Senior Policy Officer

Are you interested in working with a reputed international sustainability organisation to influence policy developments on sustainability globally? ISEAL is hiring a Senior Policy Officer to join our team responsible for public engagement and policy influencing. This is the perfect role for someone who is keen to work in an increasingly dynamic regulatory and policy landscape to strengthen the role of voluntary sustainability tools alongside emerging mandatory measures.

The core objective of the Policy and Engagement team is to support governments, civil society and other business influencers to understand, identify and use credible sustainability systems. We do this through direct engagement with relevant government bodies in priority countries, engagement with individual businesses and business platforms and building member awareness and knowledge about relevant policy files and implications of new policies for their schemes and impact. The team focused on the UK, Switzerland, EU-wide policy and key EU members states, as well as on countries in the global south, including Colombia, Indonesia, India and Brazil.

The Senior Policy Officer will help drive engagement with policymakers in key countries in which ISEAL and its partners have a strategic policy interest, with a view to influencing the policy narrative on sustainability and specific policies. The role will identify policy engagement opportunities and provide insightful analysis of policy developments and trends. In addition, the role will work closely with ISEAL members based in these regions to combine efforts and align on policy influencing.

The ideal candidate will have had exposure to working in an international policy context, either working as part of civic society with governments or as part of a government department. A strong grounding in sustainability issues and related key political and policy debates will be essential, along with some working knowledge of key policy trends in the human rights, climate and sustainability standards space. Prior experience in working in the EU, UK at policy and regulatory landscape or public affairs level will be an advantage. The Senior Officer reports to the Director, Policy and Engagement.

Key Responsibilities we will entrust you with:

Policy and government engagement

• Support ISEAL´s strategic engagement with identified key policymaker
• targets and audiences from a policy influencing and role of voluntary
• tools perspective
• Keep track of policy developments in key areas and jurisdictions and provide insights and analysis to inform ISEAL’s policy engagement work
• Help identify opportunities for engagements with relevant policymaker audiences and government agencies in key jurisdictions and engage with them as delegated and supported by other colleagues
• Set up direct meetings and other engagement opportunities for ISEAL, coordinate ISEAL’s input, advise and engagement and prepare briefs, reports and submissions for engagement purposes
• Contribute to establishing engagement and influencing strategies and to the development of ISEAL’s policy positions
• Provide internal advisory support to other teams on critical policy files based on own subject matter and jurisdiction knowledge
• Support team in development of policy papers, position papers, press releases, strategic messaging on policy issues
• Facilitate webinars and workshops on policy related topics

Other

• Track policy developments and analyse how they affect sustainability systems, ISEAL and its members
• Help shape ISEAL’s work on global policy engagement and outreach in the next strategy period
• Conduct or support other team members with background research on specific regulatory proposals and policy frameworks and related topics
• Support ISEAL’s member-facing policy activities liaising with the rest of the team
• Provide policy advice and analysis as requested on priority topics
• Participate actively in team and organisational planning and activities
• Participate in internal staff management processes such as performance reviews, supervisory meetings, etc.

Experience, Knowledge and Attributes

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant subject (e.g. sustainability or environmental studies, human rights, law, int. development/ social policy, EU policy etc.) and/or equivalent work experience
• Proven experience working in a policy context as part of civic society or within a government department supporting policy engagement
• Good working knowledge of the sustainability policy landscape and key debates in the space
• Strong skills in policy analysis and policy intelligence
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills
• Excellent writing skills and ability to synthesise information
• Prior exposure to sustainability standards, passionate about sustainability linked policy issues such as human rights, climate, nature, due diligence
• Some experience and comfortable with public speaking, e.g. facilitating webinars or workshops
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with cross-functional teams in a largely remote, international environment, including occasional international time-zone calls
• Confidence in using IT systems, familiarity with virtual meeting tools (e.g. MS Teams, Skype, GoToMeeting, etc), use of contact management databases (e.g. Salesforce) and proficiency in MS Office

Additionally desirable

• Other languages: Spanish
• Prior experience working with remote manager and team
• Exposure to working on strategic policy questions
• Experience in tracking, engaging in development issues in global south

countries

About ISEAL

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges – from the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis to human rights and persistent poverty. ISEAL Community Members include many of the most respected sustainability schemes worldwide and are active across a diverse range of sectors. Read more about us on our website www.iseal.org.

ISEAL´s culture and how we will help you thrive

Our values are Connection, Empowerment, Inspiration, Well-being, Creativity and Celebration.

These are traits we value in each other and in the organisation overall and we instil these in all our processes and interactions.

The issues we work on are of a global nature and our team reflects this, with individuals from many different backgrounds and nationalities. We know this diversity adds to the high quality of work we deliver as an organisation and through our commitment to diversity and inclusion we want to add strengths and perspectives in our team with each recruitment. Diversity for us includes race and gender identity, age, disability status, sexual orientation, religion and many other areas forming part of someone´s identity. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer.

As an organisation, we also support our people in their personal and professional development, with specific budgets and processes enabling individuals to take advantage of growth and development opportunities.

We offer 25 days of annual leave, to which we will add a day a year after 2 years (to a maximum of 30 days), as well as an extra five days as a one off once you have been with us for a full five years.

We recognise individuals’ preferences when it comes to where and when to work through a hybrid working model with a minimum of 4 days per month in the London office as well as the opportunity to apply for flexible working arrangements to suit individual´s needs.

Other relevant information

Term: This is a fixed term 12 months contract from December 2025 / January 2026

Salary: £40,000-£45,000 p.a. depending on experience (full time, 37.5 hours per week)

Location: London is the preferred location. An ability and willingness to work in a hybrid work environment is required.

International travel: The post holder will be required to undertake a fair amount of international travel and should ideally have the passport (UK, EU) to enable this smoothly

How to apply

Use the link below.

Specific enquiries about this role and the application process can be sent to the [email protected].

Deadline for applications is 24 September 2025

Please note that we will only contact shortlisted applicants.

Interview process

Please see below the planned interview process (please note that we will endeavor to keep to this schedule, but some dates may be subject to change)

First interviews (Teams): 1-3 October

Pre-interview timed exercises (between 60 – 90 minutes from home): 7-9 October

Panel interviews (Teams): w/c 13 October

Decision: w/c 20 October

Accessibility

If candidates require additional time or other considerations for the interview process, we are committed to accommodating any reasonable requests.

Please note that ISEAL will cover travel expenses for in person interviews for candidates travelling from outside of Greater London. ISEAL also covers caring expenses for candidates who are carers and need to arrange of cover for the duration of the interview/exercises