Senior Equality and Partnerships Adviser

About the role

Senior Equality and Partnerships Adviser

Fixed Term (2 years), Full Time (37 hours per week)

up to £55,422 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: 16th October 2024

Please note this role will be offered on a fixed-term contract or secondment basis for 2 years.

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 1.5 million residents in the historic and beautiful county of Essex. ECC has an ambitious agenda for our place reflected in our strategy Everyone’s Essex. As a senior Equalities and Partnerships adviser in Essex, you will work in the Council’s Equalities and Partnerships Team, working closely with the Deputy Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and other senior politicians and officers. You will also work externally, partnering with senior leaders from across a range of public services including, Local Authorities, Police, Heath, Fire, Universities, and our Community and Voluntary Sector partners to support public service reform- creating a more joined up public service landscape.

The Equalities and Partnerships teams’ remit is broad. It covers a range of challenging equalities and partnership issues of national as well as local importance, including, how as an organisation we respond to the root causes of inequality, the continuing cost of living crisis, through to ensuring we are an effective Anchor organisations across Essex that can support our communities, through the delivery of our core services at a place level. This will include coordinating the Council’s internal equality assurance processes alongside design and delivery of bespoke programmes of work aimed at tackling inequality and supporting the Council’s ambition to share prosperity across the county.

The team also provide secretariat and project coordination support that connects and joins up the work of the Essex Health and Wellbeing Board, Essex Partners, Safer Essex and Essex Chief Executives Forum.

The backbone to this work will be your desire to strive for a fairer Essex where equality of opportunity is at the heart of your thinking in order to deliver the against our wider equalities agenda. What is more, we will rely on you to build effective and sustainable relationships in order to win support from both internal and external colleagues.

About you:

You will be highly credible with proven leadership and relationship building skills, and able to deliver impact across a broad range of public policy areas and issues. You will be able to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team with the ability to make sound decisions and drive progress in a complex and challenging environment. You will have a background in policy and partnership working, particularly in improving outcomes for residents, and an interest in at least some of the policy issues facing public services across Greater Essex. You will be able to develop system wide strategies that are evidence based and that translate into effective delivery across the organisation and the wider partnership landscape. You will be comfortable working in a politically led organisation and able to engage effectively with politicians and senior officers. You will be motivated, proactive and able to deliver high quality work at pace.

Responsibilities:

Policy analysis and development related to inequalities and wider public service reform.
Ensuring that policy development is in line with our overall strategic ambitions and has demonstrable delivery impact.
Ensuring that equalities policy development is based on solid evidence and insight and draws on learning and best practice from across the sector, nationally and internationally.
Effective Monitoring and evaluation methods to support delivery of key policies and projects.
Effective management of relationships with politicians and senior officers across the Council and with partners.
Leading effective and timely secretariat policy support to strategic boards and partnerships.
Develop and deliver timely interventions that support the overall ambitions of the council.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

In depth understanding public policy challenges facing local government.
Strong written and oral communication skills with an ability to present complex material clearly and concisely.
Knowledge of the key drivers of inequality and experience of interventions that can help address inequality.
Strong organisational skills to ensure effective management of complex programmes of work that are delivered in partnership.
Ability to deliver high quality interventions at pace.
Ability to connect strategy development with delivery in a way that is operationally literate.
Experience of working with a range of partners across complex disciplines.
Strong influencing and negotiating skills.
Strong inter-personal skills and the ability to effectively liaise with politicians and other senior leaders with the ability to influence relevant outcomes.
Ability to work in a hybrid environment.
Ability to use Microsoft office and teams’ applications.
Ability to travel across the county if required.

Desirable but not essential

Knowledge and experience of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Please note that this is a politically restricted role.

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us here.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Apply & next steps.

To apply please upload an up to date CV and supporting statement when prompted. This should include demonstrable experience for all the bullet points listed under “Knowledge, Skills and Experience”.

To view our Organisational Behaviours information please visit: https://www.workingforessex.com/organisational-behaviours/

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community here.

If you have any queries regarding this role or require anything.

further, please contact the Essex Recruitment Team via resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community here.

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