working proactively across internal and external stakeholders such as the Building Safety Regulator and DESNZ. You will be joining an evolving team designing and piloting new methodologies and approaches to managing risk with a real impact on our buildings. The postholder must remain flexible and prepared to support other priority areas as required by the department.

Job description

As the SEO Senior Policy Advisor your responsibilities will include:

• Taking the lead on developing policy positions, writing policy instructions, reviewing draft legislation and regulations to ensure they deliver the Government’s policy intent.
• Building the department’s understanding of existing data and identifying the knowledge base to support policy making.
• Developing relationships with regulators and others, feeding back issues and learning from case management to improve departmental policy and operational guidance.
• Delivering at pace, responding to issues which arise and managing a range of stakeholder engagement.
• Supporting the development of delivery models and processes that help ensure our policy ambitions are translated into practice, and deliver our intentions, on the ground.
• Contributing to the continuous evaluation of policy implementation, feeding in lessons learned to help shape future policy development.
• Setting up processes to manage and record delivery milestones
• Task management of an HEO, including setting goals, reviewing their work and working with the Line Manager to develop the HEO.

Person specification

Essential Skills

• Ability to see the big picture in a complex and fast-moving policy area
• Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written
• Strong analytical skills, with an ability to use evidence from a range of sources and make strategic decisions
• Ability to deliver at pace – comfortable working collaboratively in a fast-paced policy environment with a high degree of uncertainty
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively, manage competing demands and deliver high-quality work to deadlines
• Ability to build effective working relationships across internal and external stakeholders
• A proactive and flexible approach to problem-solving and change

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,890, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,135 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Experience , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

• Experience (Lead sift): Can you provide a specific example from your recent work experience where you used multiple sources of information to make an effective decision, explaining how you assessed the evidence, what decision you made, and the outcome achieved?

• Behaviour: Seeing The Big Picture

• Behaviour: Delivering at Pace

• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing

There is a 250-word limit per question.

When writing your application, remember:

• the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially

• do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers

• if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place 23/03/2026.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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 : Rebecca Baumgartner
• Email : rebecca.baumgartner@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

1a. MHCLG Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 834kB)1b. Candidate Guidance Opens in new window (pdf, 355kB)1c. Success Profiles Candidate information Opens in new window (pdf, 936kB)Darlington Economic Campus Career Pathways Opens in new window (pdf, 452kB)