Who are we?

We are Manchester Students’ Union, the biggest SU in the country, supporting over 48,000 students throughout their time at university. We help to make student life the best it can be by supporting students to campaign for change, creating opportunities to meet new people, providing employment opportunities, providing advice and support and being a safe place on campus.

We are a values-centred organisation that employs around 90 permanent, full-time members of staff. We recruit a wide range of roles throughout the year within all our departments from our Commercial team operating Manchester Academy Venues, 13 Media, Bar 532 & Kitchen and Corridor Coffee to our Student Activities, Student Engagement, Marketing and Communications, Finance, HR and Facilities teams. Our team of around 400 part-time, studying staff are instrumental in providing to support to all departments as well as leading major projects like Student Angels. When you join UMSU, you’ll be immersed in an environment that empowers staff to make great things happen and we're always on the lookout for innovative, passionate, and proactive people to join us.

Our values are really important to us and shape the work that we do every day. As part of our recruitment process, we want you to demonstrate how your experiences, behaviours and skills align with our values. You can find more detailed explanations of our values on our website.

About the role

Are you ready to shape the future of student life through bold, evidence-based policy in one the UK’s most exciting student cities?

We are looking for a strategic and collaborative Head of Policy to lead our policy development and advocacy work, ensuring students’ voices are heard and acted upon across the university, city, and national platforms.

As Head of Policy, you’ll lead the development of student-led, evidence-informed policy work that reflects the lived experiences of our diverse student body. You’ll monitor developments across the higher education sector, local government, and Westminster, and produce compelling outputs that influence decision-makers and drive change.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Student Influence, the Head of Policy will play a key role in shaping our strategic external engagement, supporting elected student leaders, and building strong relationships with stakeholders across the university and beyond.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the creation of influential policy briefings, consultation responses, and reports

• Monitor and respond to policy developments affecting students and students’ unions

• Translate complex ideas into persuasive communications for a range of audiences

• Build relationships with university departments, local government, and sector bodies

• Support the development of policy skills across the organisation

• Align policy work across democratic outputs, insight, student campaigns and staff expertise

Essential Criteria

We welcome applicants from all educational backgrounds. You’ll need to demonstrate:

• Proven experience in policy development and advocacy

• Excellent writing and analytical skills

• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building abilities

• Experience in people management and team leadership

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, evolving environment

• Passion for student issues and a commitment to inclusivity and transparency

Why Join Us

• Great staff benefits 

• Hybrid working options

• Clear progression pathways through our graded role structure

• A supportive, inclusive, and values-driven workplace

Please read the full role profile before applying, as well as our guide to recruitment.

Details 

Salary: £36,301 - £40,560 per year

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week

Our Reward Package

You'll get access to our reward package which you can see here.

Recruitment Guide

We have a guide that explains our full recruitment process. We recommend reading through this before beginning an application.

If you are invited to interview with us, we will share our interview questions in advance so you can prepare your responses. We’re more interested in hearing about your experiences and ideas than in testing your memory, and so we want you to feel as prepared as possible.

AI Use

GenAI tools, like ChatGPT, are revolutionising how we approach a whole host of tasks at work. As a future-focused employer, we believe in embracing, not banning, these tools. However, as with all tech, some ways of using it are better than others. You can use GenAI to refine and articulate your ideas. It’s a tool to help structure your thoughts and improve clarity, not to replace your unique voice and experiences. Please don’t just copy and paste what AI tells you to write.

We recommend you read our guide on how to approach the use of AI within our recruitment process:

Inclusivity and Accessibility

We are committed to equality of opportunity, and we work hard to ensure we appoint based on skill and values.

We particularly encourage applications from Disabled or Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African candidates as these groups are currently underrepresented in our staff team.

If you have any accessibility requirements or require adjustments to support you to apply to work with us, please get in touch. We can offer reasonable adjustments at all stages of our recruitment process.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. Under this scheme, we aim to offer an interview to candidates who declare a disability and meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. Minimum criteria are marked with an asterisk on the person specification. However, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or peak recruitment times (i.e. July, August and September), it may not always be possible to guarantee an interview for every eligible candidate. In such cases, we will take steps to ensure that the process remains fair, consistent, and inclusive.

Recruitment Timeline

Applications opened: 22nd October 2025

Applications close: 11th November 2025

Interviews: 28th November 2025

Role Commencing: 5th January 2025

We may close applications early if we receive a high volume of applications. We recommend that you apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Once the vacancy has closed, we’re unable to accept late applications to ensure a fair process for all candidates.

Contact

People Team:

You can contact the People Team with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.

Email: jobs.su@manchester.ac.uk

Phone: 0161 306 3279