Senior External Affairs Manager

The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking a Senior External Affairs Manager to drive the delivery of high-quality stakeholder engagement across priority policy areas.

The successful candidate will build, develop, and maintain effective relationships with a diverse range of key stakeholders, contribute to strategic communications planning, and support senior leaders in their engagement activities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing and implementing comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategies that align with departmental priorities and policy goals.
• Identifying influential stakeholders across various sectors, monitoring their positions on key issues, and producing regular reports.
• Managing relationships through direct engagement, events, and tailored communications while building advocacy for government initiatives.
• Creating compelling briefing materials, presentations, and stakeholder correspondence for ministers and senior officials.
• Personally briefing and advising ministers and senior officials on their engagement activity.
• Coordinating with colleagues across government to ensure a joined-up approach to external engagement.
• Contributing to cross-cutting communications campaigns, ensuring stakeholder perspectives are integrated into planning and delivery to reach the end audience.
• Evaluating the impact of stakeholder engagement activities to demonstrate value and inform future approaches.

The External Affairs team aims to:

• Develop and manage long-lasting two-way relationships with stakeholders, built on a clear understanding of stakeholder needs.
• Facilitate the gathering of stakeholder insight, feeding this into the communications directorate and the wider Department to support the development of better policy.
• Deliver exceptional stakeholder communications, partnerships, and collaborations to ensure that stakeholders understand DWP policies and the Department’s objectives.

In return, the Department offers a competitive salary of £56,784 - £63,541 per year, a generous benefits package including a Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme, and opportunities for career development and growth.