External Affairs Advisor

British Transport Police (BTP) are recruiting for an External Affairs Advisor on a Permanent Contract. The role is paying £36,529.65 per annum (plus London allowance for London based candidates only, £3,033.56 per annum) and will be based at any UK Hub- Birmingham, London, Manchester, Cardiff, and Scotland.

BTP is the national police Force for the rail network throughout Great Britain, including London Underground, across which we ensure the safety and security of nearly 3 billion passenger journeys and over 100 million tons of freight every year. The world in which we work is fast paced, operationally and commercially demanding, and constantly changing. The External Affairs Advisor will provide direct support to the External Affairs Lead to enhance engagement with the rail industry, central Government, wider political arena, and other key stakeholders.

As an External Affairs Advisor you will be required to:

Lead on the implementation of the Force’s Stakeholder Engagement Plan ensuring that it is regularly reviewed, developed, and updated.
Maintain an accurate and timely database management system of stakeholder interactions, producing a regular summary report of engagement and outcomes trends.
Produce clear and concise briefings, responses to reports, correspondence, presentations and responds to requests for information for senior officers, including the Chief Officer group.
Continually identify lessons learned in stakeholder engagement for the Force and implement any critical actions/improvements.
Manage the response to Parliamentary Questions and submissions to select committees.
Undertake horizon scanning across the industry to identify opportunities and risks and monitor local industry and/or political nuances and landscape.
Participating in the 24/7 on-call rota, the external affairs advisor needs to be able to confidently respond to incidents and enquiries out of hours.

Further information about this vacancy can be found in the attached job description. The successful External Affairs Advisor will be required to evidence the following:

Demonstrable passion for communications, and a track record of being creative and imaginative in finding new ways to engage audiences.
Strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise work, deliver to tight deadlines, respond to changing situations and use personal initiative.
Proven influencing, engagement and stakeholder management skills.
Flexibility to deal with ambiguity and a fast-moving environment.
Intermediate level Microsoft Office, including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel
The ability to identify risks to the force – such as trending social media content – and ensure it is being handled and raised with the appropriate people.
The confidence and gravitas to offer advice to senior management and other members of the Force and Authority – including the ability to challenge decisions when in the force’s best interests.
The ability to act, particularly out of hours, without having to seek advice each time, on breaking incidents and incoming media queries.

If you are interested in applying to the role, then please do not delay as interviews will be held as soon possible. In return for your experience, we can offer you:

Up to £36,529.65 per annum plus London allowance for London based candidates only £3,033.56 per annum.
Yearly base salary increments (subject to satisfactory performance in previous PDR year)
Working from home allowance available to purchase suitable equipment for blended & home working.
28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
Family friendly policies including up to 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave.
Bespoke benefits platform and access to Blue Light Card
Development opportunities including fully funded apprenticeships.
Employee assistance programme and dedicated wellbeing hub
Excellent Pension scheme

BTP is an employer who cares about the impact we have on the environment and the wider challenges of climate change, and as such we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and achieving Net Zero Carbon (NZC) through offsetting by 2035.

At BTP we are proud guardians of the railway and it is crucial that we represent the diverse communities we serve and protect. As ‘One BTP’ across the UK, we know that diversity, inclusion and belonging help us improve our decision making, foster creativity and drive innovation so all our people can thrive.

Our vacancies are open to everyone and all appointments are made based on merit. So that we can become more diverse we encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds, women, people who have a disability, those who are neurodiverse and persons who identify as LGBTQI+. We use positive action to encourage potential candidates from underrepresented groups through targeted workshops or advice sessions. If you have the skills, experience and values that here in BTP we pride ourselves on then we would welcome you to apply.

For more information on Positive Action please click here or email the team on PART-Recruitment@btp.police.uk

If you have any questions about the application process, please email our friendly and helpful team where we will be happy to help you: RecruitmentTeam@btp.police.uk. If your question related to equality or diversity then you can also contact our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team directly at: PART-Recruitment@btp.police.uk To reassure you, anything you ask us will be in the strictest confidence and will not form part of your application.

In order to apply, you must have the permanent right to live and work in the UK and have been resident in the UK for the previous 3 years. You will be asked these and other questions to determine your eligibility to work for British Transport Police when you start your application and you must answer honestly.

BTP GPP Police Staff Pension Scheme is administered by Royal London and this is a group personal pension plan which is available to all police staff. It’s a defined contribution scheme, offering employees the flexibility to vary their pension contributions from 4.4% to 12% of their salary. For more information, visit the Royal London dedicated pension page or email us at Pension-Queries@btp.police.uk .Please note if you are an existing member of Police Staff in the RPS your pension will not be affected.

Internal candidates must have completed their probation for their current substantive posting and can only apply in tenure if Head of Department approval is emailed to Recruitmentteam@btp.police.uk prior to the vacancy closing. Internal candidates must confirm that they are not subject to formal action plans for sickness/complaints/discipline or poor performance and that all mandatory training courses have been attended and are in ticket/up to date. A minimum rating of 3 (performing) or a rating of U (no rating) must have been achieved on the last reporting year PDR.