Programme Coordinator

The Royal Society is seeking an enthusiastic person to join as Programme Coordinator within the People and Planet policy team. The team deals with a wide range of issues including human health, biodiversity and the environment, climate, energy and AI. This position is suitable for an efficient and versatile person with a confident and mature attitude who enjoys project management, event management, has experience of organising people and systems, and forms excellent working relationships with a range of people. We are seeking someone who can help the Society continue to develop its capacity as a convenor and influencer of leading thinkers across the policy domain.

Working alongside policy teams, you will need to plan and deliver events ranging from large scale conferences with leading key-note speakers to small, private round-table discussions involving government representatives and senior figures in industry and academia. The role requires clear communication skills, both written and verbal, including maintaining our online presence. The post holder will be expected to play a significant role in managing budgets and forecasting, providing logistical support, and in developing tools and processes to support delivery across the wider policy team.

Primarily focussed within the People and Planet Team, many of the issues we deal with have clear overlap with work led by the Society's other major policy themes - education and policy for science. You will be expected to have the versatility and breadth of skills to support work in other programmes as the need arises, and whilst the Society's policy work is led by the science policy team, we also work closely with colleagues in Communications, Public Affairs, Public Engagement, International Affairs and Industry Programme teams to deliver outcomes.

Key Responsibilities And Tasks:

• Manage financial activities such as coordinating and updating the team’s budget tracker, quarterly forecasting and annual budget cycle, regularly reporting updates to the Finance team, creating purchase orders and processing supplier invoices, dealing with expenses claims and logging spending accurately.
• Organise the logistics for in-person, virtual and hybrid internal and external policy-related events. This will include managing invitations, liaising with the Society’s internal conferencing and events section, organising travel and accommodation using the Society’s existing suppliers, and on-the-day activities.
• Manage delivery of a programme of activities, reporting on progress against key milestones to a range of stakeholders, identifying risks to delivery, and keeping information management and other project documents up to date.
• Oversight of the team’s digital and external communications, including the relationship management system, website, social media and blogs, coordinating with the communications and digital teams on delivery.
• Administrative and logistical support for the team, including travel booking, coordination of diaries, drafting and distributing agendas and papers and minute-taking for a range of informal and formal governance boards, meetings and visits.
• Providing support for projects within the theme which may include sourcing background information for events and other activities, drafting briefings, analysing data, providing information to team members to support link-up between different projects in the theme, contract management, helping to support relationships across our networks of experts, and other elements of policy delivery work.
• Any other reasonable activity as required.

Key Knowledge And Skills Required:

• Project management - At least two years’ experience (or equivalent) in project management. Essential
• Digital proficiency - Proficient in standard office tools and various digital applications, with a proactive approach to learning new software. Essential
• Communication - Ability to convey complex or sensitive information effectively through written and visual formats for diverse audiences. Essential
• Strategy and initiative - Proven ability to work independently, generate innovative ideas, and manage their successful implementation. Essential
• Teamwork - Ability to work collaboratively within a team and build professional relationships at all levels of seniority. Essential
• Finance and reporting - Experience in managing financial and management reporting processes. Essential
• Organisation - Excellent organisational skills with a proven track record of managing conflicting deadlines and multiple activities. Essential
• Resilience - Ability to remain calm under pressure and consistently meet deadlines. Essential
• Sector experience - Experience working within a science policy function. Desirable
• Flexibility - Ability to work flexible hours on occasion to meet operational needs. Desirable

About The Royal Society:

The Royal Society is the independent scientific academy of the UK. The Society's mission is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity. Science is vital to many areas of policy making and the Society seeks to ensure the government and the public have access to impartial and independent expert advice to inform debate and guide good decision making. The Royal Society provides independent, timely and authoritative scientific advice to UK and international decision makers. We champion the contribution that science can make to economic prosperity, quality of life and environmental sustainability, and are a hub for debate about science, society and public policy.

The Science Policy section comprises around 45 staff working across a range of themes and policy areas, according to scientific and policy priorities. It works in partnership with businesses, national academies, learned societies, charities and government, and deploys a wide range of channels and approaches - from the delivery of major reports to rapid shorter statements, the creation of influential networks, skilful use of the Society's digital and media channels, and well-founded programmes of events. The Society continues to develop and look for innovative approaches that will increase its influence in national and international policy debates.

Job details:

• Reports to: Head of Policy - People and Planet
• Location: Carlton House Terrace, London; plus hybrid remote working
• Pay Band: C
• Salary: £36,300-£42,130
• Hours: 35 hours/week
• Contract: Permanent
• Closing date for applications on 17 May 2026. Interviews will take place during the week beginning 1 June 2026. Please note interviews will be face to face at our office: The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG