Policy Manager in Harlow

Salary: £50,000 to £55,000 per annum, dependent on experience.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Reports to: Head of Policy

Direct reports: None initially, although there may be scope for line management responsibilities in future as the function develops.

Location: The role will be split between the Motability Foundation’s London Victoria office and Motability’s offices in Harlow, Essex. Harlow is easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site.

Extra Information: We offer flexible and blended working. The role will require a minimum of two days a week in the office and at key external stakeholder meetings.

About the role:

The Motability Foundation is recruiting two Policy Managers to join its newly established policy team, which sits within the Communications department. These roles will lead discrete policy areas, develop robust policy positions, and support the Motability Foundation in improving transport accessibility for disabled people.

The successful applicants will work closely with the Government Relations and Public Affairs team, as well as colleagues within the Motability Foundation and at Motability Operations, to advance our policy priorities, support the integrated communications strategy, and help raise the profile of issues affecting disabled people in their everyday lives. You will also engage regularly with policymakers and external organisations.

These roles will suit experienced, proactive and collaborative policy professionals who want to strengthen their advocacy experience and help make transport more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.

What you will be doing:

• As a Policy Manager, you will lead policy work across agreed priority areas. This will include:
• Developing robust policy positions, from defining the problem and intended outcomes, to assessing evidence and options, testing discoverability, and making clear recommendations – working closely with colleagues within the Motability Foundation and at Motability Operations, and external stakeholders.
• Drafting high-quality policy outputs, including policy briefings, consultation responses, calls for evidence, and external correspondence.
• Collaborating closely with Communications teams colleagues to promote policy positions to government, public and professional audiences, including contributing to campaign development.
• Tracking political, legislative and policy developments, horizon-scanning for risks and opportunities and adapting policy positions and plans as needed.
• Building trusted external relationships with policymakers, industry stakeholders and others who shape or influence policy – namely, disabled people and Disabled People’s Organisations. You must be comfortable with effectively communicating complex policy positions to a wide range of stakeholders.
• Working collaboratively across the organisation to ensure policy work is aligned and informed by wider insight.
• Contributing to the development of the policy function, including its priorities, ways of working, and culture of collaboration, openness, and continuous improvement.

Your experience:

We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in one or more of the following areas: disability and welfare, transport, tax and fiscal policy, or growth policy. Where candidates do not have direct experience, they should be able to demonstrate strong policy skills and the ability to apply them quickly to complex issues.

Must haves:

• Strong experience in policy analysis and developing evidence-led and creative policy positions - ideally on high profile and pivotal policy.
• Demonstrable experience of communicating policy to senior officials, Ministers, advisers, Parliamentarians and wider industry stakeholders, both verbally and through high-quality written outputs.
• Strong understanding of UK and devolved policy-making and legislative processes, and strong political acumen and awareness of UK and devolved governments’ priorities.
• Understanding of, or commitment to developing expertise in, disability, accessibility, and inclusive transport policy.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a larger team and a complex matrix organisation, and build effective internal and external relationships.

Nice to haves:

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline.
• Policy experience in the public, charity or not-for-profit sectors and/or in government (particularly HMT, DWP, No 10, BIST or DfT), Parliament, devolved administrations, or local government.
• Experience helping to establish, improve or professionalise policy processes in an organisation.
• Experience informing organisation-wide campaigns with policy expertise, insights and advice.

Who are we?

We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose. We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Why choose us?

We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries. We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving.

We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff.

We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum.

A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits. Some of these include:

• 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/ sell up to five days.
• One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
• Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life Assurance of four times your salary.
• Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
• Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
• Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
• Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
• Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and a Dress for Your Day dress code.
• Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you.

To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates.

While we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role, we welcome applications from candidates who already hold a valid right to work in the UK. Candidates with an existing visa may be considered, subject to the type and conditions of their visa.