Information Commissioner’s Office; ICO | Lead Policy Engagement Officer

Location

• Location
  :
  London or Wilmslow, Cheshire (Hybrid)
• Salary
  : £33,273 – £37,692 per annum with potential for further progression to £42,439 per annum with our pay progression scheme
• Term
  : 12-month Fixed Term (Full-time)

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

The Public Affairs (Sectors) team is the front door into the ICO for strategic external stakeholders in our priority sectors of policing & justice, health, education and local government. We provide strategic regulatory advice that helps bring clarity and certainty on information rights issues, and we support our regulatory activity to have greater impact.

As sector experts, the team provides colleagues with early warning of emerging issues and risks, sharing intelligence throughout the ICO to continuously improve our empathy with those we regulate. As trusted advisers to the Commissioner and Executive Team, we drive and support strategic, proactive external stakeholder engagement and help resolve reactive issues. We build understanding of the ICO by driving awareness of priority campaigns.

As the Lead Policy Engagement Officer, you will support the work of the Senior Policy Engagement Officers in the policing, justice and immigration sectors. You will work across the organisation and with a range of stakeholders including government departments, sector bodies and civil society. The role will involve identifying current and emerging sector‑specific issues, pulling together complex information to provide timely advice and producing concise, impactful briefings.

You will be motivated by providing an excellent service to external and internal stakeholders alike, underpinned by great organisational skills.

Contracted to our Wilmslow or London, office, however, we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need. Please note, from Autumn 2026 our head office will move from Wilmslow to Manchester city centre.

• To support the team in building and maintaining relationships with high-profile external stakeholders.
• To identify risks for the ICO on data protection issues by developing knowledge and understanding of both data protection legislation and assigned sectors, including through active engagement on emerging legislation and technological developments.
• Delivery of effective and impactful stakeholder engagement by producing briefing documents, consultation responses and other reports, coordinating cross-office input.
• To coordinate and deliver strategic stakeholder engagement in support of proactive ICO campaigns.
• To promote effective cross-team collaboration including by chairing cross-office forums and proactively sharing intelligence with colleagues.
• To represent ICO at events and support senior staff in stakeholder engagement.
• To promote compliance with data protection and where concerns arise, escalated these to ICO colleagues to support appropriate regulatory action.
• To empower responsible innovation by providing advice to Government on emerging legislation, part of our statutory responsibilities under Article 36(4) GDPR.
• To raise the ICO’s profile by coordinating external stakeholder engagement and speaking requests for the organisation as a whole.
• To provide policy, engagement and some administrative support to the team and wider department.
• Comply with ICO Policies and Procedures

Essential criteria assessed at the application stage:

• Experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational…