Senior Advisor – Policy, Research and Campaigns

Senior Advisor – Policy, Research and Campaigns
• Help shape Melbourne City Mission’s social change and systems change agenda
• Great range of employee benefits
• South Melbourne location

About the role
The Senior Advisor will provide high-level capability in policy, research and campaigns that assists Melbourne City Mission to understand and respond to strategic opportunities and risks; advance our social change and systems change agendas; and build our reputation as a thought leader. This is a high-profile role that will work with senior leaders and staff from across Melbourne City Mission, and people we support. The role also offers the opportunity to connect with peers from other progressive organisations, through collaboration on sector-wide advocacy campaigns.
This role is being offered on an ongoing, full-time basis.

Duties:
Work with the Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations, the Executive and Senior Managers to identify public policy goals and develop advocacy strategies.
Project manage advocacy campaigns and projects, including coordination of internal and external resources.
Research, analyse and write content for policy and advocacy collateral, including background briefings, position papers, journal articles, policy submissions and social media advocacy messaging.
Contribute to organisational understanding of the external environment, providing authoritative advice on trends and emerging issues that relate to Melbourne City Mission’s advocacy priorities.
Contribute expertise to external research partnerships and projects.
Lead ‘consumer voice’ advocacy projects and initiatives.

Skills and experience:
• Tertiary qualifications in public policy or other relevant discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse complex information, prioritise important points and synthesise information from different sources, and provide authoritative advice to Executive and senior management and external stakeholders.
• Experience working in the community sector and/or government, and a demonstrated understanding of the relationship between the community services sector and government funding and policy.
• High-level written skills, including the ability to translate complex information or bureaucratic jargon into plain English and to tell stories.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships of trust, positively engage and influence internal and external stakeholders, negotiate briefs and manage expectations.
• Project management skills.
• Capacity to be flexible and operate in a highly dynamic environment with rapidly shifting priorities and tasks.

A position description containing further information is attached below.

For enquiries about this role please contact Deborah Fewster, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations on 0417 259 516 or dfewster@mcm.org.au