Location
Walthamstow, London

Hours
Full Time - 36 hours per week

Salary
PO10 £68,784 - £72,399

About the Role
Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, developing new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

Many residents in Waltham Forest face persistent and entrenched challenges—from rising living costs to an affordable housing crisis. These pressures are not felt equally. Long-standing inequalities mean some residents experience poorer outcomes and face more barriers to living the life they want.

To meet these challenges, we must maintain a razor-sharp focus on where inequality is emerging, deepening, and where it can be prevented. We want to help the Council confront these realities head on, ensuring our ambition for a more equal borough is translated into practical, evidence-led action that reduces disparity and supports long-term resilience.

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Strategy and Policy Manager (Equalities) to develop and deliver the Council's strategic and community-facing approach to equalities, including shaping and implementing high-quality policy and strategy to tackle cross-cutting challenges facing the borough and the Council.

Please note, this role does not offer Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. Applicants must already hold UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.

Experience
- At least 3 years’ experience in strategy or policy development within central or local government, public bodies, or think tanks, focusing on tackling inequality
- Experience working with politicians and senior stakeholders
- Collaborative strategy or policy development with external organisations
- Managing large, complex projects and programmes
- Partnership working with a range of public or private agencies
- Developing participatory approaches with communities to tackle inequality

About you
- Highly skilled influencer, negotiator, and networker
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to respond rapidly to requests for written briefs and information
- Strong research and analytical skills
- Flexible and quick to grasp new areas, supporting others to do the same
- Creative problem-solving abilities
- Good understanding of local government issues and operations
- Knowledge of the public policy making process
- Ability to operate sensitively within a political environment
- Prepared to challenge existing thinking positively
- Experience working with residents and stakeholders to meaningfully shape strategy development

Qualifications
Educated to degree level or equivalent standard