Government and Parliamentary Relations Senior Officer

We are the national body for careers education in England, delivering support to schools and colleges to deliver modern, 21st century careers education.

The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is a great place to work. We operate within a fast-paced and collaborative environment. We are brought together by one thing: our passion to ensure young people get the best possible start in life and are supported to find their best next step.

Do you want to be part of a mission-driven team focused on transforming young people's lives? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

Role Summary

We are looking for a confident and experienced self-starter to join the Strategy and Communications division as the Government and Parliamentary Relations Senior Officer.

Your role is essential to support and ensure:

• Our relationships generate national and local engagement that helps us to advocate about the issues and practice that can enable high quality careers support for young people across policy debate and the delivery.
• We raise awareness of our work to the extent that our government and parliamentary stakeholders can articulate what we do and why it matters nationally as well as locally in constituencies across the country.
• We initiate and hold strong relationships across Westminster, maintaining a robust management system to track and monitor engagement.

Your work will support the strategic communications and policy workstreams of CEC, ensuring the delivery of a coherent and effective political engagement strategy as part of wider joined-up external affairs approach for the organisation.

You'll be expected to have a sound understanding of the political climate, a keen interest in current affairs and aptitude for identifying policy and political engagement opportunities for the organisation. You will work closely with CEC's Policy & Impact Team to distil insight and evidence into government and parliamentary policy thinking and ideas.

To be successful, you will be able to demonstrate flexibility, proactivity and strong organizational skills in what is a fast-paced and exciting environment. The work you support on will be an essential part of a coherent and effective influencer engagement strategy as part of a wider joined-up external affairs approach for the organisation (which ensures the CEC's mission and work is visible, understood and engaged on).

Essential criteria:

• Experience in a government relations, policy or public affairs environment (previous experience of working in Parliament and autonomously with parliamentarians or ministers is highly desirable).
• Operational experience of UK political structures, processes and trends.
• Proven experience of engaging through the policy process - (1) developing policy ideas and (2) responding to consultations, strategy development and call for evidence from parliamentary committees. To do this you are able deploy evidence and stakeholder insight expertly to positively engage government and parliamentary stakeholders with a clearly framed point of view.
• Proven ability to engage working level stakeholders and manage political, ministerial and departmental sensitivities.

To apply, please visit our website via the apply button, complete the application form and cover letter section and upload an anonymised version of your CV.

Please describe in your cover letter:

• How you meet the experience, skills and competency criteria detailed in the job profile.
• Why you would like to work for Careers and Enterprise Company.

Closing date: Midnight on Wednesday 20th August 2025.

Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis.

Please be aware that this role may close earlier than the advertised deadline if we receive a high volume of applications.

At the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) we are committed to fostering a culture of belonging. We know that engagement at work relies on feeling included and valued. Inclusion is both a choice and a practice, for us as an organisation and for individuals within our team. We aim to drive inclusion through every aspect of our work, and we understand that diverse teams are essential for innovative careers education and are central to our mission and impact. CEC values the visible and invisible qualities that makes each member of our team who they are. We are a disability confident employer and if you need any help or support through the application process, please contact the HR team and details can be found on our website.