Evidence and Policy Manager - Harlow, Essex, United Kingdom - Motability Foundation

Description

Salary:
£45,000Location: Harlow, Essex, 2 days per week in the office


About the role:

At a time of growth and of new opportunities for the Foundation, we want to make faster progress to realise our vision of funding, supporting, researching, and innovating, so all disabled people can make the journeys they choose.

Our Innovation Team, in place since 2020, aims to support the Foundation to reach more disabled people, and explores a wide range of current and future transport modes and technologies and how they could be made accessible.

Flagship projects include grant funding the National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat), setting up a new model of car club in rural areas, and an influencing initiative targeting Government and industry to ensure the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is inclusive.

The Team has also commissioned a wide range of robust research, including on our flagship intervention, the Motability Scheme, and grant funded partners in the disability sector to do the same.

This is a brand new role based in our Innovation Team, working closely with Communications colleagues, to use our existing evidence base and that of our partners to develop robust policy positions.

As a politically neutral organisation that does not currently have a policy function, we want our start to policy work to be rooted in structured research, drawing out themes across transport modes and disability types to tell a clear story about what changes would make the biggest difference to disabled people.

We want to do so in a transparent way that prioritises sharing what we know and convening key stakeholders to bring them on a journey with us.

You will work with internal staff to proactively identify opportunities to influence emerging from our portfolio of innovation projects. You will lead on Motability Foundation's responses to high-profile Government consultations, coordinating closely between the Innovation and Communications Teams.

Where there is alignment and reputational benefit, you may engage external partners to amplify each other's positions and share expertise.

You will develop and implement a specific research programme geared towards supporting us to develop robust policy positions.

You will lean on the subject matter expertise of the Innovation and Communications Teams, but also develop your own knowledge where necessary.

About you:

Must haves:
Experience commissioning robust qualitative and quantitative research.

Experience using internal and external research findings and evidence to develop robust policy positions and respond to high-profile Government consultations.

Understanding of decision-making processes in central and local government, at civil service and political levels.
Ability to facilitate sensitive internal conversations to reach a point of consensus on policy positions.
Ability to engage effectively with stakeholders in Government, industry, and other charities and foundations.

Exceptional written and oral influencing skills, including the judicious use of data and evidence and the compelling presentation of the case for change.

Highly IT literate with extensive experience of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.


Nice to haves:

Understanding of key disability and transport issues, such as the social model of disability, inclusive micro mobility, the transition to electric vehicles, or user-centered design.

Motability Foundation At Motability Foundation we fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose.

We oversee the Motability Foundation Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year.

We award grants to other charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible.

We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Benefits WHAT MOTABILITY CAN OFFER YOU A career with Motability can offer you so much more than earning potential. We pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits and a culture to match, some of which includes;