Advocacy Lead

Job Summary

Salary for this permanent full time role is circa £50,000 per annum.

If you’re passionate about securing justice and protection for the world’s most vulnerable children, thrive in political environment, and have the skills to build powerful advocacy movements, this is your opportunity to lead bold and impactful advocacy at War Child UK.

As our Advocacy Lead, you’ll play a key role in driving for children affected by conflict. This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of influencing Parliament and UK Government policy, ensuring that decision-makers take meaningful action to protect and support the nearly 1 in 5 children globally affected by war and conflict. 

Your Role

You’ll lead War Child UK’s political engagement, forging influential relationships with Ministers, MPs, civil servants, and parliamentary groups, ensuring that children’s voices are heard where it matters most. So, it’s essential that you’re skilled at building and managing long-term relationships with senior parliamentarians, influencing policymakers, and engaging government officials and MPs to drive meaningful policy change. With a strategic approach, you’ll mobilise cross-party support, shape public campaigns and push for stronger policies, tangible government action and increased resources for children in conflict zones.

Working alongside a committed and high-performing team, you’ll ensure that War Child UK’s policy and advocacy priorities resonate across government, parliament, the media, social channels and the wider public. As our Advocacy Lead, you’ll have the chance to shape the national and influence international conversations on conflict and children alongside colleagues across the globe, by designing impactful advocacy and public campaigns that raise awareness and drive real change.

This new role offers an incredible platform to make a tangible difference at a time of unprecedented need. Join us in standing up for children affected by war and help create a future where no child’s life is torn apart by conflict.

Your Responsibilities

• To lead on the development and implementation of our advocacy strategy and messaging across our key organisational objectives, policy and programmatic themes related to children and conflict, and regional or country situations and crises, in close coordination with Head of Communications and Campaigns as well as members of the Leadership Team.
• Lead on the strategic direction of advocacy messaging across War Child UK’s communications channels, ensuring alignment with policy priorities. Work closely with the Head of Communications and other members of the Team to drive impactful advocacy engagement across the website, social media, and press.
• Lead War Child UK’s engagement with UK Government officials, ministers, and civil servants in relation to influencing policy to protect children affected by war (outside of institutional funding).
• Develop and strengthen relationships with MPs, Peers, and parliamentary committees, securing debates, parliamentary questions, and cross-party support.
• Coordinate and facilitate meetings, secure high-level participation, and drive forward advocacy priorities through APPG activities.
• Lead the design and execution of public-facing advocacy campaigns, ensuring they generate public action, media engagement, and influence political debate. Collaborate with communications and teams across the organisation to create shared organisational goals around maximising reach and impact.
• Lead the development of War Child UK’s policy and research agenda, commissioning and producing high-quality briefings, reports, and evidence-based papers to advance advocacy objectives. Ensure research outputs effectively influence decision-makers and stakeholders.
• Represent War Child UK in coalitions, networks, and working groups, ensuring our voice is heard in key policy discussions.
• Proactively monitor and analyse political and policy developments, identifying strategic opportunities to influence decision-makers and advance War Child UK’s advocacy goals. Provide expert insight and recommendations to senior leadership and external partners.
• Ensure advocacy priorities are fully integrated into War Child UK’s public engagement strategies, working in close collaboration with communications and teams across the organisation. Lead on messaging alignment and develop strategies support fundraising objectives.
• Act as a spokesperson for War Child UK on advocacy issues, ensuring consistent messaging and high-level representation.
• Ensure that children’s experiences and voices are at the heart of War Child UK’s advocacy work, incorporating their perspectives into policy recommendations and campaigns.
• Lead on providing expert analysis and clear written and verbal updates to War Child UK colleagues on key advocacy developments. Offer specialist guidance, training, and knowledge sharing to enhance internal understanding of political and policy issues, ensuring teams are well-informed and equipped to support advocacy priorities.
• Responsible for creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children, and adults and compliant to War Child’s Safeguarding and PSEAH (Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse & Harassment) policies.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.

You Are

Essential Experience

• A track record of delivering tangible outcomes in advocacy, public affairs, or policy influencing, particularly within the UK Government and Parliament.
• Demonstrable examples of building and managing long term relationships with senior parliamentarians and engaging and influencing policymakers, government officials, and other MPs to achieve policy change.
• A record of creating sophisticated advocacy strategies that tangibly advance organisational objectives.
• Experience of leading successful advocacy campaigns, including leveraging public engagement and media coverage.
• Experience of successfully engaging with Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum to secure speeches in parliament, interventions, oral and written questions, EDMs, secure debates and other parliamentary procedures.
• Strong understanding of UK political systems, parliamentary processes, and key government departments (e.g., FCDO, Home Office, MOD).
• Experience crafting advocacy messaging for public audiences, media, and decision-makers.
• Demonstrated ability to build strategic relationships with civil society organisations, coalitions, and political stakeholders.
• Experience coordinating cross-organisational advocacy initiatives and campaigns.

Essential Skills

• Political and Policy Analysis: Ability to analyse UK and international policy issues affecting children in conflict to strategically and tactically identify and utilise opportunities.
• Communication & Persuasion: Strong written and verbal skills to develop impactful advocacy materials, briefing papers, and campaign messaging that translate across multiple channels.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to identify advocacy opportunities and develop effective influencing strategies.
• Project Management: Ability to manage multiple advocacy projects, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Ability to engage with government officials, MPs, donors, NGOs, and the public to drive advocacy outcomes.
• Public Campaigning: Experience in designing and executing public advocacy campaigns, including digital and grassroots mobilisation strategies.
• Collaboration & Teamwork: Ability to work across teams, aligning advocacy with media, fundraising, and programmatic goals.

Desirable Experience & Skills

• Experience of coordinating an APPG or similar parliamentary group.
• Experience working on issues related to children’s rights, humanitarian aid, or international development.
• Knowledge of global advocacy frameworks, including UN mechanisms and international human rights law.
• Experience working in a charity, NGO, or international development setting.
• Understanding of safeguarding and ethical storytelling in advocacy. 

About Us

Our Values

• Bold: We use our passion and creativity to deliver high quality evidence-based work designed to maximise our beneficial impact for children in conflict.
• Accountable to children: Children can rely on us to respond to their voices and to treat them with respect and dignity.
• Anti-racism: Anti-racism is not merely a belief. It includes actions that we mainstream throughout our work to change and challenge policies and behaviours that perpetuate racism.
• Transparent: We expect to be held to account by our supporters and participants and we respond with openness and honesty.
• Supportive of each other: We support each other to achieve ambitious goals and be the best we can be. We are honest and open, sharing our successes & confronting our challenges.

Our Benefits

• Flexible working - we recognise the considerable benefits that flexible working can bring and are happy to discuss any possible flexible working options with our employees from hiring. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, occasional working from home and compressed hours.
• Annual leave – 28 days per year (full-time) rising to 33 days with service, plus bank holidays
• Pension - all eligible employees automatically enrolled into a Group Personal Pension Plan with a 5% employer contribution, with minimum employee contribution on a salary sacrifice basis. This increases to 6% after one year's service. 
• Family leave – we offer enhanced Maternity, Partner/Co-Parent/Paternity Leave, Adoption & Shared Parental Leave
• Health & wellbeing - employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. In addition, all employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.
• Learning & development - dedicated to the investment in learning and continuing professional development for all our employees
• Workplace Nursery Benefit – employees make tax and NI savings on nursery costs for children up to the age of 5
• Flexible public holidays - up to two standard UK public holidays can be exchanged for those that have cultural or religious significance. 
  
• Cancer Cover: Voluntary contributions can be made through payroll allowing employees to claim back on a range of cancer treatments.
• GP 24/7 Helpline: A GP helpline is be available to all UK employees providing access to a qualified GP, 24/7 via a telephone or webcam consultation, and offers diagnosis, advice and reassurance on a range of medical matters, as well as authorisation of private electronic prescriptions.
• Welcome Bag for new starters: A War Child Tote bag, War Child T-shirt and some other practical things to welcome new colleagues to War Child.
• Discounts on War Child Merchandise: 25% discount on full price War Child merchandise, available to all employees, sold through Shop for Good. 
• Range of flexible benefits such a Cycle to Work scheme and season ticket loans.

Flexible Working

We positively support flexible working arrangements. These currently include: office working, homeworking, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexi-time, flexi-place (hybrid working) and job shares. We would be happy to discuss individual flexible working requests during the interview process.

How to Apply

• To apply, simply submit an application through our Current Vacancies page and attach a copy of your CV.
• On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.
• If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments before or during your application, we welcome the opportunity to talk about what we can do to fairly adapt our process for you. Please share what you’re comfortable with to help us put the right support in place, by emailing careers@warchild.org.uk. Anything you tell us will be kept completely confidential by our HR team.
• We are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. In order to apply, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the country where this role is based.

Safeguarding

Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm. All candidates selected for interview will be asked relevant child safeguarding question(s) during the selection interview. Successful applicants will be expected to be compliant with and sign up to our Safeguarding policy, our Code of Conduct and PSEAH (Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse & Harassment). You can find these policies: https://www.warchild.org.uk/our-work/policies-and-reports/safeguarding

Diversity and Inclusion

We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to ensuring that all our people and job applicants are treated fairly, irrespective of where, what or whom they were born, or of other characteristics. We want to offer a safe and inclusive workplace where all our people, especially those who are currently marginalised or underrepresented, can be themselves at work. You can read our Diversity and Inclusion policy on our website, and if you have any questions about our commitment to diversity and inclusion do get in touch: https://www.warchild.org.uk/our-work/policies-and-reports/diversity-and-inclusion

Pre-employment Checks

Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

• a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International/National Criminal Record Check
• a clear vetting and Due Diligence check
• receipt of two professional satisfactory references