Senior Policy & Project Officer

The Infrastructure team is hiring a Senior Policy Officer and two Senior Project Officers to support the development of policies, programmes and projects that will help to ensure delivery of the Mayor’s priorities for infrastructure and decarbonisation in the capital.

The Infrastructure team works to improve infrastructure planning and delivery in our city to benefit Londoners and its businesses. We work through coordination within the sector, with boroughs, developers, utilities, telecoms, and other infrastructure providers. We have developed the Infrastructure Coordination Service, an award-winning service which brings significant benefits for industry and Londoners, by improving air quality, supporting ‘healthy streets,’ enabling decarbonisation and unlocking affordable housing delivery through coordination within the sector. You would join a fast-paced, industry-leading team focused on innovation and creating real change in the sector.

Senior Policy Officer x 1:

As a Senior Policy Officer you’ll work closely with colleagues across the team, the wider GLA, regulators, government, and others to investigate and unlock barriers to infrastructure coordination in the capital, with the goal of achieving greater decarbonisation, unlocking new homes, improving equality and diversity in the infrastructure sector and meeting other Mayoral priorities. Your work will support sustainable, long-term change in business practices around collaboration that can only be made possible by progressing a range of regulatory and policy interventions.

Senior Project Officer x 2:

As a Senior Project Officer you’ll work closely with partners across industry to promote the ‘dig-once’ approach to streetworks and collaborative working within the infrastructure sector, and to improve how development connects into infrastructure in areas of high growth. Your work will be geared towards reducing road network disruption and making London’s infrastructure delivery more efficient, including resolving technical barriers to collaborative working, and developing best practice. You’ll support boroughs, developers, works promoters – such as utilities from across the water, gas, power, and telecom sectors – and contractors to scale up pilots so that collaboration becomes “business as usual.”

Role description:

These roles will require diverse skillsets and expose the officer to high-profile work across the GLA.

You’ll have a chance to work on a range of interesting policy issues and projects, at the forefront of the sector, helping to tackle some of the cross-cutting problems impacting infrastructure planning and delivery in the capital by:

• Taking a strategic approach to infrastructure policy and delivery working with government, regulators, and industry.
• Understanding London’s long-term infrastructure needs and the interdependencies across a range of areas such as decarbonisation and housing delivery.
• Supporting cross-cutting working groups such as the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group and the Infrastructure Advisory Panel.
• Working with colleagues across the Infrastructure team to support delivery of programmes through research, analysis, and policy development.
• Liaising and developing new relationships with high-level stakeholders from across government, London boroughs, and regulators to remain informed and help shape policy development.
• Undertaking stakeholder engagement with key partners from across industry, including utility companies, contractors, IDNOs, and network management teams within Highway Authorities (Boroughs and Transport for London).
• Promoting positive behaviour change and supporting infrastructure providers to embed collaboration as “business as usual”.
• Developing a range of case studies, guides, tools, and other materials.

Each role requires strong logical and problem-solving skills, as well as an ability to communicate effectively in a variety of forms with a diverse range of people.

We welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds. You may have studied or have work experience in areas such as infrastructure and utilities, energy, sustainability and decarbonisation, housing, planning, or other related areas. If you have technical experience (e.g. engineering), these skills are welcomed but not required.

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements.

In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan, childcare voucher scheme and a career average pension scheme.

Provide a flexible resource to coordinate the development and implementation of a range of crosscutting projects, programmes and policies related to the Mayor’s infrastructure coordination and decarbonisation agenda.

Establish, develop, and maintain good working relationships within and outside the Authority in order to ensure that the Mayor’s priorities are met and opportunities for integration and inter-disciplinary working are realised.

Communicate effectively with senior staff across the GLA Group and work with internal and external stakeholders and partners to achieve the team’s corporate objectives.

Assist in the establishment and maintenance of communications on technical and policy matters with international organisations, Government departments, the London Boroughs, and other organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Build and maintain an up-to-date awareness of innovations as well as technical and policy changes in the infrastructure, utilities and decarbonisation fields.

Manage resources allocated to the job in accordance with the GLA’s policies and standards

Realise the benefits of London’s diversity by promoting and enabling equality of opportunities and promoting the diverse needs and aspirations of London’s communities.

Carry out all roles allocated to the job in accordance with the Authority’s policies and Code of Ethics and Standards.

Realise the benefits of a flexible approach to work in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of this job, and participating in multi-disciplinary, cross-department and cross-organisational groups and project teams.

If you have a question about the role or would like to discuss it informally, please feel free to contact Simona Webb at simona.webb@london.gov.uk to arrange a call.

Please note all applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs alone for this role. Please upload a personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the following technical requirements and competencies in your personal statement. Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and cover letter are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g. “CV – applicant name - 012345)

The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework

Technical requirements/experience/qualifications

• A relevant degree or equivalent professional qualification or ability to demonstrate an equivalent level of knowledge and skills gained through experience.
• Experience of working with, or alongside, the public and private sector and a good understanding of the differences in their perspectives and values.
• Experience of project and programme management and reporting.
• Experience working with data.
• Good understanding of infrastructure, utilities, and planning policies or the ability to develop this knowledge quickly.

Behavioural competencies

Building and Managing Relationships

… is developing rapport and working effectively with a diverse range of people, sharing knowledge and skills to deliver shared goals.

Level 2 indicators of effective performance

• Develops new professional relationships
• Understands the needs of others, the constraints they face and the levers to their engagement
• Understands differences, anticipates areas of conflict, and acts
• Fosters an environment where others feel respected
• Identifies opportunities for joint working to minimise duplication and deliver shared goals

Strategic Thinking

…is using an understanding of the bigger picture to uncover potential challenges and opportunities for the long term and turning these into a compelling vision for action.

Level 2 indicators of effective performance

• Works with a view to the future, prioritising own and others’ work in line with GLA objectives
• Briefs and prepares team to accomplish goals and objectives
• Communicates the GLA’s strategic priorities in a compelling and convincing manner, encouraging buy-in
• Balances own team’s needs with wider organisational needs
• Identifies synergies between team priorities and other relevant internal agendas

Planning and Organising

...is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities, and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time to a high standard.

Level 2 indicators of effective performance

• Prioritises work in line with key team or project deliverables
• Makes contingency plans to account for changing work priorities, deadlines and milestones
• Identifies and consults with sponsors or stakeholders in planning work
• Pays close attention to detail, ensuring team’s work is delivered to a high standard
• Negotiates realistic timescales for work delivery, ensuring team deliverables can be met

Problem Solving

…is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative workable and timely solutions.

Level 2 indicators of effective performance

• Processes and distils a variety of information to understand a problem fully
• Proposes options for solutions to presented problems
• Builds on the ideas of others to encourage creative problem solving
• Thinks laterally about own work, considering different ways to approach problems
• Seeks the opinions and experiences of others to understand different approaches to problem solving

Research and Analysis

… is gathering intelligence (information, opinion and data) from varied sources, making sense of it, testing its validity and drawing conclusions that can lead to practical benefits.

Level 2 indicators of effective performance

• Proactively seeks new information sources to progress research agendas and address gaps in knowledge
• Grasps limitations of or assumptions behind data sources, disregarding those that lack quality
• Analyses and integrates qualitative and quantitative data to find new insights
• Translates research outcomes into concise, meaningful reports
• Identifies relevant and practical research questions for the future
  

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL)

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability.
We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share.

Application closing date: Monday 29th May 2023 at 23:59

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.

We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.