Leave Cover-Temporary Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor-UK or NL

Location: UK, NL

Position Status: Full-time, Fixed-term

Duration: 9-12 months

Start: late October 2026

Salary: starting salary for UK: £53,360 and for NL is 63,040 - commensurate on professional experience

Risk Level: Level 3, Level 2, Level 1

• Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.
• Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned, non-direct contact with children.
• Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global humanitarian and development organization working with communities on the frontlines of conflict and climate change. We partner locally and globally to help people cope in the midst of crisis, adapt to a changing world, and thrive into the future. In 2025, we reached more than 36 million people with urgent aid and long-term solutions. We know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Department

The Global Policy and Advocacy (GPA) Team seeks change in the policies and practices of key global institutions and policy makers in support of Mercy Corps’ mission to build secure, productive and just communities.

The Position

The Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor is part of the Mercy Corps Europe Headquarters, located in the United Kingdom. They will work as part of the Policy and Advocacy Team, based in London but connecting extensively with colleagues in Washington DC, Edinburgh, Brussels, and multiple country offices.

Essential Responsibilities

• INFLUENCING, ADVOCACY AND EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION: A fundamental part of the role is to represent Mercy Corps with policymakers and influence key policies relating to humanitarian crises, including:
• Tracking key policy processes and identifying and building relationships with decision-makers and those with influence over them - with a particular focus on UK government and EU Institutions.
• Meeting bilaterally with key policymakers, parliamentarians and influencers to provide expert briefings on our key issues and deliver advocacy messages.
• Identifying and attending priority contact groups and forums to deliver policy change.
• Developing and updating talking points and briefings on key humanitarian crises.
• Representing Mercy Corps as a spokesperson when appropriate and supporting other colleagues in representing the organisation.
• Working closely with country offices and colleagues in other departments to influence European policymakers on issues and funding affecting priority contexts and our country programmes.

• STRATEGIC PLANNING AND DELIVERY: The Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor will work with the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy in Europe, and other relevant technical colleagues to develop long-term strategies for influencing key policy areas. This will include:
• Identifying and developing opportunities for Mercy Corps to effect long-term influence and thought leadership on humanitarian crises.
• Leading or supporting strategic engagement at priority events (e.g. SOMs, European Humanitarian Forum, key Humanitarian Conferences etc), as well as producing or promoting research and analysis to deliver long-term influence and position Mercy Corps as expert and thought-leaders on priority humanitarian issues.
• Working with media, fundraising, IDE, Emergency Response and programmes colleagues to maximise the impact of policy and advocacy work.
• Producing or commissioning reports, briefs and other materials, and hosting events to disseminate our research, analysis and recommendations to a wide and influential target audience, including through the media.

• EXPERTISE: The Senior Advisor will be an expert in understanding and shaping policy processes and decisions in the European context, particularly as they relate to Humanitarian issues. More broadly, they will play a role as an internal and external expert on humanitarian issues – in order to shape policy messages and strategies and produce briefs, articles and other materials for both private advocacy and media work.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy

Works Directly With: Global Policy and Advocacy Team

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Minimum five years of policy or advocacy experience, including high level influencing and representation on technical issues, and experience of developing and delivering advocacy strategy is essential; experience in the European context - particularly in the UK and Brussels is highly desirable.
• Understanding of technical and policy issues around responding to humanitarian crises, conflict or displacement is essential;
• Knowledge of, or experience living in, the Middle East or Africa is highly desirable;
• Knowledge related to any of the following is highly desirable: humanitarian crises, cash-based responses, resilience, Sudan/Gaza/DRC, UK or European aid policy.
• Educated to degree level, or equivalent experience.

Success Factors

The successful Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor should be an excellent communicator and networker, able to build strong contacts and relationships. They must have a commitment to the sector and specific issues, and the work of Mercy Corps in this space, and the ability to understand and assimilate complex technical and policy issues and communicate them effectively to a wide range of audiences. They should be a self-starter with the ability to manage and deliver complex projects involving multiple partners to deadline, and to work independently to drive forward our messages. The Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor should also have demonstrable research skills, be a strong team worker and be able to cope with changing priorities, often at short notice, and work well under pressure. This will require a proactive and solutions-based attitude, high levels of motivation, professionalism and resilience.

Living Conditions

The position is based in UK, or NL, or Belgium.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).