Policy Adviser

Cabinet Office

Location: London, United Kingdom
Sector: Government
Experience: Mid Career

Position description

The National Security Secretariat (NSS) keeps the UK safe, secure and prosperous by bringing together the UK’s national security community, providing high-quality support to the Prime Minister and the National Security Council and maintaining centre-to-centre relationships internationally. Working within the wider Cabinet Secretariat and led by the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser (NSA), we assist the Prime Minister and the Cabinet in the development, coordination and implementation of its highest priority objectives.

We put people first. The NSS value professional and personal development for all of our staff and recognise that a continued focus on learning and development (L&D) will enable us to grow our capability. We are also committed to fostering a culture which welcomes new ideas and fresh perspectives, and supporting diversity and inclusion, including through flexible patterns and ways of working.

We can offer stretching and engaging work to enhance career development and gain highly transferable skills. We expect our staff to rise to new challenges, demonstrating the agility required to respond to urgent and changing events, and to work collaboratively to achieve results both within NSS and across government. A role with the NSS is a real opportunity to impact the lives of our citizens and make a difference every day.

The National Security Secretariat’s Strategy Unit (SU) leads the development and delivery of the UK’s national security and international strategy. We provide advice to the Prime Minister on the most complex and pressing strategic issues of the day, and run the National Security Council’s (NSC) strategic cycle, evaluate our strategy’s real-world impact, and adapt it to the fast-evolving context.

Job description

This role sits at the core of national security, foreign policy and defence in government. We are recruiting for one HEO role to join the Strategy Unit on a two-year loan, principally working in the Strategy Implementation team. Our principle role is to monitor and evaluate the UK’s progress in delivering the ambition and objectives of the national security strategy. To do this, we work across a large variety of stakeholders, including all of HM Government, Parliament and academics. The team’s work ranges widely from providing senior officials with regular updates on the strategy to being the the NSS central hub for all forms of correspondence like Freedom of Information requests or Parliamentary Questions.

We are a friendly and inclusive team who want to do things differently, championing new thinking and embracing modern ways of working. We put people first, we look out for each other and have each other’s backs. Our ambition is to model best practice in every aspect of our work – from our collaborative and supportive culture, to our focus on rigorous evidence-based strategic and systems thinking.

You will have scope to shape the evolution of your individual role and of the team’s work programme. You will contribute to the culture, working practices and corporate needs across the wider SU.

You will:

Lead and improve the monitoring, and implementation of foreign, security, defence, and development policy, using project and programme management techniques, and gather and give feedback from and to departments, including internally within CO, and HMT.
Lead parts of the annual review of HM Government performance and delivery of the national security strategy
Lead all Freedom of Information requests, Parliamentary Questions and Treat Officials for NSS.
Support NSS’ own reporting to No10 and the Cabinet Office performance team on our own performance
Support National Security Councils / Officials including through commissioning and shaping evidence packs from the Joint Data Analysis Centre and Joint Intelligence Organisation.
Engage with think-tank and academic experts to bring new ideas into the policy-making process and support HMG’s relationship with experts.
Support wider priorities of the Strategy Unit and National Security Adviser as required.
Contribute to the corporate life of the Strategy Unit – our goal is that every member of the team plays an active role in building an inclusive, happy and supportive culture.

Person specification

We are looking for applicants who have:

Good project and programme management skills.
Ability to think creatively and come up with better ways of doing things.
Good political awareness and judgement.
An ability to see the big picture, grasp new subjects at pace, and think creatively.
Experience of operating with ambiguous information with the ability to assess different sources, and/or setting direction on new issues.
Strong relationship-building skills and evidence of effective collaboration.
Excellent drafting skills and effective oral communication.
Commitment to being part of a diverse, high-performing and inclusive workplace.
Ideally experience working on one of the following: foreign, defence, economic, trade, or science and technology policy. We will, however, be happy to consider candidates without this experience if they meet the other criteria.
Candidates must be willing to undergo DV clearance.

Additional information:

A minimum of 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: