Senior Adviser Performance & Planning

Basis: Permanent, Full time 36 hours per week

A £312 tax-free working from home allowance is also payable annually.

Location: Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh (Hybrid – min. 2 days in office), or Remote UK

Benefits: Outstanding benefits including Civil Service Pension Scheme, flexible working, 28+ days holiday, and more.

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we continue to deliver our five-year Corporate Plan, the Commission is building on a period of growth and change, expanding our workforce and modernising how we deliver our services to better support the needs of a changing democracy. As our organisation develops and adapts to meet future challenges, this post will play a vital part in supporting that progress and helping ensure we remain responsive to the democratic needs of voters, campaigners, parties and electoral administrators across the UK.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Commission as our Senior Adviser - Planning & Performance, helping to shape how we measure, demonstrate and improve organisational performance. Acting as a trusted adviser to senior leaders, you will support the development of meaningful performance measures, benefits realisation approaches and governance reporting that enables informed decision making across the organisation.

This role combines strategic thinking with operational delivery. You will work closely with Heads of Service, Senior Leadership Team members, project teams and corporate colleagues to ensure the Commission has high-quality performance information, robust performance frameworks and effective reporting arrangements in place.

The role has significant visibility across the organisation and offers the opportunity to influence senior decision making, shape organisational improvement and support delivery of the Commission's strategic objectives.

Key responsibilities include:

• Embedding the Commission's performance management and benefits realisation frameworks.
• Supporting senior leaders to identify, develop and monitor KPIs and benefits profiles.
• Producing and analysing performance information for Executive Committee, Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and Board reporting.
• Acting as a business partner to assigned service areas, providing expert advice on planning, performance and continuous improvement.
• Facilitating workshops, delivering guidance and supporting colleagues to effectively manage performance and benefits.
• Contributing to organisational improvement initiatives and the ongoing development of performance management processes.

About the team

You'll join the Planning & Performance Team within the Corporate Services Directorate.

The team leads the Commission's approach to strategic planning, business planning, performance reporting, KPI development and benefits realisation. Working across the organisation, the team supports services to understand and demonstrate their contribution to corporate objectives while providing the performance insight needed to support effective governance and decision making.

The team has a collaborative, supportive and improvement-focused culture. You'll work closely with colleagues across all directorates, alongside senior leaders, project teams and corporate specialists. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys building relationships, solving complex organisational challenges and influencing positive change at both strategic and operational levels.

Who we’re looking for

We're looking for someone with strong experience of performance management, planning or organisational improvement who can combine analytical thinking with excellent stakeholder engagement skills.

You'll be confident influencing senior leaders, interpreting complex information and translating data and insight into practical recommendations. You'll also be comfortable working across multiple priorities, identifying opportunities for improvement and supporting others to embed effective performance management practices.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring:

• Experience of performance monitoring, reporting and developing performance measures or KPIs.
• Experience of developing, reviewing or implementing performance management or benefits management approaches.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and challenge constructively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparing papers and reports for senior audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify improvements and recommend solutions.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office applications and the ability to quickly learn new systems.

Experience of benefits realisation, project management methodologies or delivering training would be advantageous.

Why work for us?

The Role:

This is an opportunity to take on a highly visible role with organisation-wide impact. You'll work with senior leaders, Commissioners and Board-level committees, helping shape how the Commission measures success and demonstrates the value of its work.

The role offers significant variety, exposure and development opportunities. You'll gain experience across strategic planning, performance management, governance, organisational improvement and benefits realisation, while helping influence the future direction of the Commission's performance framework.

You'll also have the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing development of our benefits management approach, helping establish best practice across the organisation and making a tangible difference to how we assess impact and value for money.

The Office:

Our offices provide welcoming, collaborative spaces where colleagues can connect, share ideas and work together across teams. Whether based in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, you will be part of a supportive working environment that balances the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility of hybrid working.

The Benefits:

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Flexible working and hybrid model for office-based staff, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent in the office
• Flexi-time scheme, allowing flexible hours with the option to accrue and take flexi leave
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Performance-related pay

How to apply

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

Do not include:

• Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details
• Your date of birth or age
• Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers
• A photo of yourself
• Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age
• There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

Do include:

• Your employment history including employers and dates of employment
• Explanation for gaps in your history
• Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV.

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and non-disabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: Monday 5th October (23:59)
• Interviews (1st stage): Week commencing Monday 12^th October
• Interviews (2nd stage): Week commencing TBC
• Anticipated start date: TBC

Interviews are expected to be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams