At the Royal College of Nursing we’re an optimistic organisation. And we’ve got good reason to be. We all share the same voice when it comes to changing the shape of the health policies of the future. And as the largest trade union of nursing staff and students in the UK – with over 465,000 members – all we can see are the infinite possibilities for a brighter future. Join us and you will too.

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Director of Policy and Nursing Strategy

Location negotiable, 35 hours, Permanent

We are currently going through a period of great change; and with that change comes significant ambition and exciting opportunity.

We are looking for a Director of Policy and Nursing Strategy, as a key member of our Nursing Directorate’s Senior Leadership Team who will provide senior experience, political nous and strategic leadership, as well as management and co-ordination of our work related to policy and public affairs within the RCN.

The work will support the RCN in ensuring that the role, positioning, and future of nursing as a modern and contemporary profession post-pandemic within a new global era of delivering health and care, nationally and internationally, is successfully recognised and achieved. As a member of the RCN’s Nursing Directorate’s Senior Leadership Team the postholder will ensure that the RCN builds and strengthens its’ leadership position as the “voice of nursing”.

You will have the exciting opportunity to establish a contemporary and evidence-based, member-focussed central policy and nursing strategy unit. This will require a new infrastructure bringing together the relevant evidence base, research, analysis and knowledge management approaches to ensure a clear strategic direction on national and international policy affecting both the practice and the working lives of our members.

What we offer you

We expect you to look after your team and ultimately our members. And we expect you to be rewarded for it. Our pay is highly competitive with annual leave up to 32 days. We offer an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme.

Balancing work and life commitments is important to us as an organisation. We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs. Many of our employees enjoy flexible working enabling them to deliver results whilst having a good work life balance. We offer generous maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave packages.

As a result of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic most of our staff are currently working from home. When this ends we’ll start trialling blended office and home working to empower our people to do their best work recognising that, to give our best, we must be able to balance the demands of work and home.

Our selection process

Please submit a supporting statement demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this role. You may not be shortlisted if you don’t.

We want your experience applying for a job with us to be the best it can be. We’re having to be more flexible about how we hold interviews and assessments, most of which are held by video call. If you foresee any problems with accessing a computer, webcam or internet connection for this, please do let us know in your supporting statement.

Contact details

For more information or for an informal discussion and our ambitions about the role please contact Susan Aitkenhead, UK Director of Nursing and Deputy General Secretary/CEO via Luci Pollard, Executive Assistant on 0131 662 6131.

For more information on the Recruitment & Selection process, please contact recruit@rcn.org.uk

Opening date: 17 December 2021

Closing date: 23 January 2022

If we receive a large number of applications after a week of advertising, this vacancy may close earlier.

Assessment & interview date: 16 February 2022