External Affairs and Policy Officer - Southbank Centre

Description : External Affairs and Policy Officer. Company : Southbank Centre. Location : Hybrid remote in London SE1

Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre is a national flagship cultural institution. It is Europe’s largest arts centre and one of the UK’s top five visitor attractions, occupying an 11-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames.

Its impact and reach are significant and it is respected internationally as a convener of great artists and diverse audiences and for being entrepreneurial and innovative in response to a volatile and changing financial landscape. Southbank Centre is a charity that is determined to demonstrate its ambition to remain innovative, disruptive and experimental in what it does and to be highly relevant to the artists it wants to work with and to the audiences it wants to attract.

Southbank Centre believes that a commitment to diversity and inclusion helps it be a more relevant and effective organisation.

Our Artistic Mission

Southbank Centre exists to provide great artistic experiences for everyone. Through art, we invite our visitors to enjoy shared cultural encounters together. To gaze. To listen. To be moved. To discover a new idea or a new perspective. We are proud that for the last 70 years, the performances and exhibitions here have moved millions. We have provided a home for art and for artists. A community centred on art, where everyone, no matter their job, helps make the experience.

We create a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual, entertaining and eye-opening work. We want to take people out of the everyday, every day.

Our values

Champion Greatness

We seek out great artists and give them the space to present their best work

Take the lead

We make sure we’re at the forefront of the arts – provoking and inspiring, not just following it

Open up the arts

Not everyone will love everything, but we make sure there’s something here for everyone

Have fun

We’re serious about the arts – but not stuffy. Culture here can be playful, provocative, exciting and entertaining. It is a joy not a duty.

We are currently looking for a External Affairs and Policy Officer to join our External Affairs and Policy team on a full time permanent basis.

This is an exciting time to join the team as delivering a new external affairs strategy supporting the overall corporate strategy and new artistic vision.

This role sits in the External Affairs and Policy team and reports to the Head of External Affairs and Policy. The team has had a busy few years supporting the organisation through advocacy on Brexit, lobbying for emergency support during lockdown, advocacy to support an NPO application and navigating several changes of government.

We communicate our impact to stakeholders on organisational priorities like innovation, creative health and creative skills development as well as our over 3,000 events a year and pursue organisational and sector priorities with policy-makers.

To learn more about the role please download the job description attached below.

If you feel that your skills and experience do not fully meet the criteria as listed in the Job Description but that you have other relevant skills and experience that would support you in this role, please do apply and note these in your application.

As well as working at one of London's most popular and engaging sites the successful candidate will also benefit from the following:

  • a min 5% pension contribution (going up to 8% depending on employee contribution)
  • 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
  • Hybrid working model (3 days office working, 2 days from home)
  • Enhanced sick pay
  • Enhanced family leave benefits
  • Discount at all onsite retail, food and beverage vendors
  • Free staff tickets for SC events
  • Free entry to Hayward Gallery
  • Free/discounted entry to other institutes such as the Tate
  • Free staff yoga

We welcome applications from people from a Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse background or those who are D/deaf or disabled. If you wish to discuss reasonable adjustments such as a BSL interpreter for your interview for this role please indicate this on your application form. Interviews are currently taking place via Zoom or Google Hangouts but if you require support to access these platforms someone from the People Team will be happy to assist you. If you would like to speak to someone about any adjustments or concerns you can also email [email protected] and we will be in touch with you to make the necessary arrangements.

By attracting people to work for us from a broad range of backgrounds with diverse attitudes, opinions and beliefs we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things. SC is a warm and welcoming place to work, with great aspirations and ambitions to create great and accessible work for all. We pride ourselves in building a supportive environment to enable the development of our staff.

If you feel you have just some of the required skills and experience but meet the person specification, we would still encourage you to apply; we are very open to continuing the training and development of individuals who are self motivated to acquire new skills and knowledge relevant to the role.

The Southbank Centre Way

The Southbank Centre Way is a framework that sets out how we want our people to work together. It describes the qualities that drive our ability to inspire, provoke and transform lives and illustrates behaviours that make Southbank Centre a warm and welcoming place to work, perform or visit. The language that forms the Southbank Centre Way comes from the people who work here. We have captured their words to help everyone we work with understand us.

Click to find out more about the Southbank Centre Way.

We reserve the right to close the advert early if enough applications are received.

The deadline for applications is 23:59 on the closing date for the job posting.