Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager

Title: Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager
Salary: From £45,000 - £55,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 per week (Monday to Friday)
Holiday: 25 days per year plus bank holidays
Location: Home based with regular travel within / to London and across the UK
Probationary Period: 3 months
Reports to: Head of Department
Benefits: An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year, Flexitime policy, 5% pension contribution

Title and salary to be commensurate with experience.

We are a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue UK rivers from a toxic cocktail of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution and water shortages. We support community action, galvanise and mobilise public opinion, influence government policy, take legal actions and call out destructive industrial practices to incentivise changes that end river pollution and secure freshwater.

We are building a talented team of positive disrupters and stakeholder mobilisers to deliver our strategy to urgently protect and restore our rivers for the benefit of communities, rivers and wildlife.

Britain’s rivers are our life support system and they are dying. We need urgent action to bring them back to life.

We are expanding our political influence by introducing this new position, which will work closely with our existing Policy and Advocacy Manager to bolster our strategic reach particularly in the areas of water scarcity, security and justice, sewage and chemical pollution, and water sector reform.

We are seeking a dynamic and self‑motivated individual who shares our passion for protecting rivers and securing our nation’s water, food, health, jobs and economy to join our team to drive forward our policy and advocacy work. This role requires a strategic thinker with strong policy insights capable of blending analytical problem‑solving with intelligent advocacy to drive meaningful change. This role requires someone to have excellent writing skills and the ability to draft complex policy documents as well as top line arguments for wider communication.

The ideal person will bring a combination of expertise, energy and ideas to amplify our impact, holding decision‑makers and polluters accountable with a professional and diplomatic approach. They will engage with influential people across the sector, government, industry and media.

If you thrive in fast‑paced environments and want to be at the forefront of environmental policy and advocacy across multiple campaigns, we’d love to hear from you.

As a Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager, you will lead the development and drafting of River Action’s overall policy strategy as well as leading on specific policy areas. You will play a leading role in shaping and advancing River Action’s political and policy influence, working closely with the Senior Management Team, Chief Executive and wider organisation to develop and execute an impactful policy and advocacy strategy.

River Action is the Co‑Secretariat for the APPG on Water Pollution, offering our Policy and Advocacy Manager a unique opportunity to shape the policy direction for River Action and also to influence policy development across Parliament.

You will also work closely with our public affairs agency who manage our daily Westminster activities.

You will:

• Lead River Action’s development and delivery of our policy and advocacy strategy on sewage, industrial water pollution, and water scarcity
• Collaborate with River Action’s team and external partners to ensure our collective work is underpinned by robust and forward‑thinking policy analysis and evidence.
• Develop policy analysis to support campaign, communications and policy strategies, based on a strong evidence base and a sound understanding of the relevant legal and policy frameworks.
• Translate complex policy and evidence into concise documents with clear messages and compelling campaigns to engage political and policy stakeholders.
• Monitor and analyse political and policy developments, interpreting their implications and opportunities for River Action and its supporters.
• Generate analysis to enable participation in…