Principal Officer - Engagement

• Hours: 37 hours
• Contract: Fixed Term - 2 years
• Salary: £61,352 - £66,514
• Location: Sheffield (This is a hybrid role with a minimum of 3 days per week in the office).

We also welcome applications from candidates interested in a secondment opportunity.

We’re looking for a Principal Officer – Engagement to lead the development and delivery of SYMCA’s Engagement Strategy, embedding a culture of creative, inclusive, high-quality engagement across the organisation. You’ll coordinate engagement activities, manage engagement leads, and ensure that all engagement work aligns with the Mayor’s priorities and SYMCA’s strategic objectives. This is a senior role with significant influence—helping to build trust, strengthen relationships, and improve outcomes for South Yorkshire.

Applications must be accompanied by a cover letter to detail how you meet the essential criteria for the role (please see role profile attached). Please note, all applications should be made directly via our careers portal.

Please note South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority does not hold a sponsorship licence and cannot provide Skilled Worker sponsorship for any roles advertised.

In this role, you’ll champion best practice in engagement, ensuring that SYMCA’s approach is ethical, accessible, and impactful. You’ll design and deliver engagement activities and training, provide internal consultancy, and work with partners to maximise collective impact. Your work will help shape policy, improve organisational capability, and foster a culture of engagement excellence.

• Design and deliver a corporate engagement training programme to build internal capability and confidence.
• Design and deliver some engagement activities directly but chiefly provide consultancy and advice to the organisation on ethical and accessible engagement, ensuring compliance with best practice and legal standards.
• Collaborate with Bloomberg I-Team and Insights team to co-design innovative engagement and social research projects.
• Coordinate outreach and partnership working with key stakeholders including local authorities, MCAs, Government, VCSE, and universities.
• Convene and manage internal and external engagement networks to build organisational capacity and foster peer learning.
• Identify emerging trends and best practices in engagement, translating insights into strategic recommendations.

We’re looking for an enthusiastic strategic leader with proven experience in designing and delivering engagement programmes. You’ll need excellent communication and project management skills, the ability to work across complex structures, and a passion for championing inclusive engagement. If you thrive on driving culture change and building strong relationships, this role is for you.

• Experience delivering engagement projects in partnership with external organisations.
• Experience designing toolkits and delivering training to build engagement capability.
• Excellent communication and project management skills.
• Experience managing high-level stakeholder relationships.
• Experience in ethical and inclusive engagement approaches and using digital tools to manage relationships.
• Experience presenting, organising events, and managing meetings.
• Interest in devolution and its potential to empower communities and restore trust.
• Demonstrable interest in behavioural insights, social research, and participatory engagement methods.

All colleagues have access to a Local Government Pension Scheme and the chance to be part of an organisation where you can really make a difference. Located in Sheffield City Centre, we are well-placed for transport links and encourage employees to take advantage of the active travel facilities. Work/life balance is extremely important to us here at SYMCA with our recognised family/friendly policies, genuine work flexibility, recognition, and shared success.

In addition to the above, some of benefits include -

• Holiday Entitlement – From 28 to 36 days annual leave entitlement (depending on length of service) plus bank holidays. Pro-rata for part time colleagues.
• Annual Leave Purchase Scheme – The ability to purchase up to…