Life Sciences Policy Officer

The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive - and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a 'home' office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you., + Coordinate a range of policy projects for the IRLSS policy and strategy team.
+ Develop policies and strategies by undertaking activities including stakeholder engagement, scope development, analysis (e.g. conducting literature reviews), options development and policy drafting.
+ Analyse and present complex information to a range of audiences is essential.
+ Support cross NHSE, system and broader ecosystem engagement on the policy projects through roundtables, facilitating 1:1 engagement with senior figures, and coordinating public consultations.
+ Draft high quality briefing documents, reports and board papers to go to NHSE board members and Ministers.
+ Potential policy projects include taking forward the recommendations of the innovation ecosystem programme and a range of other pieces of work, including developing a new strategic partnership approach for the NHS, developing a new strategic foresight function, and supporting the next steps of the integrated rules based pathway for MedTech.
Team development
+ Design and implement a new PMO function for the IRLSS Policy and Strategy team, enabling team members to communicate and collaborate effectively with each other, across NHSE and across organisational boundaries.
+ Be confident working both independently and collaboratively with team members to deliver the team objectives.
+ Openly share knowledge and experience, and seek learning opportunities.
+ Build relationships across the team, organisation and wider system.
+ Develop broad expertise on key issues in life sciences and health innovation including understanding of macro trends in life sciences and health innovation and their implications for the NHS.
You can find further details about the job, in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Our commitments to you
We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes. We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We're passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.
Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK under the Skilled Worker route are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.
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We are looking for someone with outstanding policy skills and experience of working in an agile, project based way. Ideally, you will have experience of different stages of the policy cycle, and be able to use or support the use of policymaking tools including literature reviews, data analysis, stakeholder management, options analysis, implementation design and evaluation.
We are looking for someone with strong project and programme management skills to coordinate multiple workstreams across the team. This person will be able to demonstrate leadership and influencing skills through their ability to coordinate and broker knowledge. Experience of budget management and business case writing is desired.
Excellent written and oral communication skills are required. A large part of this role will be to coordinate the drafting, development and delivery of national policy documents, board papers, and senior level briefings. In addition, the individual will have outstanding relationship management skills, and an ability to build credibility and trust with colleagues in Government, academia, industry and the NHS.
The candidate will be able to demonstrate a proactive and flexible approach to work, and enjoy working in an often uncertain and changeable context.
The role holder will have knowledge and experience of the policy environment within the health sector. We are looking for someone who is passionate about the innovation, research, life sciences and broader health transformation.

The newly formed Innovation, Research, Life Sciences and Strategy (IRLSS) Policy and Strategy function has a mission to make the NHS the best health system in the world, transforming care through research and innovation. We are a new and growing team and we are looking for an outstanding individual who wants to help build our policy function and work on complex problems with a wide range of high profile partners.
You will support the development of a range of complex policy projects, including developing the policy framework and guidance to enable the NHS to support the design, development and deployment of innovation. You will drive changes that will transform the NHS, helping to tackle immediate pressures and enable the shifts to the new models of care, supporting a move to earlier diagnosis, personalisation and prevention and a shift to out-of-hospital care settings.
The IRLSS Policy team is part of a newly established Policy and Strategy function within the IRLSS sub-directorate and plays a central role in convening, collaborating and coproducing policy work across the IRLSS, Transformation and cross-organisation portfolio, and across the research and innovation ecosystem more broadly.
The team values diversity and encourages all applicants who meet the basic requirements, The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
+ Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
+ Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
+ Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
+ Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
+ Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band., NHS England