Senior Engagement Officer
At a glance
- Band
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Full-time, Flexible working, Home or remote working
- Posted
- 11/09/2026
- Closes
- 27/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This advert explicitly states that sponsorship is not offered.
The source advert contains explicit wording ruling out sponsorship for this specific role. Consider other live roles at the same band from sponsorship-friendly trusts.
Role summary
The Senior Engagement Officer supports the Health Research Authority (HRA) in driving change within the Policy and Partnerships Directorate. This role involves developing and implementing communication and engagement plans for various HRA projects. Key responsibilities include planning and delivering events with external stakeholders and monitoring issues affecting them. The officer will also support collaboration with patients, the public, and research professionals.
Essential criteria
- Experience of engaging with people about policy issues in any sector and a strong theoretical understanding of how to do this well. This should be equivalent to at least a post-graduate diploma level of training and experience, but we recognise and welcome that you may have taken very different routes to this.
- Knowledge, Skills and Expertise
- Good analytical and judgement skills, with the ability to apply these to independently manage competing priorities on your time and to be flexible and adaptable when needed to make these happen.
- A good communicator, both in person and in writing, with the ability to convey complex information in a clear and accessible way to different audiences.
Desirable criteria
- Understanding of health and social care research policy.
- Understanding of the policy-making process, including the role of government and parliament.
- Able to manage engagement projects from beginning to end, including defining objectives, designing an appropriate approach to meet these, making this happen, reporting on progress, and using the outputs to inform change.
- Experience of engaging with people and organisations about health and social care research policy and/or issues in research.
- Experience of supporting committees or stakeholder groups, including liaising with members and writing minutes.
- Analytical and judgemental skills
- Able to proactively find, interpret, and define information about issues and stakeholders that are important to the HRA's work, analyse and identify what this means for the HRA, and share these insights with colleagues.
- Interpersonal skills
- Able to apply insights to engage with people and organisations in a way that works for them so that you can build and maintain great relationships with stakeholders.
- Confident to engage with people who may have different and conflicting points of view and use diplomacy and sensitivity to find a way to move forward together.
- Proactively ask for and use feedback to inform your actions, even if it means you need to change your approach.
- Other
- Commitment to inclusivity and valuing diversity.
- Experience of engaging with people about policy issues in any sector and a strong theoretical understanding of how to do this well. This should be equivalent to at least a post-graduate diploma level of training and experience, but we recognise and welcome that you may have taken very different routes to this.
- Knowledge, Skills and Expertise
- Good analytical and judgement skills, with the ability to apply these to independently manage competing priorities on your time and to be flexible and adaptable when needed to make these happen.
- A good communicator, both in person and in writing, with the ability to convey complex information in a clear and accessible way to different audiences.
- Understanding of health and social care research policy.
- Understanding of the policy-making process, including the role of government and parliament.
- Able to manage engagement projects from beginning to end, including defining objectives, designing an appropriate approach to meet these, making this happen, reporting on progress, and using the outputs to inform change.
- Experience of engaging with people and organisations about health and social care research policy and/or issues in research.
- Experience of supporting committees or stakeholder groups, including liaising with members and writing minutes.
- Analytical and judgemental skills
- Able to proactively find, interpret, and define information about issues and stakeholders that are important to the HRA's work, analyse and identify what this means for the HRA, and share these insights with colleagues.
- Interpersonal skills
- Able to apply insights to engage with people and organisations in a way that works for them so that you can build and maintain great relationships with stakeholders.
- Confident to engage with people who may have different and conflicting points of view and use diplomacy and sensitivity to find a way to move forward together.
- Proactively ask for and use feedback to inform your actions, even if it means you need to change your approach.
- Other
- Commitment to inclusivity and valuing diversity.
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 6 at £37,338 – £44,962 a year, across England.
This advert: £39,959 – £48,117 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 1d ago · Closes in 16d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Health Research Authority
Senior Engagement Officer
The closing date is 27 September 2026
Job summary
The Senior Engagement Officer helps the Health Research Authority (HRA) to make change happen. This is a key role within the Policy and Partnerships Directorate, supporting projects and engagement activities that form part of the Policy and Partnerships Directorate's busy work plan.
Main duties of the job
- Work with colleagues develop and implement communications and engagement plans for different HRA projects, reporting on these where relevant.
- Plan and deliver events with external stakeholders and members of the HRA community, including workshop sessions and webinars, that support the HRA's policy development and increase our influence to deliver our mission.
- Monitor issues affecting our stakeholders, and developments in the wider health and social care research environment. Share this information, showing how this impacts the HRA.
- Support collaboration with stakeholders including patients, the public and research professionals through projects and forums.
- Represent the HRA at events and meetings with stakeholders.
About us
Working at the HRA, we are reminded daily of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for you, not just us and the work we do. We ar
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