Policy Officer (Grade E2)

Application Deadline: 1 February 2026

Department: Access, Learning and Outcomes

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Edinburgh - Hybrid

Compensation: E2 Grade £39,579 - £46,611. Civil Service Pension. Flexible Working Hours. Hybrid Working.

Description

To support delivery against SFC's statutory duties and strategic framework in relation to student interests and high-quality learning and teaching. This role will support SFC to better understand the student, learner and apprentice experience.

Virtual interviews will take place week commencing 9 February 2026.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the Senior Policy Officer: Student Interests to implement SFC’s approach to student interests, in particular:
• The delivery of opportunities for students, learners and apprentices to engage with and participate in the work of SFC. This may include the provision of advice and training to staff at all levels of the organisation.
• Identification of current student interest priorities to support focused and meaningful action to reduce or remove barriers to success.
• Work with others to develop and support student interests related external communications activity including contributing to the development and delivery of a range of engagement events and activities to support SFC to develop their understanding of the student experience.
• Contribute to the reporting of the outcomes of student interests' activity, by supporting students, learners and apprentices, recent graduates and practitioners to engage with the activities themselves as well as the outputs.
• Provide advice to senior officers and assist in drafting a range of policy and strategy papers including committee and board papers, particularly enabling consideration of the impact on the student experience.
• Maintain and develop your knowledge of the tertiary system and relevant policy areas and use this information to support the development of SFC’s work to enhance the student experience.
• Provide information, advice, updates and guidance to institutions and stakeholders (both internal and external) as required and represent the SFC on relevant committees and working groups.
• Working in partnership with the Senior Policy Officer and Internal Communications Officer contribute to the student interests internal communications activity in line with SFC’s Internal Communications Strategy.
• Provide project management support for the monitoring and reporting of national programmes and initiatives.
• Contribute flexibly to the work of the wider directorate and other groups in SFC as appropriate and when required. From time to time this may include deputising for your line manager or other colleagues.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential

• Experience of community engagement and/or working in partnership with service users and delivering outcomes that enhanced their experience.
• Effective interpersonal skills, including experience of building/developing and maintaining work relationships with internal and external stakeholders, as well as to working flexibly with colleagues in other parts of the organisation.
• Excellent research, analytical and reporting skills to provide advice and respond to complex issues.
• Proven written communication skills, including the ability to analyse, understand and respond to complex issues in an appropriate manner, demonstrating good judgement and awareness of the audience’s level of understanding.
• Strong organisational and project management abilities to cope with diverse and changing workload in a politicised environment.
• Demonstrable policy development or implementation experience.
• SCQF level 7 or equivalent experience relevant to the role as outlined by this job description.

Desirable

• Experience of working in partnership with students, learners and/or apprentices and delivering outcomes that enhanced their experience.
• Knowledge of the further and/or higher education sector and some awareness of the current Scottish political and government environment.
• Some experience of delivering training or similar activities to a range of audiences.

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, plus 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.
• Support for continuous professional development: as a part of SFC, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for continuous learning and professional development.
• 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 candidate’s 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.