Public Affairs Manager; Northern Ireland; -share

About the role

Public Affairs Manager for Northern Ireland at Cancer Research UK. The role ensures that ’beat cancer’ remains front and centre for decision‑makers.

Grade: P3

Directorate: Policy, Information and Communications

Reports to: Senior External Affairs Manager (Devolved Nations)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Part time 17.5 hours per week

Salary: £22,278

Location: Belfast, Office‑based with high flexibility (1–2 days per week in the office)

• Lead public affairs activities across Northern Ireland and raise the profile with key political audiences.
• Build strong, lasting relationships with politicians, special advisers, and civil servants.
• Connect across the charity to support research, information work and fundraising efforts.
• Collaborate with policy experts to deliver evidence‑based recommendations.

• Significant experience in public policy, public affairs or parliamentary roles with a proven track record of influencing senior decision‑makers.
• In‑depth knowledge of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, including legislative processes and political dynamics.
• Strong understanding of political advocacy, lobbying standards and policy‑making environments.
• Demonstrated experience developing and overseeing public affairs strategies and operational plans.
• Ability to assess political and policy trends and identify opportunities to enhance organisational influence.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to translate policy priorities into effective influencing activity.
• Highly developed influencing, negotiating and relationship‑building skills with parliamentarians, officials and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to quickly establish credibility and productive relationships across political and sector networks.
• Experience managing complex stakeholder environments and balancing multiple interests.
• Confident representative of the organisation with strong judgement and professionalism.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, producing high‑quality briefings, speeches and political communications.
• Strong media engagement skills, including delivering interviews as part of an influencing strategy.
• Exceptional attention to detail and flawless presentation.
• Effective and experienced people manager, able to work collaboratively within a job‑share arrangement.
• Strong team‑working skills and ability to support wider public affairs and campaigns teams.
• Calm, resilient and solution‑focused under pressure.

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high‑quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve work‑life balance, advance your career and achieve personal wellbeing goals.

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; however we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.