Head of Food Policy

The charity is looking for someone to help lead and profile its food agenda. Reporting to the Director of Policy, Research & Campaigns, you will be part of a team leading on development of knowledge, involved in managing policy and food information and working closely with colleagues in other teams; Membership Services, Communications and Commercial.

The ideal candidate will have a nutrition or food related degree with experience of working in food policy, quality assurance or nutritional sciences and an understanding of food legislation and regulation. The role is F/T and will involve some travel representing the charity at national and European level.

Coeliac UK has been a trusted source of support on coeliac disease and the gluten free diet for 50 years. We are an independent charity and fund critical research into coeliac disease and support our 65,000 strong community through our offices in England, Scotland and Wales.

Interviews will be held on Thursday 20 July. Applications with no covering letter will not be considered.

Key Responsibilities:

•    Manage the necessary intelligence gathering, horizon scanning and consultations on food policy and legislation to represent the charity
•    Work with Research Manager to develop the evidence base around the gluten free diet to inform charity policy and meet the charity’s business and strategic aims
•    Critically analyse evidence and ensure information on food and the gluten free diet is up-to-date, quality assured and transferable to all necessary areas of work both internally or with external stakeholders
•    Develop and review Coeliac UK standards and policy positions in relation to food information and legislation and ensure compliance with external standards.
•    Ensure compliance with internal food standards in the production of the food information services for lay and professional stakeholders, involving full and adequate liaison with relevant teams as necessary
•    Advise and liaise with relevant teams as necessary on the development and update of food information for members and other stakeholders organisation-wide
•    To represent and promote the work of the charity amongst stakeholders from the food sector
•    To represent the charity by speaking at food conferences and exhibitions
•    To produce and contribute to articles for peer review and consumer press
•    To have a continuing plan for personal development
•    Manage, support and develop one full time equivalent to maintain high quality standards and services in line with the charity’s policies and values

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

•    Ability to lead and make decisions on developing and implementing standards in relation to food information and standards
•    Understands stakeholder needs and identifies solutions
•    Motivated, cooperative team player with practical, ‘can do’ attitude and flexible approach
•    Attention to detail
•    Able to work to deadlines and prioritise tasks
•    Keep up to date with current food legislation and quality assurance schemes to provide up to date information across the organisation
•    Self-motivated and able to work without close supervision
•    Keen to help with and work on a variety of projects
•    Excellent communication and inter-personal skills
•    Educated to degree standard
•    Good knowledge of food policy, quality assurance and nutritional sciences
•    Numerate with necessary skills to produce, monitor and interpret audit and corrective action information, quality assurance processes and guidance documents
•    Understanding of scientific evidence base and research and ability to critically review scientific literature
•    Good IT skills - MS Excel, MS Word, MS Outlook
•    CRM and website content management experience

Competencies:

1: General Profile:

Monitors, co-ordinates and supervises the daily activities of staff in an assigned work area in similar or related disciplines.

Experienced.  Fully competent in own area.  Shares own expertise with others; provides guidance and support to others.

Resolves problems through immediate actions or short-term planning and sets priorities to ensure task completion.

Maintains orderly work processes by co-ordinating work flow and work quality. Adheres to established practices and procedures in work area.

Builds an environment that supports cooperation and cohesiveness among the direct work team and within other areas in the organisation.

2: Technical Expertise:
Building & maintaining: Demonstrates depth/breadth of knowledge/skills in own area; may be acquiring knowledge of other disciplines/areas.

Applying & anticipating: Applies knowledge/skill through handling complex problems and/or managing work which may extend beyond own area of expertise; shares expertise with teams and other work groups.
 
3: Client/Organisation Orientation:

Client response: Understands client needs and identifies solutions to non-standard tasks/queries; actively seeks and closes opportunities.

Organisation understanding: Decisions impact primarily on own work group/team; may have an impact on department objectives.

Costs: Manages departmental costs.

4: Creating & Delivering Solutions:

Problem solving: Resolves problems through immediate actions or short-term planning and sets priorities to ensure task completion.

Planning & organising: Maintains orderly work processes by co-coordinating work flow and work quality. Adheres to established practices and procedures in work area.

5: Working Relationship:

Communicating, negotiating & influencing: Builds an environment that supports cooperation and cohesiveness among the work team and with other areas within the organisation.

Teamwork, coaching & guiding: Oversees the day-to-day activities of work group/team; accountable for work group/team results.

Networking: Creates extensive networks internally and externally.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of duties to be performed by the employee. This job description may be altered to reflect the needs of the charity.

Salary: £31,119 to £34,577 Based On Experience

Please apply online for this Head of Food Policy role with your CV and covering letter.