DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC POLICY

Founded 60 years ago and representing some of the biggest names in business, household brands and globally traded corporations that employ people in all sectors and across every region and nation of the UK, the CBI is the voice of business.

The CBI represents 850 members who themselves comprise 1,100 separate registered companies and 150,000 trade association members.

The CBI is committed to ensuring a safe, supportive and inclusive people-centric culture where our people can excel to achieve their full potential and be their best authentic selves in an environment where ethical values and respectful behaviours are at the very heart of who we are in our everyday interactions.

Role Summary

Reporting into the Chief Economist, the Director of Economic Policy will provide overall programme management of the Economic Policy team.

They will lead the CBI’s strategy around fiscal events, economic policy work on tax and oversee the team’s delivery of insightful economic analysis to shape and challenge the current thinking of policymakers and help businesses adapt their strategies to a changing economic landscape.

The individual will oversee our work ahead of fiscal events, responsible for our submissions to HM Treasury drawing on insights from our members and lead the CBI’s relationship with HM Treasury.

Central to the role will be balancing the right economic support to help businesses through any short-term challenges with driving a long-term economic strategy to boost investment and deliver sustainable growth across every UK region and nation.

The individual will need to demonstrate they can think strategically on economic policy issues, drive and support economic analysis for policy evaluation as well as have knowledge of the UK’s business policy landscape.

An understanding of UK tax policy and the public finances would be beneficial, but support can be provided to build expertise in these areas.

A strong communicator, able to build networks and inspire and collaborate across teams is essential.

Excellent people management and presentation skills are vital for this role.

• The role consists of the following activities with estimated proportions:
• Member and stakeholder management (~30%)
• Strategy and oversight of analysis/projects (~30%)

This is a 12-month Fixed-Term Contract. This role sits within payband 2, with a salary ranging from £90,000 to £100,000 PA depending on experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct line management and overall programme management of multidisciplinary team
• Effectively lead a multidisciplinary team by motivating, empowering and investing time in ensuring their professional development, with direct line management for the Tax Policy Manager and Economic Policy Manager.
• Support the delivery of the CBI’s people and culture programme for change by ensuring that the team is an inclusive, collaborative working environment.
• Embedding people management ‘best practice’ both in terms of expectations and behaviours exhibited.
• Support colleagues to manage an agile approach to prioritisation and work allocation.
• Oversee budget and capacity management.
• Inspire and engage colleagues within the team, and across the organisation in the work that you lead.
• Influence economic public policy on behalf of CBI members and business
• Work with members to develop CBI positions on economic policy working with CBI policy teams
• Be a thought leader on the development of economic policy in the UK and enable the use of microeconomic analysis in the development of policy across the CBI
• Ensure economic policy work combines innovative economic modelling, survey techniques and insights from members to set out high quality evidence for policy recommendations
• Liaise closely with the Devolved Nation policy leads to ensure that UK wide policy reflects the view of devolved nations and that the Devolved Nations can draw on additional support as needed, including developing their respective Budget submissions.
• Ensure that CBI policy is informed by a representative cross-section of businesses
• Fiscal events and economic policy leadership
• Lead the CBI’s submission to UK Budgets and Spending Reviews
• Lead on the development of the CBI’s economic policy response to short-term challenges
• Advise CBI Ex Co on short-term economic policy developments, the outlook for the public finances, and adaptations to the policy environment to support longer term growth
• Feed into policy discussions on fiscal devolution in conjunction with the Tax Policy Manager.
• Enable economic policy insights for CBI members and support policy development
• Work closely with Commercial teams on the economic policy insights we provide to members including through our Finance Director’s Network, Tax Committee and Economic Growth Board
• Collaborate with Policy Directors on developing economic policy
• Work closely with the Deputy Chief Economist, economic intelligence and financial services team to ensure priorities are aligned and resources are shared towards common goals
• Communication
• Be a leading internal and external voice on economic policy
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with officials, ministers, and other stakeholders in key government departments, including HM Treasury, BIST, HMRC, IFS and others
• Be a compelling speaker at CBI regional councils, Finance Director Networks and Economic Briefings on the outlook for the economy and the future of economic policy
• Represent the CBI in media on issues relating to economic policy, working closely with the CBI’s press team on the CBI’s public messaging.
• Champion the use of the CBI’s digital channels with the team and ensure content is regularly updated.
• Support member retention, including prioritising quality time with members, championing best practice use of CRM and proactively contributing to retention of at-risk members.
• Knowledge & Experience
• Strong knowledge of the economic outlook and political landscape which influences fiscal and tax policy in the UK and how it sits in an international context.
• Experience of providing analytical thought leadership to tackle policy problems and building the economic evidence base for policy development.
• Experience of managing and delivering high impact influencing, strategic leadership and policy projects involving a wide range of stakeholders.
• A proven track record in leading and managing people, with a strong emphasis on development and supporting their wellbeing at work.
• Demonstrated intellectual interest and curiosity.

Skills

• Ability to develop good working relationships across the CBI and with external partners and stakeholders
• Track record of influencing skills with senior stakeholders, including HMT and HMRC in particular.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a proven ability to explain technical economics to a business audience and senior policymakers and experience presenting on economic topics to different audiences.
• Strong planning and organisational skills, capable of managing multiple projects at the same time.

Comfortable with planning and delivery in an uncertain, rapidly changing environment.

• Strategic thinking and ability to adapt to take into account various considerations.
• Outstanding collaboration and an ability to work with people from other disciplines, including tax, commercial, political and policy.
• Ability to work at pace/under pressure and manage the workload of others.
• A strong customer focus, prioritising and anticipating member needs and cultivating strong working relationships with business leaders.
• Strong leadership and management skills, including ability to manage performance.
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