Senior External Affairs Advisor (12 month FTC)

Senior External Affairs Adviser 
12 Month FTC
Full time (34.5 hours)  
Location: Hybrid (home/London office)  
Salary Range: £43,000 - £48,000 

Role Purpose: 
Join Macmillan Cancer Support as a Senior External Affairs Adviser, where you will play a vital role in shaping and delivering impactful change propositions and external affairs strategies across the UK. Your work will focus on delivering at-scale change for people with cancer, particularly the most marginalized groups. 

About the role: 

• Provide senior-level advice to develop external affairs strategies aligned with Macmillan’s mission. 

• Lead cross-functional external affairs projects that are evidence-based and impactful. 

• Develop and manage relationships with political stakeholders, policymakers, civil servants and healthcare providers. 

• Provide high-quality insight and briefings to senior colleagues on the political landscape, and what the external opportunities and risks are 

• Anticipate shifts within the external environment and adapt approaches to maintain our relevance and influence 

• Collaborate with teams to ensure policy positions are strategic and evidence-based. 

• Represent Macmillan at external events, advocating for improvements in cancer care. 

• Coordinate campaigns to influence public policy and funding decisions. 

About you: 

The successful candidate will have... 

• Proven ability to manage complex and sensitive external contexts, making sound judgements on tone and messaging. 

• Strong understanding of operating within a four-nations context and engaging with diverse stakeholders, including senior politicians and civil servants.  

• Expertise in analysing complex policy issues and developing impactful, evidence-based positions. 

• Strong organisational skills and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and emerging issues. 

• Excellent communication skills which are adaptable for external and internal audiences. 

• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams. 

In return, we offer a range of benefits including:

• 25 days holiday plus flexible bank holiday options, increasing by 1 day every year of service up to 30 days 
• Pension matched up to 7.5%
• 120+ learning and development offers, with access to external professional qualifications
• Flexible working patterns, such as compressed hours, flexibility to work earlier or later around our core working hours of 10am-4pm
• Holiday buying and selling scheme, life insurance, free wills, retail discounts and much more

Recruitment Process 

Application deadline: 28th April 2025

First interviews: Mid May (TBC)

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed.

So we can support you to be your best during the application or interview process, please contact Macmillan TA Team TATeam@macmillan.org.uk for advice and reasonable adjustments. 

We welcome applications from everyone who meet the criteria and strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Macmillan. Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee representation body, ‘Our Voice’ and 8 Employee Network groups help us promote fairness and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.