Senior Communications Officer (Public Affairs) 

Basis: Permanent, Full time 36 hours per week

Salary: £40,031 to £42,033 per annum.

London-based employees receive an additional £3,217 London weighting.

A £312 tax-free working from home allowance is also payable annually. 

Location: London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh (Hybrid – min. 2 days in office) or Remote UK. 

Benefits: Outstanding benefits including Civil Service Pension Scheme, flexible working, 28+ days holiday, and more. 

About the Electoral Commission 

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we enter a bold new chapter under our five-year Corporate Plan, we are increasing our workforce and transforming how we plan and deliver core services. This post plays a central role in that journey.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced public affairs professional to shape and deliver the Commission’s political and parliamentary engagement. You will take a leading role in coordinating public affairs activity, providing high quality advice and briefings to senior colleagues, and representing the Commission with parliamentarians, political stakeholders and partner organisations.

This is a strong development opportunity for someone looking to deepen their expertise in public affairs. You will gain valuable exposure to senior leadership, work closely with colleagues across our Policy, Research, Communications and Regulation teams, and build experience in a politically sensitive, high-profile environment. The post holder will be expected to undertake an element of travel to Westminster on a monthly basis, with additional travel required as parliamentary business demands.

About the team

The team culture is supportive, open and solutions focused. Team members regularly work with colleagues at all levels and gain insight into a wide range of political engagement and communications activity. For anyone interested in the intersection of politics, democracy and public communications, this is an exciting and rewarding place to work.

Who we’re looking for

This role would suit someone with strong political awareness, confidence working with political and non-political stakeholders, and the ability to navigate sensitive issues with good judgement. You will be comfortable presenting complex information in clear, accessible ways, and able to build effective working relationships across internal and external partners.

Why work for us? 

You will be joining an organisation with a clear and important public mission and a commitment to continuous learning, collaboration and inclusion. You will gain:

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

How to apply

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

Do not include: 

Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details

Your date of birth or age

Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers

A photo of yourself

Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

Do include: 

Your employment history including employers and dates of employment

Explanation for gaps in your history

Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV. 

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and nondisabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

Applicants applying for a London-based role should expect to attend interviews in person. For applicants in devolved nations, interviews may be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams.