East West Rail is a nationally significant railway project which aims to deliver much-needed transport connections between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. EWR is being championed by the Government as a key driver to economic growth, leading to a potential £78 Billion boost to the UK economy: supporting new towns, housing, and regeneration.

Key Responsibilities:

This role will be responsible for managing relationships with local political stakeholders, ensuring their interests are considered and addressed throughout the programme. This role involves proactive engagement, issue resolution, and collaboration with internal teams to maintain and strengthen local political stakeholder support for this locally and nationally significant infrastructure project.

• Identify and manage relationships with local political stakeholders and organisations.
• Develop and implement local political stakeholder engagement plans to support project goals including tracking and reporting.
• Monitor local political stakeholder concerns and issues, providing timely and effective responses.
• Coordinate and attend stakeholder meetings, briefings, and events.
• Collaborate with internal teams, including Strategic Communications and Media, Stakeholder Engagement, and Community teams, to ensure consistent messaging and coordinated efforts.
• Prepare stakeholder communications, including reports, presentations, and briefing materials.
• Provide regular updates to the Head of Political Relations on stakeholder engagement activities and issues.

Skills & Experience:

• Proven experience in stakeholder management, preferably within a large infrastructure project and with local political stakeholders.
• Experience in developing and implementing stakeholder engagement plans.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with a particular focus on political stakeholders, especially local councillors.
• Excellent communication and negotiation abilities.

Diversity and Inclusion:

To discover the best solutions, it’s important we embrace diversity of thought. That’s why we aim to ensure our colleagues feel included, engaged and valued. Inclusiveness is not a buzzword, but a way of being. Our approach to diversity is simple – a workplace where everyone is welcome and everyone is encouraged to be themselves.