Senior Policy Adviser - Transport

Are you looking to join a friendly and supportive, collaborative organisation, developing forward-thinking policy recommendations to government and monitoring progress in implementing those? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) was established in 2015 to provide government with impartial, expert advice on major long-term infrastructure challenges. The Commission advises government on all sectors of economic infrastructure (energy, transport, water and wastewater, waste, flood risk management and digital communications), as well as on cross-cutting issues, including planning, regulation and financing/funding.

By joining the NIC, you’ll be playing a key role in delivering that independent advice, helping to support sustainable economic growth across the whole of the UK, improve competitiveness and resilience to climate change, meet net zero obligations, and ultimately improve the quality of life of UK citizens.

The Commission’s core responsibilities include:

• producing a National Infrastructure Assessment once every five years, setting out the Commission’s assessment of long-term infrastructure needs with recommendations to government on how to meet them;
• carrying out in-depth studies into the UK’s most pressing infrastructure challenges, making recommendations to government; and
• monitoring the government’s progress in delivering infrastructure projects and programmes recommended by the NIC.

The Commission is now working on a number of projects after publishing the second National Infrastructure Assessment. This role will be central to developing work in the Connectivity Team and beyond as we continue to progress these as well as respond to any changing priorities after the election.

About the role

This role will be primarily based in the policy section in the Connectivity Team with a focus on transport, but you'll also get to work on cross-cutting issues across the secretariat.

You will coordinate and project manage fast paced evidence based policy making. And you will evaluate and track progress by government and industry in implementing the Commission’s recommendations. The role also entails engaging with stakeholders at different levels of seniority to help build consensus and to effectively represent the Commission.

In developing and implementing a strategic approach to policy development, you will work closely with other policy and analytical colleagues to provide joined up, high-quality analysis and advice to the Commission. You will also establish strong working relationships beyond the organisation within a range of government departments, academia and industry – across the UK and beyond. Through these and other learning and development activity you will continuously build your expertise on infrastructure issues.

Key accountabilities include:

• Conduct research that identifies, scopes and supports delivery of policy projects that are aligned to the Commission’s objectives and builds the Commission’s reputation.
• Analyse and summarise numerical and potentially complex data that will support the Commission’s understanding work across various sectors.
• Provide rigorous assessment of the large volumes of information on various policy topics and have an eye for what is meaningful to the Commission and what is not.
• Project manage the delivery of your own work and the work of others on the team and/or external consultants. This will include making use of project management tools such as landmark plans, risk registers and engagement plans.
• Build and manage relationships with collaborators so that the Commission keeps on top of the policy landscape, and use these relationships to shape and drive forward the Commission’s priorities.

For a full list of accountabilities, please follow the apply link.

About you

Our successful candidate will be an effective decision-maker and communicator who enjoys getting into the detail with an eye to the bigger picture, but knows how to distil this down into succinct advice, and is comfortable with analysing both quantitative and qualitative information. We’re looking for someone who is able to manage stakeholders with different points of view and different levels of seniority, and able to effectively represent the Commission to a variety of audiences. . And you will also have transport sector or local growth policy or economics expertise: though you need not be a transport planner or an economist, transport-related policy, modelling or operations knowledge and experience will all be valued by us.

About us

At the NIC we have a broad remit, so it’s important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. We have no set view of the ideal candidate’s background or nature of their experience, and there is a range we draw on across the organisation – lived, voluntary and professional. And we constructively consider flexible working arrangements that can support the other aspects to people’s lives outside of work. We are also actively involved in wider work seeking to improve diversity and equality in infrastructure in terms of the talent recruited and nurtured, and in design of our work programme, definition of our policy recommendations and impact assessment. We’d welcome more people able to bring new perspectives to this work.

Benefits our people love!

• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)
• Flexible working patterns
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions. Find out more about Civil Service pensions
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback benefits site

For more information about the role and how to apply, please follow the apply link.

If you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process, please tell us about this in your online application form, or speak to the recruitment team at hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk