Senior Public Affairs and Policy Manager

Working hours – full time (35 hours a week) - you’ll agree your working pattern with your manager (core working hours are 10:00 - 16:00).

Location – London and homeworking (minimum 6 days a month in the London office, anchor day in the office every Wednesday)

Purpose and scope

Are you looking for a policy role where you can make a difference? We’re looking for a senior public affairs and policy manager at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) to grow the RCP’s influence with government and in UK parliament to ensure the voice of physicians effectively influences the national policy agenda.

You’ll be part of the policy and campaigns team, responsible for ensuring the RCP maintains its position as a credible, influential stakeholder in the eyes of government, NHS systems and our physician members.  

You’ll join the organisation just as it publishes a new strategy and decides new areas of policy focus. You’ll play a critical role in developing and delivering the public affairs strategy to ensure that the RCP is an effective advocate for its members.

You will lead and manage our public affairs work, designing and delivering influencing strategies and contributing your expertise to policy development and campaign planning for a range of policy issues. You’ll maintain a proactive awareness of issues within the UK health sector, politics and the media and identify opportunities for influencing and policy development. You will have demonstrable experience of developing and delivering successful influencing strategies, using a range of parliamentary influencing tactics to achieve policy change.

You will lead and manage the organisation’s stakeholder engagement. You will ensure we have the right relationships at the right level to achieve our influencing aims and maintain a network of contacts across the sector, in parliament, including political advisers, and the civil service.

You will be as comfortable speaking to parliamentarians and briefing senior leaders for meetings as you are writing consultation responses and policy briefings. You will be able to engage with the policy detail, while appreciating the bigger political picture and our place in it.

You’ll need a sharp eye for detail and be able to quickly and accurately interpret and communicate complex information. You will provide the president, senior officers and senior staff with public affairs advice, brief them for meetings and play an active role in engaging external stakeholders in NHS systems and the wider sector yourself.

The RCP represents around 40,000 members and fellows in the UK and internationally. Our members and fellows work across over 30 medical specialties such as cardiology, neurology, infectious diseases, geriatric and respiratory and acute internal medicine - working in hospital and community settings.

The policy and campaigns team – which is part of the wider communications, policy and research directorate – is a fast paced, collaborative and innovative environment. You will help us shape our objectives and continuously improve how we work.

Responsibilities

• Maintaining a proactive awareness of issues within the UK health sector, politics and the media and identifying opportunities for influencing and policy development
• Working proactively to identify opportunities for parliamentary engagement to grow the profile of the RCP.
• Building and owning relationships with Ministers Parliamentarians, their staff and civil servants, arms-length bodies and other sector stakeholders organisations relevant to the RCP’s policy and campaigns aims.

• Providing public affairs advice to senior officers and staff, as well as RCP boards, committees and other RCP activities as appropriate
• Managing a robust horizon scanning and political intelligence monitoring service to the senior officers, senior staff and the RCP as a whole.

• Owning a policy portfolio and developing proactive and reactive policy positions, working in partnership with senior officers, RCP members, communications colleagues and other staff and organisations. 
• Working flexibly and proactively without close supervision, undertaking a range of work such as writing briefings, letters, policy positions and consultation responses.
• Working with the media team to develop our voice with communications approaches that ensure high impact for our influencing and campaigns work.
• Preparing senior officers and staff for stakeholder meetings, supporting them in those meetings and yourself representing the RCP at meetings and events.
• Managing an adviser and developing them to the best of their ability.
• Any other duties commensurate with your post, including deputising for the head of policy and campaigns and executive/deputy directors of communications, policy and research, and managing budgets.

Experience

You will

• a strong background in public affairs, policy development and effective influencing in Westminster and UK government
• significant experience of developing and delivering successful influencing campaigns and having used a range of public affairs tactics, including the media, to achieve policy change
• significant experience of the policy development process and understanding of how to influence national and/or arms-length body policy processes. 
• excellent writing skills and experience of producing briefings, consultation responses and other communications on behalf of an organisation and senior people
• strong experience of giving advice to senior people, getting buy-in for your ideas and influencing opinion internally
• strong experience of successfully managing competing views, priorities and interests to achieve your aims. 
• be able to quickly develop positive and effective working relationships with a diverse range of people, including those at senior level
• experience of successfully managing high profile issues, relationships and events
• acting on your own initiative to develop new work, proposing reasonable and realistic solutions
• understand the importance of and be committed to involving a diverse range of organisations and people in developing and delivering campaigns.

You may have experience of

• health and/or social care policy
• influencing the Senedd
• communications management
• working in a membership organisation and involving members in advocacy
• budget management

For more information about the role and RCP, please view the role description  attachment at the bottom of this page. 

How to apply 

Please click "Apply Now" to submit your CV and a supporting statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining, with clear examples, how your skills and experience match the job description and person specification. Applicants who do not submit a relevant supporting statement as requested will not be shortlisted. 

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already significantly transforming the way we work. The policy and campaigns team is excited by the prospect of AI and is committed to learning how it can be used, just like any other tool, to help us be better at our roles. We recognise it can be helpful in applying for jobs too! We have developed guiding principles for what we think good, responsible use of AI looks like in the context of policy work. One of these is that we will not solely use AI to write policy materials. To ensure we are able to fully consider your application, we ask you not to solely use AI to generate a cover letter. AI tools may help you to apply for this role, but it’s essential that you use them appropriately. Authenticity is important. We are interested in who you are, how you think, and how you write.

For an informal discussion about this role, candidates are welcome to contact our Hiring Manager on louise.forsyth@rcp.ac.uk or our recruitment team on:  

Email: recruitment@rcp.ac.uk 

Telephone: 020 3075 1649 

Closing date: 05 May 2026

Interviewing date: 18 May 2026

The RCP positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, transgender status, religion or belief, marital status or pregnancy and maternity. 

The RCP is all about our people – our members, staff, volunteers and leaders. We educate, influence and collaborate to improve health and healthcare for everyone and know we can only do this by being inclusive, encouraging and celebrating diverse perspectives. Welcoming into our community people who represent the 21st-century medical workforce and the diverse population of patients we serve is a priority for us.