Assistant Director, Public Affairs (Grade M1) (Maternity Cover) in Edinburgh

Description

To lead the SFC’s Public Affairs function, providing effective and strategic government and parliamentary relations in a way which enhances SFC’s reputation as a responsive and expert advisor; to develop central oversight of the organisation’s engagement with government and parliament; and to advise senior colleagues through expert advice.

Virtual interviews will take place week commencing 19 January 2026.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver high quality, bespoke briefings for senior colleagues, including briefings for parliamentary committees.
• Provide well-evidenced advice across all areas of stakeholder engagement, with a particular focus on government and parliamentary relations.
• Lead the government and parliamentary relations function. ensuring that government and parliamentary key engagements are reflected in the organisation’s operational plans; and establishing and maintaining good working relationships with government and parliamentary stakeholders.
• Oversee an effective and responsive parliamentary monitoring process (e.g. tracking Parliamentary Questions, committees, debates etc.) to identify where interest lies in SFC-related issues and ensure appropriate follow-up.
• Ensure SFC makes appropriate input into parliamentary inquiries and co-ordinate written and oral evidence ensuring that those giving evidence are appropriately briefed.
• Take a leading role, with support from External Affairs and Policy colleagues, in the development and delivery of SFC advice and messages for government and parliamentary audiences.
• Deputise for the Head of External Affairs (Deputy Director) as required.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

It is important through your CV / Cover Letter that you give evidence of proven experience of each of the following essential criteria:
Essential

• Experience of stakeholder engagement and influencing within a complex political environment, particularly with parliament, representative bodies, national government and agencies.
• Experience of the development and delivery of advice and key messages for internal and external stakeholders.
• A demonstrable understanding of the current Scottish and UK political and government operating environment.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to analyse, understand and respond to complex issues in an appropriate manner, demonstrating good judgement in a politicised environment.
• Effective organisation and project management skills to respond to a diverse and changing workload.
• Highly developed people and leadership skills: including influencing, negotiating and relationship management, and a proven track record of leading and managing people effectively.
• Educated to degree level (SCQF Level 9) or equivalent.

Desirable

• Experience of non-departmental public bodies, further education, higher education, research and/or innovation.
• Experience of managing an operational function efficiently and effectively.

Terms and Benefits

· Normal full-time hours of work are 35 per week. We will consider flexible working arrangements. A flexi-time system is in operation.

· Annual leave entitlement of 30 days pro-rata. Public and privilege holiday entitlement of 13 days pro-rata.

· A flexible approach to hybrid working, giving you flexibility to work from home anywhere in the UK for some of the time while also maintaining regular in-person contact with colleagues.

· Annual pay review: approved within the framework of the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy and negotiated with our recognised trade union, Unite. Salaries are reviewed annually in April for employees who commence employment prior to 1 October in the preceding year.

· Eligibility to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme . With its low member contribution rates and generous employer contributions, this gives you a secure, inflation-proof pension for life with no investment uncertainty. Details of contribution rates together with further details of the pension benefits are available on the Civil Service Pensions website. There is also the option of a Partnership pension account.

· Support for continuous professional development: as a part of SFC, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for continuous learning and professional development. Civil Service-Learning curriculum has thoughtfully designed to cater to various learning preferences, allowing employees to engage in a manner that best suits their needs. All our educational resources are conveniently accessible through the CSL website.

· Support for health and wellbeing, including generous occupational sick pay, free access to confidential advice and support through our 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, Special Leave (paid and unpaid), a contribution to learning outside work through our Lifelong Learning Fund, free winter flu vaccination, and access to occupational health support.

· We provide support to SFC employees with Volunteering Days.

· Support for travel to and from work, including a salary sacrifice cycle loan scheme, cycle storage and shower facilities, an interest-free loan for bus or rail season tickets and free office car parking for employees on a first-come basis.
Although most salaried roles are advertised as full time positions (35 hours a week), we are happy to discuss part-time or compressed hours to suit a candidates circumstances. We also operate a flexible working scheme to work around a candidate\’s other commitments such as caring responsibilities.
We will consider secondment applications for most salaried fixed-term or temporary positions and in many cases also for salaried permanent positions. If you are interested in applying on a secondment basis and this option is not explicitly mentioned in the job advert, please contact for further information.

We are the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, more commonly known as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
We are Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority and our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better, and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.

We do this by investing around £2 billion of public money to deliver:

• Tertiary learning and teaching.
• Skills and apprenticeships.
• Student support and participation.
• Research, innovation and knowledge exchange.
• Data collection and dissemination.
• National quality assurance and enhancement processes.
• Capital and digital infrastructure for the sector.
• Strategic change, responsive provision and research priorities.

As a non-departmental public body established by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005, we are directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament. We work across many government portfolios and are sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Directorate.

We hold colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. We are also the statistical authority for colleges, and work closely with the UK-wide Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA), to provide data and statistics for government, decision-makers, and the wider public.

We work in partnership with a wide range of partners and bodies, including those we fund, across all aspects of our remit.
General information for applicants for SFC roles
You must already be eligible to work in the UK to apply for these roles. SFC do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skills Worker License and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.
We are pleased to support applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, as well as those who have skills in Scottish Gaelic or British Sign Language, who have the right skills for the job.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and actively encourage interviews through the scheme.

Further information about SFC is available on our website Scottish Funding Council home page (sfc.ac.uk) . Additional information about our recruitment process can be found at Recruitment FAQs | Scottish Funding Council Careers (sfc.ac.uk) .