About Wilton Park
Wilton Park is the UK's foremost multilateral facilitator. It serves as the UK government's expert in convening international policy dialogue, bringing together decision-makers from around the world to address shared challenges.
As an executive agency of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, (FCDO), we host approximately 80 events annually, bringing together over 3,000 participants from over 100 countries.
If you believe in work that makes the world a better place, if you like being part of passionate and dedicated teams, if you want to come to work and be yourself, if you feel that your most important work lies ahead, then we want to hear from you.
Benefits
- 25 days' annual leave, increasing by one day per year to a maximum of 30 days after five years' service, plus an additional day's leave after 20 years' service. This is in addition to public and privilege holidays.
- Flexible working, available to all employees where compatible with business needs.
- Civil Service Pension.
- Enhanced family leave and pay, including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave, subject to qualifying conditions.
- Employee Assistance Programme, providing 24/7 confidential support on matters such as wellbeing, finances, childcare and elder care.
- Learning and development opportunities, including mentoring, coaching and leadership training.
- A range of employee benefits and discounts, including cashback offers through our benefits provider.
- Interest-free loans for season travel tickets, station parking or bicycle purchases for commuting.
- Free annual eye test (up to £25) and a contribution of up to £100 towards glasses or prescription lenses.
- Car parking and EV charging available on site.
- A culture that values equity, diversity and inclusion, supported by our EDI Strategy.
- Colleague recognition scheme, enabling peers to recognise and celebrate achievements and contributions.
- Long service awards, including additional annual leave and gifts in recognition of service.
Location and hybrid working
Your contractual place of work will be Wiston House, Wilton Park's headquarters in the South Downs, West Sussex. This Grade I listed sixteenth-century house hosts the majority of Wilton Park events and is set within beautiful grounds.
Wilton Park supports flexible and hybrid working where operationally appropriate. Working arrangements vary depending on the nature of the role. Some positions are based solely at Wiston House, while others offer hybrid working with a mix of office and home working. Certain policy-related roles may also provide the opportunity to work from FCDO Headquarters in Whitehall as part of their working arrangements. For this role, working patterns will be discussed and agreed based on business and operational requirements. Most members of the Policy Department currently work from home two to three days per week.
Job Summary
Grade
G6
Working pattern and hours
Full-time, 37 net hours per week, Monday to Friday, with a one-hour unpaid lunch break each day.
Expected start date
We expect the successful candidate to start in February/March 2027, subject to the successful completion of pre-employment checks and security clearance.
The role
To lead Wilton Park programmes in support of key UK priorities and wider international policy challenges, with a primary focus on either energy, climate and environment and/or innovation, science and technology. To design and convene high-level policy dialogues on these issues, building diverse networks to get the right people in the room, generate practical outcomes and ensure impact.
Wilton Park Programme Directors need to maintain a level of flexibility to anticipate and respond to new or emerging policy trends and crises, whether within or beyond their portfolios. Wider experience of economic growth, security and trade policy and/or international development and global public goods would also be of strong value.
To establish, nurture and maintain relationships with a wide range of senior policy-makers and funding partners from across government, civil society and business in order to plan interventions that support wider UK objectives and provide policy and wider institutional impact.
To provide other policy, strategic and corporate support to the Head of Policy, Chief Executive, other Programme Directors and Policy Officers, helping to plan and deliver a cohesive and strategic set of dialogue activity, sequenced evenly across the year.
To contribute to the effective running of Wilton Park, including communications, outreach and mentoring of junior staff.
Key responsibilities
- Identify, design, develop and deliver annual and, where possible, multi-annual programmes of policy dialogues, with a primary focus on issues of energy, climate & environment and/or innovation, science and technology, ensuring policy relevance and impact and sourcing relevant partner funding (through government and/or non-government funding partners).
- Co-create policy programmes and dialogues with partners (FCDO, BIST, DESNZ, other UK government departments, wider organisations) managing relationships to deliver partner objectives while ensuring respect for Wilton Park autonomy and agency.
- Identify and thoughtfully engage with potential speakers and participants to ensure high-quality events meet objectives, deliver outcomes for partners and reflect balanced participation of nationalities, disciplines and gender
- Convene and facilitate Wilton Park discussions and events with professionalism and impartiality, creating a safe and trusting environment so that all participants and speakers have an opportunity to engage in meaningful, discreet and constructive dialogue using appropriate, relevant and outcome-focused facilitation techniques.
- Edit and oversee the delivery of dialogue-related outputs, including summary reports capturing key findings and policy recommendations/options.
- Represent the organisation at a senior level, making presentations and attending networking opportunities as required and relevant to field of work.
- Deputise for the Director of Policy and members of the Senior Management Team when appropriate.
- Work with Policy Officers, Project Managers (PMs) and the event Delivery Team to oversee effective and efficient management of project administration, including regular planning meetings
- Financial oversight for project budgets: work in collaboration with PMs to ensure the monitoring of income and expenditure throughout event life and accountability for financial outcomes
- Digital and social media communications: work with the communications department to plan, agree and assist with implementation of a media strategy for each even (in line with Wilton Park's social media strategy)
- Monitoring and evaluation: understand and report transparently on outcomes to partners and sponsors to ensure aims and objectives are met within prescribed timelines. Apply lessons learned and outputs to foster continuous improvement and ensure the highest quality design and delivery.
- Standard operating procedures and knowledge management: comply with Wilton Park's database requirements and comply with local health and safety requirements
- Participate in central/corporate groups or tasks and carry out other duties as may reasonably be required from time to time
Person specification
Essential Skills
- Substantial policy and international experience in at least one of the following fields, including understanding of the international policy landscape, UK priorities and the key partners and institutions engaged:
- Energy, climate and environment;
- Innovation, science and technology.
- Strong and diverse institutional networks in the above fields. Track record of fundraising and business development.
- Ability to lead, inspire, develop and work with diverse teams at different levels.
- Experience of designing, convening and facilitating high-level plenary discussions and smaller group workshops to achieve agreed outcomes.
- Experience of engaging internationally, including managing international networks of relevant stakeholders, diplomatic tradecraft and policy negotiation.
- Deep understanding of UK's overall foreign policy priorities and key partner relationships, including with multilateral institutions.
Desirable Skills
- Wider experience of economic growth, economic security and trade policy and/or international development and global public goods.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills. Passion, creativity & ambition.
- Ability to balance a demanding and varied workload, meet targets, ensure constructive collaboration with event teams, work to tight deadlines and manage time effectively.
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