Policy, Project and Improvement Officer - The Guardian : Job Details

Policy, Project and Improvement Officer

£38,976 - £52,767 per annum

Fixed Term (until September 2026)

Full Time (36 Hours)

Wandsworth, London

Message from Ana Popovici, Executive Director Children’s Services

Wandsworth is not just a place I work; it’s a vibrant community that I deeply love.Here, in the heart of one of the world’s most amazing capitals, we're committed to fostering kindness, compassion, and community spirit in everything we do.

Are you passionate about making a difference to the lives of children and families?

You will be a crucial part of a cross-functional Policy, Projects and Improvement Team working closely with services such as education, social care and early help. You will be delivering against key Council priorities including the Play Strategy, Youth Strategy, SEND strategy, service reform and upcoming inspections.

You will be joining us at an exciting time as we develop and transform our offer to children and families in response to national reforms and policy. Our focus on empowering communities and reducing inequalities, and ensuring our young people are supported, happy and thriving is the thread through all our work to which you will have a central role to play.

About the role

Children’s and Family’s needs are ever changing. To ensure that our services are adapting and evolving, your role will be crucial to provide essential creative, project management and delivery capacity to help meet that challenge. No two days in the role will be the same, thereforeyou will need to be adaptable, and able to quickly learn about new subject areas. You will need to build good working relationships with colleagues, and work collaboratively to help deliver priority projects. Excellent organisational, verbal and written communication skills are key. Being a team player is at your core. Relationships matter. Positive attitudes spread and inspire.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills.
• A track record of working as part of cross-functional project teams, delivering effective outputs and outcomes.
• Evidence of excellent interpersonal negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to establish positive working relationships with staff at all levels, elected members and external organisations.
• Proven strong ability to absorb, interpret and adapt different sources of information to develop credible proposals and solutions.
• Ability to work at pace, juggle priorities, and assimilate new information quickly, and the ability to make sound decision and judgements under pressure.
• Experience of managing a complex workload, achieving targets and responding flexibly to changing needs and priorities, with limited supervision.

Closing Date: 31st August 2025.

Shortlisting Date: 1st September 2025.

Interview Date: 4th September 2025.

We may close this vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Richmond & Wandsworth Better Service Partnership are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.