This is an exciting opportunity to join the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) in a role that will lead all of SYP’s political, policy, and campaign work.

SYP has a proud history of delivering youth-led campaigns that deliver meaningful policy change. Our campaigns for Votes at 16, Equal Marriage, and the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law, to name only a few, have improved the lives of young people across Scotland.

SYP’s political profile and impact have never been higher. Our new Head of Policy and Public Affairs will drive forward all of our political work and ensure that we deliver even more of the changes to policy and legislation that young people expect of us.

Are you passionate about Human Rights?

Do you want to help improve the realisation of Human Rights for everyone in Scotland?

Do you have the skills, values, experience and expertise to help make that happen?

Are you interested in strengthening Scotland’s National Human Rights Institution?

If so, you could be just what we are looking for!

The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is Scotland’s human rights watchdog.

We are an independent, expert body that works with and for the people of Scotland; we monitor, listen, and speak up for all our rights and respond when things go wrong. We are a public body created by statute, with a mandate to protect and promote the human rights of all people in Scotland.

The Commission is established as a National Human Rights Institution. As such we are part of a global network of bodies accredited by the United Nations to monitor state compliance with international and national human rights law and treaties. We are independent of government. It is the job of National Human Rights Institutions to use the rule of law to promote and protect the human rights of all of the people who live in any given country and assess the actions of the state on that basis. This is how the Scottish Human Rights Commission approaches its work.

Recruitment

We have a number of opportunities for people who share our values and passion for human rights to join our growing team. We are a small organisation with big ambition to use our mandate to further the realisation of people’s human rights in Scotland, and these key strategic posts, working together with colleagues across the Commission, will be integral to our success over the coming years.

The Commission is recruiting for four positions.

This follows an expansion of our mandate with the enactment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024; investment in the development of a People and Culture Programme that will enable us to conclude the implementation of our Independent Governance Review from 2023; and to fill a vacancy following the upcoming departure of a member of the team.

In April the Commission embarked on its new 4-year Strategic Plan for 2024-28, focused on standing up for those in need of protection and holding those responsible for human rights to account. This requires us to build a Commission team infrastructure that is equipped to deliver this, and the current opportunities will support us to enhance our engagement with the Scottish Parliament, the media, and the application of the law through strategic litigation and monitoring of human rights across Scotland.

The Commission is committed to being agile, engaged, accessible, open to collaboration and above all visibly committed to the realisation of rights in Scotland, as an authoritative and challenging partner in pursuit of that goal.

These posts are a critical to enhancing the skills and capacity of our existing team in order to achieve the Commission’s goals.

About the Role

This key post is central to articulating the Commission’s role as Scotland’s human rights watchdog, promoting awareness and understanding of human rights, through the effective development and delivery of the Communication and Engagement strategy.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the role requires an individual with expert level skills across the communications mix of public affairs, corporate communications, media and digital, who can lead a team and empower a shared tone of voice and brand promotion across the organisation, and who can create and deliver strategic communications with purpose and impact. Experience of this gained in a related policy discipline would be welcome. You will lead and influence core messaging and its deployment across multiple channels to maximise exposure and awareness of the Commission’s purpose and outputs. A central feature of the role will be to coordinate activities and resources across the workforce, working closely with the Head of Legal and Policy to ensure effective communications programmes and plans are developed and implemented effectively across all of our core activities.

You will be responsible for developing and embedding the voice of the Commission aligned to its Strategic Plan 2024-28 and play a central role in shaping the Commissions strategic outputs.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will, provide leadership and management to the organisation as the Commission delivers its People and Culture plan in 2025. In addition, you will directly lead and manage the Commission’s Communications Team, ensuring they have effective management direction, support and development as required.

Join us to make sure nobody faces dementia alone

Our charity

Alzheimer Scotland is Scotland’s leading charity for dementia and brain health. Our aims are to prevent, care and cure dementia, and to make sure nobody faces dementia alone.

We are a member-led charity with more than 8,000 members. We are supported by over 500 volunteers, and employ around 400 full and part-time staff, mainly in our direct service provision across Scotland. We are fully committed to Fair Work First and the support and development of our people.

The role

We are at a highly exciting stage in the reshaping of our services as we build sustainable, resilient, therapeutic, and inclusive registered day care and commissioned community supports of the highest quality that can maximise our resources and potential growth opportunities.

Based in either Edinburgh or Glasgow, the Head of Quality will work in close collaboration with the Executive Lead for Operations to ensure that our registered and commissioned services deliver high quality, safe and compassionate care. The role will be responsible for assuring and improving the quality of our registered and commissioned services by determining and undertaking appropriate scrutiny, assurance and improvement activities aligned with the Care Inspectorate Core Assurances and Alzheimer Scotland’s Quality Guarantees and Continuous Quality Improvement Framework.

The role has the lead responsibility for continuous improvement in the quality of our services, the processes that underpin high quality, evidence based, person-centred therapeutic support and in ensuring better outcomes for the people we support.

Full details about the role are provided in the job description available through the link provided.

The person

You will have the right level of personal qualities, experience, knowledge and qualifications, demonstrate excellent leadership qualities and high levels of emotional intelligence, with experience of managing people, supporting staff development and promoting a positive culture. You will be an excellent communicator, highly organised with a collaborative approach to working with others to deliver shared objectives and drive continuous improvement in our practice. You will have a high-level knowledge and understanding of dementia and substantial experience in the management and delivery of services and hold a relevant practice qualification to meet the Scottish Social Services Council registered management requirements. Further details are provided in the person specification provided.