Director of Policy and Campaigns

Closing date: 10 am, 23 April 2010
Interview date: 11 May 2010

Introduction
Role profile
Background
How to apply
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Introduction

Starting salary up to £57,900 - 35 hours - London

Friends of the Earth makes life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems. Our Big Ask campaign helped to secure the world's first Climate Act.

We now seek an outstanding individual to complete our new Senior Management team, and lead the search for people-led solutions to stop runaway climate change and the loss of the planet's biodiversity.

You will lead and deliver campaigns which inspire people with the vision of a better future, build a mass movement, change politics and address the most urgent challenges we face - climate change and biodiversity loss. You will have led and delivered outstanding campaigns which achieved profound change at a national or international level.

Supplementary information:

Please click here for further information.

Role profile

Role: Director of Policy and Campaigns

Home team : Senior Management Team

Purpose of role:

As a member of the Senior Management Team participate in the development and implementation of Friends of the Earth's strategic aims and objectives, and in the leadership and management of the organisation. Lead and influence Friends of the Earth's Campaigns and Policy agenda and work to develop inspiring campaigns and build external relationships that increase Friends of the Earth's influence and profile with key stakeholders.

Working in close collaboration with other members of the senior management team each member is expected to:

· Support the Board(s) in the development of strategy and report as required on its implementation.

· Develop, implement and monitor the performance of strategic and operational plans for the organisation, taking appropriate action to ensure delivery of agreed plans and projects within available resources.

· Coordinate and review budgets as a senior management team; taking remedial action as required to deliver Friends of the Earth's agreed budget and to ensure that the agreed strategy is achieved effectively and cost-efficiently.

· Provide organisation-wide leadership by demonstrating commitment to the vision and values of Friends of the Earth and taking mutual responsibility for positively communicating the organisation's values, priorities and targets.

· Take a lead role in the effective implementation of organisational change, ensuring that Friends of the Earth's organisation structure and capability are appropriate for implementing the chosen strategies.

· Encourage the effective transfer of knowledge within the organisation, and the searching out of new ideas from outside of the organisation.

· Nurture a culture of innovation, whilst ensuring that external ideas and previous learning is harnessed so that Friends of the Earth builds on learning from elsewhere.

· Manage and review projects at all levels, ensuring that due process is followed.

· Develop and maintain systems of management which facilitate open, effective and timely communication.

· Lead, enthuse, support and develop staff and volunteers to reach their full potential and to deliver the best possible outcomes and achievements against agreed objectives.

· Represent and promote Friends of the Earth externally, building networks of supportive, collaborative and productive relationships to address matters of joint concerns and grow the reputation of, and respect for, the organisation.

· Ensure that staff and volunteers comply with Friends of the Earth policies, procedures and statutory obligations.

· Mediate the prompt resolution of disputes or grievances in accordance with policy, involving HR or other specialist expertise as appropriate.

· Deputise for the Managing director as and when required.

Reports to: Managing Director

Required to perform a combination of the following, depending on team/unit and experience:

Deliver outcomes:

Manage and develop Friends of the Earth's Campaign and policy department's strategic and operational work and ensure they are integrated with the organisational planning processes, including the co-ordination of planning, monitoring and evaluation

Campaigns

· Responsible for the development, management and delivery of the strategic content of Friends of the Earth's campaigns.

· Lead responsibility for ensuring development of good European and International Campaigns with Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth International

· Work closely with the Director of Organisational Development to ensure an effective campaigning culture is harnessed within the organisation

· Monitor and evaluate Friends of the Earth's campaigning work so that the EWNI Programme continuously learns and develops professional skills

· Deliver high quality campaign and related activities to create demonstrable sustainable development advances in EWNI and where appropriate overseas.

· Play a major role in the development and delivery of Friends of the Earth's brand strategy

· Work with other colleagues to deliver effective and coherent campaigning and influencing activities thus building the capacity of Friends of the Earth's programme as a whole

· Lead for the SMT in developing and overseeing implementation of specific major departmental or cross organisational projects.

· Develop and ensure implementation of the organisations political strategy

· Be ultimately accountable for the fulfilment of the campaign Aims in the Strategic Plan and for their refinement over time

Policy

· Develop high level external relationships so as to secure access to policy makers and solutions providers and greater recognition of policy positions.

· Responsible for the development, review and implementation of Friends of the Earth's political strategy.

· Responsible for tracking EU policy and impact on Friends of the Earth's campaigns.

· Ensure effective political development processes, and robust and consistent policy positions on the issues Friends of the Earth campaigns and comments on.

· Ensure regular monitoring and analysis of information from Parliament, Government and other sources on political and public policy developments of relevance to Friends of the Earth's work, disseminating to colleagues across the organisation and following up as appropriate.

· Ensure effective quality assurance for all of Friends of the Earth's policy outputs.

· Ensure departmental staff keep the Executive Director abreast of key political and campaign developments and that s/he is appropriately briefed for external events.

· Consider and implement ways of measuring impact of policy work.

Resource Management

· Work with key programme and fundraising staff to secure external funding for our campaigning activities as part of the programmes of work in the EWNI.

· Construct and manage the budgets for Campaigns and Policy within parameters set by SMT.

· Take overall responsibility for the effective, efficient and proper management of delegated budgets including with respect to Friends of the Earth's financial procedures; budget planning, profiling and reviews; variances; purchasing regulations; and delegated authorities.

· Ensure the policy and campaigning knowledge of the organisation is enhanced, systematised and available to others and fully integrated into Friends of the Earth's cross-organisational knowledge management system.

Develop others:

· Provide appropriate support and guidance to Policy and Campaigns Department Heads to ensure they build strong teams that achieve the strategic and operational growth of Friends of the Earth, guiding staff development, and taking prompt action to address issues of underperformance.

· Develop departmental Team Leaders / Heads in their own management and campaign skills.

· Assisting and supporting Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth International through for example membership of the Executive Committees.

· Ensure all relevant staff have appropriate knowledge of Friends of the Earth Campaigning standards and the overall campaign package planning.

Build relationships:

· Facilitate effective working relationships for Friends of the Earth's agenda with relevant decision makers and key audiences. These will include government, national/local organisations, donors, individuals with influence over UK public policy and political processes such as think tanks, trades unions, organisations with influential memberships, corporate and key international organisations. etc

· Represent Friends of the Earth externally through media comment, making presentations, representing Friends of the Earth and undertaking other activities that build profile and influence.

· Drive and contribute to the key coalitions who will impact on our agenda to ensure that they are ambitious and effective. Proactively create and support strategic alliances with external agencies and networks balancing the needs of Friends of the Earth in the short and long term.

· Ensure effective cross-organisational team working within the Policy and Campaigns department and into other departments.

· Promote synergy between Campaign strategy and Marketing/Supporter Development strategy to maximize opportunities for membership communications, engagement, fundraising and growth.

Ideas and solutions:

· Ensure and contribute to the development of clear, relevant and distinctive policy positions in alignment with key strategic objectives

· Support managers and staff in proactively identifying the most relevant topics for Friends of the Earth's policy analysis and campaigning in line with the Strategic Plan and forthcoming external opportunities.

· Ensure Friends of the Earth's policy work is underpinned by rigorous analysis and that FOE has good access to academic and business thinking on solutions.

· Work closely with the Director of Organisational Development in the planning, design, and implementation of organisational development interventions aimed at achieving Friends of the Earth's strategic and operational objectives

· Promote a culture of knowledge sharing and management within Friends of the Earth

Expertise:

Needs to have:

Please see Focus of Expertise below.

Focus of expertise:

All Directors are expected to demonstrate the following Skills and Knowledge, in addition to their specialist requirements outlined below.

Skills and knowledge	Demonstrated by:
Good influencing and negotiating skills with the ability to persuade people at all levels, within and outside the organisation: ability to tailor communications to different audiences.	Proven experience in working confidently at a senior level, in networking, developing relationships with external stakeholders, and in representing an organisation to external stakeholders at all levels.
Exceptional leadership qualities with the ability to listen, convey direction and gain commitment to action, reconciling and balancing conflicting expectations and priorities of stakeholders.	· Experience in managing organisational change at a senior level. · Experience of providing advice and influencing decisions at senior management team/Board/policy maker level · Significant experience of leading and managing staff/a team.
Able to assimilate and analyse information quickly and accurately, think strategically, develop and implement innovative solutions to problems, formulate decisions and make recommendations that are timely and take account of long term risks and benefits.	· Proven delivery of results in line with strategy in an operating environment that has a strong delivery focus.
Able to plan and monitor and to ensure that services or complex projects are delivered to agreed standards.	· Experience of developing operational and strategic plans: proven experience in turning strategy into effective operations and experience of managing and delivering services or complex projects on time and to budget.
Strong financial acumen.	· Experience of constructing and managing significant income and/or expense budgets.
Willingness to take responsibility for and implement corporate decisions.	· Proven evidence of collaborative decision-making.
Able to work as part of a team and someone who can build and retain strong teams.	· Significant experience of leading and managing others.
Knowledge of the voluntary or charity sector.	· Experience of working in or in close collaboration with voluntary or charity sector organisations.

Personal qualities

Senior management team members are expected to be a role model of the skills and behaviours described in Friends of the Earth's Skills and Behaviours Framework, and that encompass the personal qualities below:

A commitment to Friends of the Earth's visions and values
Flexible and adaptable in style and influencing approach
Integrity and high ethical standards
A commitment to equality and diversity

Skills and Knowledge	Demonstrated by:
Ability to develop and implement a campaigning strategy including understanding of the use and value of a range of influencing techniques and tactics used in lobbying, activism and media work. Able to develop strong campaign plans, including ability to identify 'campaignable' objectives with policy experts, set priorities, plan campaigning and evaluate progress.	Proven track record of developing, managing and implementing successful and innovative campaigns and influencing activities with visible results in terms of political, policy and practice change. Track record in developing high quality policy options and recommendations in one or more areas of public policy.
Strong understanding of news media values and opportunities provided by different media with the ability to build media opportunities into campaigning and track-record of getting campaign stories.	Demonstrable track record of implementing a broad range of effective communications and campaigning tactics and sound judgement in dealing with complex and sensitive campaigning matters.
High level of competence at networking and influencing, with proven ability to gather intelligence and build and nurture influential relationships.	Experience of facilitating and influencing professional relationships with high profile policy shapers Experience of developing and delivering complex external and internal influencing strategies Experience of developing strategies around public engagement in campaigning
Good knowledge of governmental and parliamentary structures and processes, and the roles and functions of significant governmental and non-governmental organisations at UK level, plus also at EU or International level.	Experience of influencing changes in the policy of Government or other organisation.
Highly skilled at managing and co-ordinating projects (including with outside agencies); at negotiating and developing mutual co-operation across teams and of managing budgets.	Demonstrable experience of building capacity of staff and partners to participate in campaigns.
People management
Team worker / collaboration to be able to work on SMT and with external coalitions
Public speaking / mobilisation
Managing and commissioning research
Preferably a major European language (Spanish, French, Portuguese)
Writing for different audiences including · Reports · Articles · Fundraising proposals

Focus of development:

N/A

Career stage: Strategic

Levels: 3 - 5 (reference point 5)

Other essential requirements for the role-holder:

The Directors in the Tier 1 team are critical posts in the organisation with external and internal roles. They are expected to function as a team and to reach shared understandings of the organisation's needs and its ability to deliver them. They must be available for internal coordination and joint working in response to external events. They must also be available to do high level media or political work at short notice and at any time of the day/night. Given the duties and functions of these roles and the need to meet regularly with the Executive Director and / or Managing Director and Board Members, the expectation is that members of the Tier 1 team will be based at Friends of the Earth's headquarters base, currently in London.

Role specific requirements:

N/A

Background information

Salary
The starting salary if you are based in London is in a range from £51,300 to £57,900 a year.

The top of the salary range for this role is £57,900 a year. If you are employed to work less than a full time 35 hour week your pay will be based on the number of hours you work as a percentage of full time.

We have a competence based career stages pay structure. Each competence level relates to a pay level.

Based on what you demonstrate during the recruitment process, we gather evidence to assess the level of competence on our career stage structure that you already fully meet. We pay you at this level. Please note: we do not negotiate your pay level.

After you join, you can progress your pay by demonstrating increased competence at annual appraisal against the criteria for the career stages associated with your role profile.

Pension / Life Assurance
You can join our group personal pension scheme after three months service. You can choose from a range of socially responsible funds. We will match your contributions up to a maximum of seven per cent of salary but you may contribute more if you want to build your pension up.

Friends of the Earth also provides life assurance for all employees, to pay out 4 x your annual salary in the event of your death while you are employed by us.

Place of work
You will be based in our Head Office near Old Street

Hours of work
35 hours per week. Friends of the Earth operates a flexi time scheme with normal core office
hours of between 10.00-12.30 and 14.30-16.30, within a working time bandwidth of 07.00-20.00.
You are entitled to an unpaid lunch break of between 30 minutes and two hours.

If you need to work evenings and/or weekends, you should record it through the time recording system.

Holiday
The holiday year at Friends of the Earth runs from 1 January to 31 December each year. Holiday entitlement is initially 25 days paid holiday per year. You can accrue an extra day’s holiday entitlement, up to a maximum of 30 days, for every full year of continuous employment at the beginning of the holiday year (1 January). You are also entitled to paid time off for public holidays. There are some exceptions to this such as when you are on maternity / adoption leave or long term leave of absence.

Diversity and equal opportunities
We give all applications fair consideration. We have a Diversity Forum to drive us forward to being a more diverse organisation in all we do.

We regret that Friends of the Earth does not yet have full wheel chair access.

Working culture
Everything we do, from the day to day operational work to strategic planning, is done with a commitment to participation.

It works for us. We want you to feel involved in all that we do: able to contribute to decision making in ways that make sense and work for you. You can choose not to participate but if you don’t you still have to accept decisions that we take in this way.

It’s an opportunity and a responsibility. We all

accept responsibility with authority and accountability for their actions
act as leaders and visionaries
participate and contribute in an appropriate way at the appropriate times
actively follow through on decisions made through agreed processes, even if they do not agree with the outcome
are willing to be swayed by others
exert self-discipline
praise and challenge themselves and others, rather than waiting for feedback from on high
exhibit respect for others in the organisation
are transparent in the way they do things
show trust and confidence in each other
respect expertise
celebrate success and talk up their organisation internally as well as externally
provide constructive feedback
recognise the importance of communication and sharing information across teams

Loans
We offer interest free loans to all staff for the following:
Season ticket - up to £5,000
Bicycle - up to £5,000 to buy a pedal bicycle for travel to and from work
Personal Development - up to £2,000 to pay for courses, qualifications etc that we do not directly fund
Total of all loans cannot exceed £5,000, the current taxable limit.

Childcare vouchers
You can sacrifice some of your gross salary to buy vouchers for childcare. This can be worth doing as you don’t have to pay tax or National Insurance contributions on the value of the vouchers.

Removal expenses
If you have to move home to be able to take up employment with Friends of the Earth you can claim up to £3000 removal expenses, payable on submission of receipts. For further information and to find out if you qualify contact Human Resources.

Discount card
You can get a card which allows you discounts at local leisure centres.

Online Shop
Our online Shop stocks an extensive range of reading materials on environmental issues from the political to the practical. Staff and volunteers are entitled to 30% off ALL titles sold in the Shop. Log onto www.foe.co.uk/shop

Flexible Working
We consider applications for flexible working arrangements from staff with at least six months service. This can be:

Reduced hours: where we agree that you can work fewer contractual hours than in your current role.
Job Sharing: where we agree that two people can share the same role.
Changing Office Location: where we agree that you can work from a different Friends of the Earth office.

Background information
Friends of the Earth is making life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems.

We are:

the UK's most influential national environmental campaigning organisation
the most extensive environmental network in the world, with almost one million supporters across five continents and over 70 national organisations worldwide
a unique network of campaigning local groups, working in over 220 communities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland
dependent on individuals for over 90 % of its income.

Organisational structure
We employ about 150 paid staff, based mainly in our London Head Office. We also have a Supporter Care unit in Luton and smaller regional offices in major cities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Volunteers play a vital role in our success as an organisation and we currently have around 75 volunteers working in our national and regional offices.

We are led by an Organisational Management Team (OMT) of our Executive Director and other staff who bring the necessary strategic and operational expertise to ensure we achieve our Strategic Plan. We do this through activities and programmes of work, mostly in cross-functional teams. Members of the OMT have individual responsibilities to ensure the delivery of specific activities and collective responsibilities for ensuring the delivery of the whole plan.

All staff member are part of a ‘home team’, led by a team leader who provides professional support and development, coaching and other line management functions.

We are embarking on a new and exciting 5 year strategic plan to take us to 2013.

Here are the strategic aims we want to achieve over the next 5 years.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services
To halt biodiversity loss and reverse the loss of ecosystem services by 2030 at the global, regional and national levels, in ways that protect the rights of people who depend on ecosystem services and enhance the sustainable use of natural habitats.
Climate change
To get global concentrations of greenhouse gases on a trajectory to prevent average global temperatures exceeding 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels by promoting solutions, including the securing of legal and economic frameworks to reduce emissions in an equitable way and in a way that does not undermine biodiversity objectives
Sustainable Economies and Resource Use
Identify the major transformations that must be made to the UK economy and economic policy, and secure actions to achieve these - so that we respect global environmental limits, ensure fair access to resources and pollution capacities, and deliver well-being to all people; and help catalyse transformations to the global economy. And implement improvements to UK and EU resource use.
Rights
To secure a substantive right to a healthy environment in UK law; strengthen the Aarhus procedural rights; and empower people to use their environmental rights.
Delivering Sustainable Development in Nations and Regions
Make a significant shift towards sustainable development in regions and nations, and assist the move towards Sustainable Development in the UK, predominantly through the delivery of the low carbon communities campaign but also assisting in the delivery of resource use, biodiversity and rights solutions as identified in other Aims and, where necessary, responding to significant cases of environmental injustices affecting those campaign areas.
International
Through effective collaboration with others secure a strong and co-ordinated FOEI federation that wins international campaigns on mutually agreed programmes.
Reputation and Reach
Through the delivery of the Brand Strategy: ensure that Friends of the Earth’s prioritised audiences recognise Friends of the Earth as the leading organisation that involves people in campaigning for solutions to the global sustainability challenges and makes life better for people.
Supporter Development Aim
To maximise the value and commitment of all the people who support us.
Activism
In the UK, Friends of the Earth is supporting and empowering its expanded activist networks to act with sufficient force to achieve its campaign aims.
As a result, substantially more people in the UK feel empowered to take political action for environmental solutions.
Fundraising
To create a secure and stable income base for the organisation, sufficient to implement the strategic plan
Organisational Development
Friends of the Earth is fit for purpose to deliver the strategic plan.

How to apply

We want staff to share this vision and join in our success. We aim to recruit the best person for any vacancy. We communicate our vacancies widely and openly and are committed to giving all applicants fair consideration.

We use the information you give us in your application form to decide whether to invite you to interview. We want you to do the best application you can. Here's some guidance to help you.

First

Role profile first. This sets out what we are looking for under specific headings which we call the competencies of this role. You need to relate your experience to these same headings which appear on the application form.
Introduction (and supplementary information). This tells you about the work you will be doing if you are successful.
Background – the terms and conditions of this role and some of the benefits of working here

Applying

The headings in the application form match those in the role profile. Think about how well your knowledge, skills and abilities fit what we are looking for in the role profile and supplementary information. Don't just tell us that you have the skills listed in the role profile or say that you believe you can do the job. Under each of the headings please give us real examples of what you did, when and how you did it and what part you personally played.

Check you are free to come on the planned interview date. If not, please tell us on your application why you can't come and tell us when you are free to come.

Keep a copy of your application form before you submit it online or post it to us.

We send an automated email in response to online applications but can't acknowledge posted forms.

We encourage online applications but you can also download a copy of the application form as a PDF and post it to us.

Shortlisting

At least two people assess how closely your application matches what we are looking for and decide the interview shortlist. We contact shortlisted candidates by phone and ask them to come to interview.

Interviews

If we invite you for an interview we will ask you in more detail about what you have done so you might want to remind yourself what you wrote in your application and be able to talk to the interview panel about it. We often ask candidates to do a job-related exercise to help us assess their competence in particular areas; some are given unseen on the day of the interview, others you will be told about in advance of the interview so you can prepare. When we ask you to interview we will tell you if you will have to do an exercise. If we haven't contacted you by the interview date your application has not been successful.

Feedback

If we interview you, we will let you know the outcome and are happy to give feedback if you would like this. Many of our vacancies are very popular and unfortunately we don't have the resources to be able to offer feedback to you if you were not shortlisted.

Work History Please list below your working history starting with your current or most recent job and work backwards. Say where you have worked, start and end dates, your job title and if this was paid or voluntary work. If there are any significant gaps please explain these. You do not need to tell us in this section about your skills as you can do that later.
Employer	Start	End	Job title	Employee/Volunteer/Note