Location: Hybrid – home-based, with regular travel to meetings and team days in London and Sheffield
About the Role
Funded by ten prime providers, this is a senior policy and public affairs role leading a high-profile campaign on behalf of the employment support sector. The postholder will ensure that decision makers, policy makers, and commissioners clearly understand:
• The value and contribution of large employment support organisations as prime contract holders
• The strengths and impact of the prime provider model
• What is required to deliver effective future employment support programmes
The role will be managed by the CEO of ERSA, with the CEO reporting into a dedicated campaign working group.
This workstream will strengthen and add capacity to existing work being led by the ERSA CEO on future commissioning. It will enable ERSA to further and more effectively represent the interests of the employment support sector and the prime provider model across future national and devolved commissioning activity.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead the development and delivery of a coordinated policy and public affairs campaign
• Research, analyse, and interpret policy and commissioning developments relevant to employment support
• Produce high-quality reports, briefings, consultation responses, and policy submissions
• Build and maintain credibility with senior stakeholders, including policy makers, commissioners, and sector leaders
• Represent ERSA externally with confidence, authority, and credibility
• Work collaboratively with the ERSA CEO, campaign working group, and wider sector stakeholders
Person Specification
The successful candidate will be:
• An experienced policy professional
• Knowledgeable about the employment support sector and commissioning landscape
• Highly skilled in policy research and analysis
• An excellent writer, able to produce clear, persuasive, and evidence-based policy documents
• A confident and authoritative communicator, able to represent ERSA with gravitas
Reporting Line
The postholder will be part of the ERSA team and will report directly to the ERSA CEO.