Career Opportunities at Queen's

About the job:

The post-holder will report to the Public Affairs Manager and will work within the public affairs team, as well as collaboratively working with colleagues across the Governance, External Affairs and Registrar (GEAR) Section. The post-holder will play a key role in delivering Queen’s University Belfast’s public affairs and political engagement strategy, maintaining and enhancing the University’s reputation, profile, and influence with political representatives, policymakers, and stakeholders across Northern Ireland, the UK, Ireland, and, where relevant, the EU and internationally.

This post is full time (37.5 hours per week) and is subject to the University's current hybrid working policy.

About the person:

Essential Criteria:

• Degree or equivalent qualification or substantial relevant professional experience.
• Minimum of 3 years’ recent relevant professional experience (within last 6 years) in a Public Affairs role, including evidence of:
  
  • Liaison with the political and policy environment.
  • Use of media relations.
  • Producing publications, print and digital.
  • Organisation of high profile events and visits.
  • Proven experience of identifying and managing opportunities to enhance organisational profile and reputation and of building purposeful relationships locally and nationally.
• Demonstrable evidence/ experience of successfully introducing and implementing new ideas and initiatives that drives a public affairs function forward to meet the needs of the organisation.
• Excellent IT skills including advanced use of Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams.
• Demonstrable knowledge of workings of governments, assemblies and parliaments.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including ability to quickly draft briefing documents on complex subject matter, confidence in giving presentations and the ability to quickly and effectively engage a range of audiences and meet tight deadlines.
• Evidence of well-developed networking skills, both internally and externally, and ability to give advice and guidance to internal and external stakeholders, build relationships and manage expectations

To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information. 

What we offer:

Beyond a competitive salary, the University offers an attractive benefits package including a holiday entitlement of up to 8.4 weeks a year, pension schemes and development opportunities. We support staff wellbeing with flexible working options, work-life balance initiatives and support for physical and mental health. You can find more detail on all of this and more at https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/HumanResources/pay-reward-and-benefits/. 

Queen's University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI and Athena Swan and have established staff networks such as iRise (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and PRISM (LGBTQ+) which help us progress equality. For further information on our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit www.qub.ac.uk/diversity. 

If you are an international applicant and don't already hold a visa that permits you to take up the role you are applying for, please use the information provided on our website to self-assess whether the University is likely to be able to support a visa application - http://go.qub.ac.uk/internationalstaffsupport. 

Candidate Information