Head of Voter Education and Partnerships

Head of Voter Education and Partnerships

Permanent, Full-time, Hybrid

£71,618 - £75,693 per annum.

Preferred location: London (minimum of two days office attendance (40%).

We will also consider applicants based in our Cardiff, Edinburgh, or Belfast offices. Occasional travel to the London office will be required.

London-based employees receive an additional £3,217 London weighting.

A £312 tax-free working from home allowance is also payable annually.

Why work for us?

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Performance related pay progression
• Flexible working and hybrid model (40% office minimum)
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities
• Ride2Work, eye care vouchers and more

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we enter a bold new chapter under our five-year Corporate Plan, we are increasing our workforce and transforming how we plan and deliver core services. This post plays a central role in that journey.

We are seeking an exceptional public engagement leader to join the Electoral Commission as our Head of Voter Education and Partnerships. This is a high-impact role shaping how millions of people engage with the electoral process, including young people and other new voters.

The Voter Education and Partnerships Team supports engagement in politics and elections by giving people greater confidence and knowledge to participate, and by providing tailored information to young people and other groups that are either under-registered or under-reached. We are investing in our capacity to increase voter engagement, including developing ambitious plans to expand our voter education work, particularly if votes at 16 becomes UK wide.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading a team of education and partnership engagement specialists to plan and drive delivery of our enhanced voter education and partnerships strategy
• Providing leadership and direction to the team as it grows and begins to deliver a major new corporate project with a significant budget and public profile
• Using your expertise and knowledge of education and engagement strategies to expand our partnerships and projects with education and community organisations
• Ensuring partnerships provide engaging, accurate and impartial information about democracy, elections and voting so that eligible and future voters can cast their votes confidently
• Playing a visible and engaged leadership role within the democratic education sector, developing new and existing relationships with a range of partners who will be essential to deliver our expanded voter engagement strategy
• An experienced and credible education and public engagement leader who can work with partners across the UK education and community engagement sectors to co-create educational resources and content to meet the needs of a diverse group of learners of all ages
• An exceptional communicator and relationship manager, with the skills and expertise needed to represent the Electoral Commission in our engagement with senior partners and stakeholders, including political representatives
• Confident at managing projects with substantial budgets and procurement processes, with oversight of significant financial resources – including multi-million-pound education development projects
• Comfortable setting the Commission’s strategic approach for voter education and partnerships, inspiring your team to deliver with impact and work in partnership across a range of external networks and using matrix management approaches within the organisation
• Detailed understanding of current education and learning approaches across formal and informal settings in all parts of the UK, and civil society and charity networks and their role educating people of all ages

How to apply

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

Please submit:

An anonymised CV, which must not include:

• Your name, address, contact details, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, or any other personal identifiers
• Names of educational institutions or dates of education
• Employment history older than 10 years (unless directly relevant and explicitly required in the person specification)

An anonymised cover letter, clearly outlining how you meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

If a specific qualification is required (e.g. a chartered status), you may include its title (e.g. “CIPFA-qualified accountant”) but not the awarding body or dates.

If the role only asks for general education (e.g. “educated to degree level or equivalent”), simply state this—no further detail is needed.

Failure to comply with these anonymisation instructions may result in your application being withdrawn.

Supporting Disabled Applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. As part of our commitment, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants. If you have a disability and meet the minimum essential criteria listed in the job description, you will be offered an interview.

To be considered under this scheme, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process or in the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: Monday 18th August 2025 (23:59). We may close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications, so early submission is encouraged.
• Interviews (1st stage): Week commencing 8th September 2025

London-based applicants should expect in-person interviews. Applicants from devolved nations may be interviewed virtually via Microsoft Teams.