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Salary - Competitive
Covering letter and C.V. required. Applications without a covering letter will not be considered.
Deadline - Friday 5th February 2021

Role Summary:

Based at our CBI Brussels office, and reporting to the CBI Brussels Director, the Senior Policy Adviser will play a key role in delivering the CBI’s European political strategy at a unique time in the UK’s relationship with the EU.

Through management of the CBI’s EU Political Stakeholder Database, they will be responsible for increasing the CBI’s influence and access across its network of political stakeholders. This will involve working with policy teams to ensure that the CBI delivers maximum impact with EU stakeholders to ensure the best trading relations for CBI members as part of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement.

Alongside this, they will play a key role in developing the CBI’s political narrative, to strengthen the organisation’s ability to put forward a coherent story across its diverse policy areas in a way that resonates with EU policymakers, members and stakeholders. In so doing, the successful candidate will gain a deep understanding of the CBI’s strategic priorities and how they are positioned within the broader political and economic environment.

As the UK’s new relationship with the EU embeds and develops, the successful candidate will help deliver a renewed strategy and vision for the CBI in Europe as part of the CBI’s overall UK global competitiveness workstream.

The role will require interaction with colleagues at all levels of the organisation - including with more junior, peer-level and senior colleagues - so the successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills. A keen interest in and instinct around the UK and European political and business environment in which the CBI operates would be advantageous.

Key Responsibilities:

Helping to embed the CBI’s renewed European Strategy and Vision

• Contribute to the effective functioning and positioning of the CBI as an important strategic partner with the EU in a post-Brexit era;
• Working across the CBI to help develop and agree coherent strategic campaign objectives to help teams develop campaigning strategies to influence EU stakeholders and policymakers;
• Generate new and creative approaches to put across the CBI’s campaign messages and political intelligence offering to key stakeholders including via podcasts, webinars, CBI member briefings and presentations;
• Keep abreast of upcoming policy issues to provide input to objective-setting and the organisation’s strategic planning;
• Develop and maintain a European stakeholder and engagement plan.

Support the CBI’s member recruitment and retention strategy by delivering an effective package of support for members

• Develop a strong member proposition on key EU campaigns, working collaboratively with colleagues from the commercial side of the business;
• Support the CBI’s sectoral offering, notably to the FS sector, as the UK and EU develop their respective regulatory agendas following the entry into force of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement;
• Engage with Brussels-based CBI members to develop and facilitate joint campaign strategies on shared objectives and priorities;
• Assist the CBI Brussels Director in the marketing and the commercialisation of the products and services offered by CBI Brussels.

Supporting the work of the broader CBI

• Provide ad hoc support to senior management via research and political and stakeholder intelligence to support their engagement with EU stakeholders and policymakers, including BusinessEurope;
• Monitor events in Brussels and across the EU in order to provide intelligence to CBI Brussels Director and CBI Senior Management Team and members on the opportunities and risks arising from developments in the European political landscape;
• Work with other policy teams and the CBI’s communications teams to promote information exchange and facilitate joint-working to achieve maximum impact through the CBI’s policy work;
• Lead collaborative project work with colleagues from other policy teams as appropriate to draw on a wide range of expertise to ensure high quality policy development on the cross-cutting issues the CBI policy teams cover.

Knowledge & Experience:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent;
• At least two years experience working in government/EU/International affairs;
• Research experience and the ability to communicate complex information in a clear and impactful way;
• Strong political acumen - experience of working in a political environment is advisable;
• Strong knowledge and understanding of the workings of the EU Institutions;
• Awareness of the broad policy and political context (UK, EU and internationally) in which the CBI operates;
• Understanding of the policy development process and broad knowledge of the CBI’s policy priorities;
• An interest in business issues is essential; prior knowledge and understanding of financial services and climate change could be an advantage but is not essential.

Skills:

Below are the CBI skills and levels of skills expected for this role based on the pay band it sits within. View the CBI Skills Framework for further information, including descriptions and indicators of each skill.

• Flexible and adaptable - including the ability to adapt workplans based on a rapidly changing external environment, and to change priorities as required by circumstance;
• Ability to grasp and analyse complex topics quickly - including crafting reasonable and practical solutions to members’ concerns and handling topics in the context of UK-EU trade;
• Ability to communicate complex topics clearly - including communicating to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and audiences, in a range of settings - from EU experts and diplomats to managing directors of small companies, in presentations, meetings, and a variety of written communications;
• Ability to work closely and collaboratively within teams - including on joint projects and to achieve shared goals, both with immediate team members and other policy, commercial and communications teams at the CBI;
• Excellent personal efficiency, productivity and time management - including strong organisational skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, pressured and changing environment, with occasionally short deadlines and multiple responsibilities;
• Influencing skills - including the ability to persuade policymakers of the benefits of particular policy solutions supported by CBI members, and the ability to advise internal stakeholders where appropriate;
• Good stakeholder management and interpersonal skills - including the ability to manage relationships with external stakeholders to maintain member satisfaction and good Government relations.

Behaviours:

The behaviours and characteristics required to be able to fulfil the role’s requirements

• Collaborative - Friendly and open attitude, willing to listen, seek views and share information; constructively challenging when appropriate;
• Taking ownership - Ensuring delivery and holding others to account; can influence, irrespective of hierarchy; willing to go the extra mile when necessary;
• Agile - Proactive and responsive to provide a strong member service; responding positively to shifting priorities; Calm under pressure, patient resilient and flexible in the face of unforeseen events;
• Commercial - Awareness of the wider business environment, and the importance of member engagement;
• Innovative - Exploring, sharing and integrating best practice; generating new ideas and challenging a mind-set of “what we’ve always done”;
• Analytical - gathering information and using logic to analyse, problem solve, evaluate risk and make decisions.

this job offer is not open for applications