Role: Senior Strategic Engagement Manager

Business: Office of Public Guardian (OPG)

Location: National

Grade: SEO

Salary: £42,914

Contract Type: Permanent

Minimum Hours: 37 Hours

Organisational Overview

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) protects people in England and Wales who may not have the mental capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, such as about their health and finance. We are an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), set up in 2007 following the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act of 2005.

OPG is responsible for registering lasting powers of attorney (LPA) and enduring powers of attorney (EPA) and supervising deputies who are appointed by the Court of Protection.

OPG is a fantastic place to work offering a range of development opportunities. The OPG is a disability confident employer and is committed to developing a supportive and inclusive environment that reflects the diverse community we serve.

OPG is currently delivering an ambitious transformation programme. This will change the way we provide services and help us meet the growing needs of our users, partners and our stakeholders. It will make sure our users experience a better level of support and will help us to respond to the changing needs of society. Transformation will ensure we can better support adults at risk and create high-quality services that are accessible and affordable.

Team Overview

• The Strategic Engagement team leads and co-ordinates OPG’s engagement with key external stakeholders, helping the organisation explain its plans and priorities, listen to stakeholder insight, and use feedback to improve services. The team supports strategic relationships across OPG, develops engagement approaches for priority audiences, and produces tailored briefings and communications material to support effective stakeholder activity.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Support work to maintain effective and proactive relationships with OPG’s key stakeholders at senior level to support the delivery of strategic objectives.

• Develop and deliver targeted outreach with high-volume concern referrers, initially local authorities, to improve the quality, appropriateness and evidential value of referrals, increase use of digital concern-raising routes and support clearer understanding of OPG’s remit.

• Provide practical advice, presentations, workshops and tailored engagement sessions to priority referrer organisations and networks, helping them understand when to refer to OPG, what evidence is required and how to use digital routes effectively.

• Use data, stakeholder insight and operational feedback to identify drivers of avoidable demand and develop engagement interventions that improve referral quality and support more efficient triage.

• Collate feedback, themes and learning from referrers and feed this back into OPG to inform operational improvements, guidance, digital development and future engagement priorities.

• Support the delivery of OPG’s business and customer transformation programmes by assisting with the development of stakeholder handling and engagement strategies for inclusion in project and programme delivery plans.

• Manage the delivery of high-quality briefings and communications material for key stakeholder audiences, promoting better understanding of OPG’s key issues and initiatives.

Agreed Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to work from their base location on a weekly basis in line with current Civil Service requirements, outside of any reasonable adjustments.

The role may require occasional travel to other OPG or stakeholder locations, and attendance at external meetings, events or engagement sessions, subject to business need.

Skills & Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Ability to establish, build and maintain constructive working relationships with a diverse, sometimes challenging, range of key stakeholders at a senior level.

• Knowledge and understanding of stakeholder engagement principles and experience of supporting the delivery of stakeholder engagement strategies and plans to deliver strategic organisational objectives.

• Experience of using data, insight and stakeholder feedback to identify priority audiences, shape targeted engagement activity and support measurable service improvement.

• Experience of influencing external stakeholders to adopt new processes, guidance or digital routes, including through advice, presentations, workshops or targeted engagement sessions.

• Strong organisational and planning skills, with strong written and oral communication skills and experience of delivering high-quality tailored briefings and other products.

• Ability to translate complex operational or policy information into clear, practical guidance that improves referrer understanding, referral quality and the evidence provided to support decision-making.

• A strong team player, with a proven ability to collaborate with others to deliver key objectives, projects and programmes of work.

• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office products including Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and PowerPoint.

Desirable Skills

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

• Experience of working on a project and the ability to use project management principles.

• Experience of working with local authorities, safeguarding partners, health and social care bodies, or other high-volume public sector referrers.

Application process

This recruitment will follow the Civil Service Success Profile process. Candidates will be expected to complete the following as part of the application:

• A CV detailing your career history. CV’s will be assessed against the essential skills above.

• Statement of Suitability of no more than 1000 words, to demonstrate your experience against the essential skills required for this role.

Interview Process

If you are successful at sift, you will be invited to an interview which will use the Civil Service Success Profiles. At interview, candidates should expect questions on:

• Strengths relevant to the role

• The following Behaviours:

  • Communicating and Influencing (assessed through a 10-minute presentation)

  • Leadership

  • Delivering at Pace

  • Seeing the Bigger Picture

At interview, candidates will be required to provide a presentation on Communicating and Influencing Behaviour of up to 15 minutes. 10 minutes for the presentation with 5 minutes for follow up questions. The presentation question will be shared with candidates invited to interview via email.

All interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Reasonable Adjustments

At OPG we consider all applications on the basis of merit and want you to feel able to demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any reasonable adjustments for any aspect of the selection process, do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. If you are applying for a role within OPG and would like to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme, please indicate this in your application and let us know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the selection process.

For further information on benefits of working for OPG, such as our Flexible Working Policy and a FAQ, please check the candidate information pack attached to this advert.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, we may offer you an alternative role at the same or lower grade should one be available.