Strategy & Government Relations Officer

Strategy & Government Relations Officer - 32590

We are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We don’t just talk about diversity; we seek it, embrace it, and live it — for the benefit of our staff, our communities, and our environment.

This high‑profile role requires organisational skills, political awareness, and the ability to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver outcomes that matter. It represents an excellent opportunity to deepen your understanding of how arm‑length bodies work with government departments and ministers on policy and parliamentary matters and to devise strategies that meet tomorrow’s environmental challenges.

• Coordinating and quality‑assuring responses to high‑profile requests, such as for ministerial correspondence.
• Managing shared inboxes, tracking actions, and improving information flow.
• Supporting responses to parliamentary questions, ministerial or senior briefings.
• Delivering impactful engagement with external stakeholders.
• Monitoring trends, government and political activity, and helping to share good intelligence across the organisation.
• Building and maintaining effective relationships across the Defra Group, including senior leadership.
• Supporting incident management activities.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to present information clearly and accurately.
• A flexible approach with the ability to deliver high‑quality work to tight deadlines.
• Resilience under pressure and confidence in knowing when to seek guidance and support.
• Experience in a customer‑facing or stakeholder engagement role, with a focus on building relationships and maintaining a positive reputation.
• Strong organisational skills, including effective management of knowledge and information.
• An understanding of parliamentary and government processes, or experience in stakeholder engagement (desirable but not essential).

Location:

EA Office base, national role flexible/hybrid; travel and overnight stays may be required.

For queries, contact eatale
.

Applications are “blind” assessed using competency question responses. Interviews will be held via MS Teams from mid‑January.

This role includes incident response duties; please see the Candidate Information Pack for details.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Associate

Full‑time

Legal