Policy Officer

About us

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is the professional institution of choice for water and environmental professionals. We are a vibrant, creative and dynamic organisation with a membership of highly experienced environmental practitioners. We are seeking a motivated and committed candidate to support and develop the work of our expert panels and support the delivery of our policy and project outputs, including written materials and events content.

We are known for bringing an impartial and evidence-led approach to our policy analysis, thought leadership and development of practical tools and guidance to support good water and environmental management.

We engage government, parliament, the media and a wide range of practitioners in our work, sharing the expert knowledge of our members with these audiences. We facilitate knowledge exchange through forums and events of all sizes. We broker discussion between a wide range of stakeholders to develop consensus on solutions and the mechanisms to mainstream them. We need to grow our team to support this activity.

About the role

As Policy Officer, you will work closely with the Policy Manager, Director of Policy and Director of Innovation and Delivery and a wide range of our members through our specialist panels. These panels bring experts together to consider a range of contemporary environmental issues including climate change, natural capital and ecosystem services, flood risk management, water resources, wastewater and sewerage, and water quality.

You will support and develop these networks, coordinate the production of policy outputs such as consultation responses, briefings and position statements, and support the delivery of project work in the Policy to Practice team. At critical times of the year, you will also support the generation of content to support our flagship events such as our Flood and Coast conference. We are looking for someone with an analytical mind, initiative, good organisational skills, a keen desire to immerse themselves in a range of different technical issues, as well as an ability to write well.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the work of colleagues in the Policy to Practice team to deliver CIWEM’s strategic aims and objectives.
• Provide secretariat support to CIWEM’s specialist panels, including organising meetings, preparing papers and producing minutes.
• Work with our communications team to promote the activities of our Panels and strengthen their membership to ensure diverse and experienced representation.
• Help develop online communities supporting these Panels and other CIWEM activities as appropriate.
• Support the Policy Manager and Director of Policy with the preparation of policy statements, briefing papers, consultation and parliamentary inquiry responses, to communicate the views of CIWEM to policymakers and key stakeholders.
• Support project delivery as required by Policy to Practice colleagues.
• Assist in developing events based on Panel activities and policy outputs e.g. webinars, conferences or parliamentary launches.
• Support our events team at critical points in the year to develop content for our flagship events.
• Support broader work of the External Affairs Group and wider CIWEM team when requested, proactively contributing to team meetings, project meetings and content planning sessions.