Corporate Policy Officer

Who we are

Legal aid plays a vital role in Scottish society by enabling people to enforce and protect their rights, defend themselves and manage their personal affairs and relationships. The Scottish Legal Aid Board is the national funding body for most solicitor and advocate delivered publicly funded legal services.

We also have a role in advising Scottish Ministers on the strategic development of legal assistance.

We welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice.

The role

We are currently recruiting for a policy officer. This is permanent, full-time and pensionable position.

The post holder will contribute to the delivery of SLAB’s policy development programme, which assists the organisation in delivering its mission and strategic objectives.

This is an exciting career opportunity to contribute directly to SLAB’s corporate priorities to deliver high quality and transparent decisions under the legal aid schemes. The ideal candidate should have a good understanding and knowledge about the policy cycle, including the implementation process with proven experience in this field.

You will be working with colleagues within the Policy and Development Team which has 10 members of staff, within the Strategic Development Directorate. Policy officers have a varied work programme including internal policy development, managing advice standards and SLAB’s grant funding programmes, whilst colleagues focus on research and our public sector equalities duties. Your immediate contribution will be on a large scale programme related to the policy and guidance around SLAB’s operational decision making on legal aid, including option appraisal for change.

Candidate’s profile

• Proven ability to analyse information, produce findings and recommendations
• A good level of experience of policy development or project work
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a team
• Persistent, but able to maintain a sensitive and diplomatic approach
• Strong negotiation and group facilitation skills
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Strong customer focus approach
• Adaptability to rapidly changing requirements and the ability to meet tight deadlines
• Strong achievement orientation and an ability to get things done
• Good personal organisation and administration skills, with a methodical and analytical approach to work and the ability to deliver within agreed deadline.
• Initiative to contribute and apply new ideas to working methods with a “can do” attitude.
• Analytical skills with experience of providing a recommendation based on analysed evidence.
• Good skills in graphical presentation of information
• Good IT skills with working knowledge of the MS Office suite of programmes (especially Word and Excel).
• Experience of corporate policy implementation is desirable
• Experience of work in or with central or local government, non-departmental public body or charity will be beneficial but it is not mandatory

SLAB as an organisation is offering stable employment with a wide range of benefits. You will have access to flexible hours and occasional remote working, as well as other employment benefits offered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, which are listed in the full job description.

To access the full job description, person specification and application details, please click the “Apply Online” button or visit www.slab.org.uk/careers/.

For assistance, please contact Klaudia Hall on recruitment@slab.org.uk.

Completed applications should be returned by midday Monday the 12th July. Interviews will be organised via a video call later that month.