Corporate Support and Policy Officer

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL; Leeds; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 44,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Pension scheme

Flexible/hybrid working

Career development opportunities

Staff benefits

Job summary

Leeds City Council is seeking a Corporate Support and Policy Officer to join the Chief Executive's Office. You will provide flexible corporate support, policy capacity and project coordination across the Council, city and region, acting as a trusted point of contact for senior colleagues.

Working in a fast-paced environment, you will lead on priority initiatives, manage complex workloads, and help shape strategic communication and policy delivery.

Qualifications

• Can-do attitude and willingness to learn from experience.
• Excellent relationship-building with a wide range of colleagues and partners.
• Ability to work flexibly, accurately and at pace under pressure.
• Direct experience of solving problems in complex situations.
• Broad knowledge of Council policy areas and the Local Government sector.

Responsibilities

• Lead on key activities and projects for the Chief Executive and senior officers.
• Coordinate meetings supporting city ambitions.
• Coordinate communications and responses for the Chief Executive.
• Coordinate visits from Government departments and partners.
• Prepare briefing notes for Chief Executive and senior managers.
• Support elected members with policy areas.
• Develop cross-policy coordination and promote a common narrative.
• Support running of the Chief Executive's Office and team development.

Skills

Can-do attitude

Relationship-building

Flexibility

Problem solving

Policy knowledge

Job description

Job title: Corporate Support and Policy Officer

Salary: PO2 £ 41,177 - £44,253

Hours: 37 hours

Contract: Permanent

Location: Merrion House

The Chief Executive's Office is recruiting to the role of Corporate Support and Policy Officer to join the Corporate Support team, which provides support to the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and wider senior leadership colleagues.

As a Corporate Support and Policy Officer you'll thrive on variety, problem-solving and working with colleagues across the Council, city, region and country.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a Corporate Support and Policy Officer, you will bring to the role:

• A 'can do', positive attitude and mind set, always willing to learn from experience and taking responsibility for your own workload.
• Effective relationship-building skills with a wide-range of colleagues and partners.
• The ability to work flexibly, accurately and at pace in the face of a demanding workload.
• Direct experience of problem-solving in complex situations and the ability to use your initiative confidently and successfully.
• Broad knowledge of the Council and of national, regional and local policy areas which impact on the Local Government sector, as well the ability to learn about new areas too.

About the role

As a Corporate Support and Policy Officer, you will be integral to and a key contact for the Corporate Support team, working on the co-ordination and delivery of activities and projects delivered on behalf of the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and other senior officers. With no two days the same, you will thrive on variety of work and have the ability to juggle competing priorities successfully. You will be a "go to" person for senior colleagues, who will trust you to lead on initiatives and requests to a high standard and to take personal responsibility for them, within a supportive environment.

Working as part of the wider Chief Executive's Office, the Corporate Support team provides flexible and proactive corporate and executive support and policy capacity to the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and wider senior leadership. The functions of the Corporate Support team include leadership and policy support; management of key leadership communications; project leadership and coordination; strategic and operational capacity; executive support and diary management; and promotion of a common strategic narrative aligned with the Council's corporate plan and the city's ambitions with services across the organisation. Alongside Corporate Support, the wider Chief Executive's Office is also responsible for Resilience and Emergency Planning and Civic and Ceremonial support.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a candidate to be part of a vital, strategic team within the Council and have the chance to work on a daily basis with senior officers, providing huge scope for learning and personal development.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays.
• Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements.
• A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
• A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job description

Job purpose

This is a wide-ranging role which provides flexible and pro-active corporate support and policy capacity to the Chief Executive and wider senior leadership across the Council.

Through developing good relationships with colleagues both internal and external to the Council, the postholder will provide a key point of contact and co-ordination role for the activities and projects delivered on behalf of the Chief Executive and other senior officers. They will also have a broad knowledge of key national, regional and local policy areas and be able to quickly pick up and learn about new areas too, to support the Chief Executive, senior officers and colleagues across the organisation.

Responsibilities

Corporate Support

• Lead on and provide flexible reactive capacity for key activities and projects commissioned by the Chief Executive and other senior officers.
• Work with senior officers to ensure that projects on behalf of the Chief Executive are carried out in a rigorous manner, with clear evidence of progress, actions, decision-making and results.
• Co-ordinate key meetings supporting the organisation and city ambitions.
• Co-ordinate key communications and correspondence responses supporting the Chief Executive, organisation and city ambitions.
• Co-ordinate key visits to the Council and city from Government departments, strategic partners and international visitors.

Policy Support

• Working with colleagues from across the Council and partner organisations, co-ordinate the commissioning and preparation of briefing and speaking notes for the Chief Executive.
• Provide support to senior managers and Elected Members around key national, regional and local policy areas, including attending policy meetings representing the Council and ensuring that the views of Leeds City Council are reflected within work programmes.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the organisation to improve cross-policy co-ordination and promote a common strategic narrative, aligned with the Best City Ambition.

Additional

• Liaise closely and work with the Corporate Support and Policy Manager and Executive Assistant to support the running of the Chief Executive's Office, taking accountability and responsibility for actions as required.
• Support the development of team members and colleagues within the Chief Executive's Office.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality and be sensitive to the personal nature of data handled within the Chief Executive's Office.
• Work within all relevant policies, procedures and systems established corporately or locally.
• Carry out duties in accordance with the Council's values and culture.
• The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Qualifications

Essential requirements

It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

Specific Skills and Competencies

• Ability to work flexibly, at pace and deal with a demanding work load.
• Ability to interpret, advocate and disseminate key messages on behalf of senior leaders.
• Analyse requirements, recommend and implement creative and innovative solutions.
• Manage competing priorities whilst delivering on a range of projects and adapting to changing circumstance and priorities.
• Research and manage data in several formats and from a variety of sources to provide coherent information for decision making.
• Present information in a clear and concise manner using a variety of presentational formats, that informs, influences and directs decision making.
• Confidence to lead projects and meetings.
• Work on own initiative and make effective decisions and judgements.
• Develop and maintain strong and effective working relationships with elected members, partners and staff across the authority.
• Persuasive, facilitative style, able to negotiate win win.
• Contribute to strong wider team working.
• Contribute to delivering a 'can do' culture.
• Lead and manage others (both within and outside formal reporting structure) to achieve the outcomes required.

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience and understanding of the current operating context for local government.
• Experiencing of working with senior leaders in a large, customer focused organisation.
• Experience of working with elected members.
• Experience and ability to work at graduate level.
• Substantial experience of leading successful projects, and understanding project management.
• Experience of problem solving and developing workable solutions.
• Understanding of different communication tools and the benefits and limitations of each.
• Experience of maintaining constructive relationships and influencing people at strategic and operational levels.
• Experience of implementing change, and taking forward initiatives and/or polices from inception to application.
• Experience of dealing with sensitive issues.
• Experience in the use of IT software packages.

Essential Behavioural and other Characteristics

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee's responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
• Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
• The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.