Senior Policy & Public Affairs Lead - Northern Ireland

Barnardo's is seeking a Senior Policy & Public Affairs Lead  for and based in Northern Ireland, this is offered on a fixed-term basis until 31 October 2026 as maternity cover.  

The postholder will be responsible for developing and delivering Barnardo's policy and public affairs activity across Northern Ireland, using intelligence and feedback to plan and deliver influencing activity that delivers transformational change for children. You will work closely with our frontline services, the wider UK Policy and Public Affairs Team, our communications team, and our voice and influence team to bring the voices of children and young people to decision makers in NI in order to make childhoods safer, healthier, happier, and more hopeful.

This will be busy year in Stormont with a comprehensive legislative and policy development agenda, before the upcoming Assembly election in 2027. A key policy and influencing area for Barnardo's in Northern Ireland is the Anti-Poverty Strategy, where we work closely with partners across civil society to set out our evidence-based recommendations. We also have a key focus on the implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Children's Social Care Services. In addition to these key areas, there are a number of other policy and influencing priorities that the team in Northern Ireland deliver on, as well as responding to policies and proposals published by government departments and key stakeholders.

You will be managing one Policy and Public Affairs Officer (0.6 FTE) and will be line managed by the UK Policy and Public Affairs Manager, as well as having close relationships with the Director for Barnardo's Northern Ireland, and colleagues delivering services across Northern Ireland.

The role is offered on a hybrid basis and will require travel to Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland, as well as occasionally to London and/or other parts of the UK, for in-person meetings as required.

Please see the attached Additional Information sheet for details of  the required essential criteria:

Hours:  36.25 hours per week

Salary: £38,864.80 - £52,520.00

Contract type: Fixed to 31 October 2026 (Maternity Cover)

Location: Hybrid - Barnardo's Northern Ireland Office base negotiable.

Closing date: Midnight, Sunday 12 October 2025

Interview date: TBC

A waiting list will be held in the event that similar vacancies arise during the next 12 months

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.  

Our basis and values