Director of Advocacy

Director of Advocacy

  • London
  • Full Time
  • Circa £95,000 per annum

Maternity cover approx. 10 months

Full time

Part home/Part office (London) based

UNICEF ensures more of the world’s children are vaccinated, educated and protected than any other organisation. We have done more to influence laws and policies to help protect children than anyone else. We get things done. And we’re not going to stop until the world is a safe place for all our children.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) as our Interim Director of Advocacy.

This senior role at UNICEF UK is responsible for ensuring that we meet our ambitious influencing goals on children’s rights, both in the UK and around the world. The role manages a four-function team of 20+ providing strategic oversight and support. It also sits on the organisation’s Senior Leadership Team and is responsible for maximising cross-organisational collaboration between advocacy and other key teams such as communications, public engagement and programmes.

The Director of Advocacy role brings extensive experience of designing and delivering successful influencing campaigns, with a focus on the UK Government (Whitehall and Westminster). They have strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and have extensive experience of external representation with senior external stakeholders across government, media and sector partners. To succeed in this role, it is necessary to be politically savvy and experienced in managing a team of highly skilled experts with a demanding portfolio of both international and domestic advocacy, both planned and reactive, across policy (international and domestic), campaigns and mobalisation, and political affairs.

Act now and visit www.unicef.org.uk/jobs to apply online.

Closing date: 9am, Monday 15 May 2023 

Interview dates: Thursday 25 and Friday 26 May, with some flexibility (via video conferencing (MS Teams)

In return, we offer:

  • excellent pay and benefits (including flexible working, generous annual leave and pension, big brand discounts and wellbeing tools)
  • outstanding training and learning opportunities and the support to flourish in your role
  • impressive open plan office space and facilities on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
  • an open culture and workplace with colleagues who share our values, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.
  • the opportunity to work in a leading children’s organisation making a difference to children around the world

Our application process: We a system called “Applied” that anonymises your responses and focuses on your actual skills that are relevant to this role. This benefits you by giving you a greater chance of expressing your skills in this objective selection process.

We are gradually moving back to our offices on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London and we anticipate most colleagues will work one or two days a week in the office and the rest of the time from home.  We will happily discuss other flexible options to suit your circumstances.

We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, disabled candidates, and from men, because we would like to increase the representation of these groups at this level at UNICEF UK. We want to do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for children.

UNICEF UK promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in our workplace. We make employment decisions by matching business needs with skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

We welcome a conversation about your flexible working requirements, personal growth, and promoting a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

The successful candidate will be required to apply for a criminal records check. A criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the role and the circumstances of your offences.

We only accept online applications as this saves us money, making more funds available for us to help ensure children’s rights.

If you require support in completing the online form or an application form in an alternative format, please contact Supporter Care on 0300 330 5580 during office hours.

If you do not hear from us within 14 days of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please note that we only provide feedback to shortlisted candidates.

Registered Charity Nos. 1072612 (England and Wales) SC043677 (Scotland)