Policy Manager

·        Reporting to: The post-holder will report to the Director of Public Affairs and Policy.

·        Contract: Full time, permanent (Monday-Friday, 09:00-17:30)

·        Salary: £49,848-£53,958 per year

·        Location: Homebased, with travel to CST events and meetings as applicable

Key responsibilities

Working closely with colleagues in the Public Affairs and Policy team, and across CST and CST Professional Development, the Policy Manager will be a fast-paced and varied role. As a new role in a growing team, the successful candidate will likely take on line-management responsibility in the near future.

The successful candidate will play a critical part in representing the views of CST members to government and other stakeholders. They will need a keen eye for detail as well as strong political savvy to see the bigger picture.

This role will be output focused, delivering high-quality written material for a range of uses. Key responsibilities will include:

1)     Representing CST and CST members in a senior policy capacity, attending meetings with government officials and others.

2)     Policy monitoring, implementing processes and ensuring relevant colleagues are up to date with the latest policy and political developments, and recommending interventions as appropriate.

3)     Drafting responses to consultations and calls for evidence, ensuring CST remains a key player in policy debate.

4)     Creating briefings on policy issues for internal stakeholders, as well as developing and managing circulation of CST updates for external stakeholders including MPs, Peers, sector figures, and journalists.

5)     Utilising public datasets and government announcements to identify opportunities for policy development.

6)     Overseeing member queries, creating a triage process to ensure accurate and timely responses.

7)     Support the wider work of CST as appropriate, including developing CST’s elected Policy Advisory Group, attending CST’s Professional Development events, and providing input for CST’s Professional Communities.  

8)     Working closely with the Head of Communications and others to ensure publications, media releases and other content are reflective of CST views and identifies opportunity for promoting CST’s positions.

9)     Working with colleagues, develop systems to promote and enhance CST’s policy voice through a range of channels. 

10)  Any other duties that may be delegated by the Director of Public Affairs and Policy or CST’s Leadership Group.

Person specification

As part of a small and growing team, the successful candidate will need to be enthusiastic and adaptable, switching between core delivery (e.g., drafting consultation responses) and proactive planning (e.g., identifying opportunities to promote CST’s policy voice).

Previous experience working in education or public policy is desirable. The education policy space is complex and nuanced; we do not expect the successful candidate to be an expert across all domains, however they should be able to evidence a passion for education alongside their ability to quickly understand, digest, and distil policy development. This will be tested at interview.

The post-holder will be:

·        Passionate about education and outcomes for children.

·        Adaptable, switching between complex policy areas and distilling information for CST members and others.

·        People-centred, adept at forming and maintaining positive relationships with colleagues, CST members, and external stakeholders.

·        Politically astute with a deep interest in politics, public policy, data and research.

·        Highly organised with the ability to prioritise and work flexibly to tight deadlines. 

·        Embody the Nolan Principles, and act with integrity and discretion.

·        Committed to ongoing development of themselves and their colleagues.