Policy and Public Affairs Lead
We're the UK's specialist blood cancer charity and our vision is clear: we’re here to beat blood cancer. We fund world-class research; provide information and support to patients and their loved ones; and raise awareness of blood cancer. We’re looking for an experienced and influential Policy and Public Affairs Lead to drive Blood Cancer UK’s UK-wide policy and influencing work. In this pivotal role, you will lead and oversee a pipeline of policy and influencing content, and ambitious influencing strategies that put the experiences of people affected by blood cancer at the heart of decision-making. Working across Westminster and the devolved nations, you will build and maintain strong relationships with parliamentarians, government officials and key stakeholders, ensuring our voice is heard where it matters most and translating evidence and insight into meaningful policy change. You will lead, support and develop a small team (two Policy and Public Affairs Officers: one focused on Scotland and Northern Ireland; the other focused on England and Wales). You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation to deliver integrated, insight-led influencing campaigns that shape national policy and improve outcomes for people with blood cancer. This is a highly collaborative and externally facing role, requiring confident engagement with senior stakeholders, clear and persuasive communication, and a strong commitment to involving people with lived experience in all aspects of our work. You will play a central role in ensuring Blood Cancer UK is a trusted and influential voice in health policy across the UK. We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. In line with our strategy we welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minority communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.
Expected travel for this role includes attendance at the London office approximately 2–4 days per month plus regular attendance at external meetings
Expected interview dates: First round (online): w/c 6th July Second round (in person): w/c 13th July Application Deadline June 30, 2026 Department Research, Policy & Services Employment Type Full Time Location London/Hybrid Workplace type Hybrid Compensation £54,101 - £58,101 / year
Key Responsibilities
1. Lead development and implementation of effective policy, public affairs, and influencing campaigns for people with blood cancer.
2. Line manage two Policy and Public Affairs Officers (one focused on Scotland and Northern Ireland; the other focused on England and Wales).
3. Manage Blood Cancer UK’s relationships with key stakeholders in Parliament, Government, across the NHS, health and research policy.
4. Represent Blood Cancer UK on external coalitions and act as a spokesperson on policy issues.
5. Lead and oversee the development of influencing strategies and campaigns focused on the specific needs of people living with blood cancer, ensuring they are solutions-focused and evidence-based.
6. Keep internal stakeholders including the leadership team regularly updated on relevant, policy, parliamentary and government events affecting blood cancer and advise on strategic responses.
7. Work in close collaboration with colleagues in the Engagement Directorate (particularly Comms and Digital Marketing) to build integrated influencing strategies.
8. Ensure people with lived experience are included in policy and campaign development, and support Policy and Influencing colleagues to engage effectively with all people with lived experience who support our work.
9. Oversee events, visits, meetings, and briefings to communicate messages and influence external stakeholders.
10. Oversee and update supporters on policy and influencing activities and involve them where appropriate.
11. Work with the Associate Director for Policy and Influencing and the Health Intelligence Lead to manage the policy and influencing budget and operational planning.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
Knowledge
12. Strong understanding of health policy and the NHS
13. Knowledge of parliamentary procedures, politics, including Westminster and Whitehall. Knowledge of Holyrood, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly would be beneficial.
14. Demonstrating commitment to equal opportunities, diversity, and organisational values.
Skills
15. Producing clear and persuasive written material and broader content for diverse audiences, including parliamentarians, government officials, internal colleagues and our supporters
16. Ability to commission or develop insight which can be used in policy and influencing
17. Developing content to engage people affected by blood cancer through various channels including social media, website and email
18. Exhibiting excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and able to work effectively with Parliamentarians, government officials and wider stakeholders.
19. Excellent collaboration skills and able to work with different teams across an organisation to develop captivating content and integrated influencing strategies
20. Ability to independently lead and manage projects, and support policy & influencing colleagues to project manage priorities
Experience
21. Developing policy content and public affairs strategies with people directly affected.
22. Achieving policy change and influencing high-profile individuals.
23. Producing clear, persuasive written materials for parliamentarians, government officials and staff to tight deadlines.
24. Experience of developing content for use on digital channels and confidence with using different channels
25. Working in a policy and/or public affairs role for a charity, agency or company
26. Experience leading or managing public influencing campaigns that work across paid, owned and earned channels.
27. Experience of line management and developing members of staff
About Blood Cancer UK
FLEXIBLE WORKING & OUR BENEFITS
We welcome conversations about part time working, job shares, and all forms of flexible working right from application stage. You can get in touch with us at if you want to ask us anything about flexible working.
Benefits: We think our benefits are brilliant, and the majority start from day 1. These are just a few of them:
28. 30 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays
29. Generous pension scheme and Life Assurance
30. Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave, as well as study leave and a day off to move house
31. Wellbeing is a priority for us, we offer a wide range of individual and team support in our Wellbeing Hub
32. Our Academy is our in-house Continued Professional Development (CPD) learning and development programme, including an internal mentoring scheme. We have organisation-wide focus days, which are days set aside for you to focus on your own development, without being interrupted by emails and meetings.
33. Cycle to work and season ticket loans
34. Opportunity to take sabbaticals
You can find full details about our on our .
Location: Working agile means we changed from having a culture where people are expected to be in the office from 9am to 5pm to one where we’re much more focused on what they deliver. We've built a positive culture where autonomy, trust, wellbeing and flexibility allow us to recruit and retain the very best people. We recognise that teams still need to come together regularly to develop relationships and strengthen collaborative working. Therefore, for the majority of roles, your contractual place of work will be one of our offices. The expectation for how often you will be required to attend the office is outlined in the job profile and will be discussed with you. Details about our hybrid and (including how travel expenses work) can be found on our .
HOW TO APPLY
We ask you to send us a CV and cover letter. In your cover letter, we'd like to know why you're interested in working with us at Blood Cancer UK. It's also helpful if you tell us why you think you are a great candidate for this role based on the skills, knowledge and expertise section above. Your cover letter doesn't have to be too long, 1-2 pages is ideal. Please don't add photos or graphics to your CV, as we use blind shortlisting at this stage of the process.
Full details about our recruitment, including how we use blind shortlisting and what to expect at each stage of the process can be found on our. Sometimes we close our vacancies early, usually because we have had a lot of great applicants, so we’d always encourage you to apply early rather than wait until the deadline.
WHY WORK AT BLOOD CANCER UK?
We're the 9th best charity in the UK to work for according to Best Companies 2021!
We started because of Susan, we’ll get there because of you.
Blood Cancer UK was started by one family who lost their daughter, Susan, to blood cancer, and that history and sense of family continues to shape who we are today. When you join Blood Cancer UK, you don’t just become an organisational employee – you become part of a collaborative community dedicated to funding research into beating blood cancer that includes some of the most inspiring people you’ll ever meet.
And we’re not that far away from beating blood cancer. We’re confident we can do it within the next generation, and this makes us hugely ambitious and gives us a sense of real urgency. It also means we’re changing quickly as an organisation as we constantly challenge ourselves and strive to become more and more effective. This pace of change means working here isn’t for everyone. But if you’re excited by the chance to work in a fast-paced, agile and supportive environment with the focus and ambition to beat blood cancer this could be the place for you! We focus on results rather than time spent at a desk, so we deliver more for people affected by blood cancer.
Blood Cancer UK offers the chance to work for and with people affected by blood cancer, and the opportunity to advance your career and develop your skillset whilst taking on exciting new challenges and making your mark.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. Read our which reflects our strong drive to change in this area.To this end we would welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minoritised communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.
You can read some examples of how we can support you through the application and interview process
Documents
Policy and public affairs lead - job packClick to view Role profile - policy and public affairs leadClick to view
Our Hiring Process
Don't worry if you don't see any roles you want to apply for now. Register your interest to allow us to contact you when a suitable role meeting your criteria comes along. Please note that at the present time, Blood Cancer UK is unable to offer work experience placements or internships.