Senior Adviser Electoral Performance

Job summary

Basis: Permanent, Full time 36 hours per week

A £312 tax-free working from home allowance is also payable annually.

Location : Cardiff, Belfast Edinburgh (Hybrid – min. 2 days in office), or Remote UK

Benefits: Outstanding benefits including Civil Service Pension Scheme, flexible working, 28+ days holiday, and more.

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we continue to deliver our five-year Corporate Plan, the Commission is building on a period of growth and change, expanding our workforce and modernising how we deliver our services to better support the needs of a changing democracy. As our organisation develops and adapts to meet future challenges, this post will play a vital part in supporting that progress and helping ensure we remain responsive to the democratic needs of voters, campaigners, parties and electoral administrators across the UK.

Job description

About the role

As a Senior Adviser in our Electoral Performance Team, you will work to improve the effectiveness, resilience and performance of electoral services in local authorities. You will work with Returning Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and electoral stakeholders to develop and embed the Commission's approach to performance standards and drive improvements across the electoral community.

This is an exciting time for the team, as we develop the future approach to monitoring electoral performance. You will have the opportunity to shape new frameworks, tools and ways of working that will influence how electoral performance is measured for years to come.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing and embedding the Commission's performance standards framework for electoral services.
• Leading projects and initiatives that improve electoral performance and support good practice across the sector.
• Working closely with internal and external stakeholders to develop and refine our approach to performance monitoring.
• Providing expert advice on performance standards, consultations, legislation and electoral policy developments.
• Analysing data and insights to identify trends, challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• Planning and delivering communications, guidance and engagement activities with electoral stakeholders across the UK.

About the team

You'll join the Electoral Performance Team within the Electoral Administration & Regulation Directorate – based across the UK.

The team is responsible for developing and maintaining the Commission's performance standards for Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers . The team works closely with colleagues across Guidance, Policy and Research, Communications, English Regions and the devolved offices to help improve electoral outcomes across the UK.

This is a highly collaborative team with a strong external focus. You'll regularly engage with local authorities, Returning Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, the Association of Electoral Administrators, Electoral Management Boards and government departments. The team currently includes the Electoral Performance Manager and senior advisers, offering a supportive environment with opportunities to influence significant national projects.

Person specification

Who we’re looking for

We're looking for a talented professional who enjoys using evidence, insight and stakeholder engagement to drive improvement.

You may come from a performance management, regulatory, audit, public sector, governance or operational improvement background. You'll be experienced in working with performance frameworks, analysing information, influencing stakeholders and delivering improvement initiatives.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring:

• An understanding of performance standards, performance monitoring or continuous improvement approaches.
• Experience of working with legislation and providing advice on its application.
• Experience of delivering work through formal project management approaches.
• Experience of analysing complex information and developing evidence-based recommendations.
• Strong written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and relationship-building skills.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.

Experience of electoral services, delivering training or guidance, or applying improvement methodologies would be advantageous but is not essential.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,031, The Electoral Commission contributes

£11,596 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Why work for us?

The Role:

This role offers a rare opportunity to influence how elections are delivered across the UK. You'll work on high-profile projects that directly support electoral administrators and contribute to strengthening democracy.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Help shape the future of the Commission's electoral performance framework.
• Work with senior stakeholders across government, local authorities and the wider electoral sector.
• Lead nationally significant improvement initiatives.
• Develop expertise in electoral performance, regulation and public service improvement.
• Build a strong network across the UK's electoral community

Our offices in London, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh provide welcoming, collaborative spaces where colleagues can connect, share ideas and work together across teams. We also support a range of flexible working arrangements, including hybrid and remote working, ensuring all colleagues can contribute, collaborate and feel connected wherever they are based.

The Benefits:

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• • Flexible working and hybrid model for office-based staff, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent in the office
• Flexi-time scheme, allowing flexible hours with the option to accrue and take flexi leave
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Performance-related pay

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

Do not include:

• Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details
• Your date of birth or age
• Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers
• A photo of yourself
• Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age
• There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

Do include:

• Your employment history including employers and dates of employment
• Explanation for gaps in your history
• Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV.

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and non-disabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: Monday 28th September (23:59)
• Interviews (1st stage): Week commencing Monday 12th October
• Anticipated start date: TBC

Interviews are expected to be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)

and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available.

You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Further information

Raising a Concern About the Recruitment Process

At the Electoral Commission, we are committed to delivering fair, inclusive, and transparent recruitment. Our recruitment practices are guided by Civil Service values and comply with the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

If you have concerns about the way a recruitment process has been conducted, we encourage you to raise them with us.

How to