It's an exciting time to join the Scottish Youth Parliament as Policy and Campaigns Manager. With a new membership and a brand new set of campaigns, this is the right time for someone with experience of leading bold and impactful campaigns to join the team.

The role

The Policy and Campaigns Manager plays a vital role in supporting young people to lead bold and impactful campaigns on the issues that matter to young people in Scotland. The postholder will lead the planning and delivery of SYP’s campaigning and influencing activities, ensuring that young people’s priorities are translated into effective campaigns, clear communications and meaningful opportunities to influence decision-makers.

The Policy and Campaigns Manager provides line management support for officers within the Policy and Public Affairs team and contributes to wider organisational planning and delivery as a member of SYP’s Managers Forum.

This is an updated role to better reflect the importance of making change at SYP, a key strategic objective.

For a conversation about the role, please get in touch with Emily Beever, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, emily.b@syp.org.uk.

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we enter a bold new chapter under our five-year Corporate Plan, we are increasing our workforce and transforming how we plan and deliver core services. This post plays a central role in that journey.

About the office

Our Edinburgh office is based in the Quay building in Fountainbridge, offering a modern and welcoming place to work. Colleagues here will have access to an on‑site gym, and the office benefits from impressive views across the city, including Edinburgh Castle. The building sits alongside the Union Canal, providing a pleasant setting for lunchtime walks or time outdoors, with a range of shops, cafés and amenities close by.

The office is conveniently located around a 12‑minute walk from Haymarket station, with excellent rail connections as well as frequent bus and tram services, making it easy to commute from across the city and beyond. Combined with our flexible and hybrid ways of working, the Quay building offers an attractive, well-connected and comfortable working environment.

About the role

This is a varied, public-facing role at the heart of the Electoral Commission’s work in Scotland. You will be a first point of contact for voters and electoral stakeholders, providing clear and accurate information while helping the Scotland team operate effectively.

Working across public information, administration and communications, you will:

• Manage and respond to enquiries by phone, email and letter, recording contacts in line with Commission procedures
• Mork with colleagues to provide advice and guidance to electoral administrators, political parties, candidates, agents and campaigners
• Organise meetings and events, provide secretariat support, take minutes and maintain information resources
• Support financial administration, travel and accommodation arrangements, and practical office requirements
• Support newsletters, internal communications and wider engagement activity

The role offers the opportunity to build broad experience across public information, stakeholder support, communications and business administration while contributing directly to services that support trust and participation in Scotland’s democratic process.

About the team

You will join the Commission’s Scotland team within the Devolution and Law Directorate, reporting to the External Affairs Manager, Scotland. The team supports the Commission’s work with voters and key electoral stakeholders in Scotland and provides the local coordination needed for effective delivery.

The role is highly collaborative. You will work with colleagues across External Communications, Northern Ireland, Wales, Business Support, Internal Communications, Digital Communications, Voter Engagement and Electoral Administration & Regulation. This gives you a broad view of the Commission’s work and the opportunity to build relationships across different professional areas.

Who we’re looking for

We are looking for someone who enjoys helping people, can communicate complex information clearly and takes pride in organised, accurate work. You will be comfortable balancing a varied workload, responding to enquiries and supporting colleagues with the practical detail that keeps a busy team running effectively.

You will need to demonstrate:

• Experience of communicating complex information to the public or other stakeholders
• Ability to use and maintain information resources, such as databases and spreadsheets
• Experience of organising meetings or events
• Experience of supporting communications work, such as drafting and issuing newsletters
• Experience of managing multiple tasks and prioritising your workload effectively
• Good attention to detail, with a thorough and methodical approach

Knowledge of the electoral system and political structures in Scotland and across the UK is desirable, rather than essential.

Why work for us?

This role offers a distinctive opportunity to contribute to the work of the UK’s independent elections regulator from its Scotland office. You will gain exposure to a wide range of audiences and colleagues, develop experience across public information, stakeholder engagement, communications and administration, and see how the Commission supports voters and the delivery of well-run elections.

The breadth of the role also provides opportunities to strengthen transferable skills in customer service, organisation, communication, stakeholder working and electoral administration, supported by the Commission’s learning and development offer.

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Flexible working and hybrid model (40% office minimum)
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Study support for professional qualifications
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities
• Ride2Work, eye care vouchers and more

About BEACON:

Citizens Advice Edinburgh, Capital City Partnership, Fife Gingerbread, Midlothian Sure Start, Circle, Passion4Fusion, The Poverty Alliance and Glasgow Caledonian University are working in partnership to deliver BEACON, a service designed to tackle the roots cause of poverty experienced by ethnically diverse families.

BEACON — Building Equity, Accessibility and Connecting Opportunities Network — will support 200 ethnically diverse families and up to 600 individuals through a relational, wrap-around whole-family keyworker model.

The project will ensure support is available where and when families need it across the Edinburgh and Southeast Scotland region.

Each partner in the consortium will provide additional capacity and specialist expertise to reach ethnically diverse families and improve engagement and outcomes.

Maximising Income and Reducing Barriers to Employment: Citizens Advice Advisers will provide specialist advice, focused on helping families address financial, welfare rights, debt and immigration-related barriers that can prevent them from stabilising household circumstances and progressing towards longer-term outcomes.

You will provide specialist financial, welfare rights, debt and immigration advice that complements whole family keyworker support. This is targeted at low-income ethnically diverse families, particularly those facing overlapping barriers to poverty reduction and those falling within Scottish child poverty priority family types.

You will support the Advice Service Manager in capacity building, strengthening other organisations and advisers to work more effectively with families facing immigration barriers, including the no recourse to public funds condition. This will involve delivering presentations and creating and updating resources.

The overall role of Citizens Advice therefore strengthens the BEACON model by helping families address immediate financial and advice-related pressures while supporting wider outcomes around stability, wellbeing, income maximisation and progression.

This is an excellent opportunity to join one of the cities leading charities and make a substantial contribution to your local community. Competitive salaries and a 7% Employers Pension Contribution are among the many benefits of joining this fantastic organisation. If you are looking for a new opportunity, full details are included in the role descriptions. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Shaina Gabi, Advice Services Manager Immigration by email at ShainaGabi@cabedinburgh.org.uk