View Vacancy – Policy and Corporate Support Officer, Strasbourg (FRA24.485)

An overview:

The Council of Europe (CoE), based in Strasbourg in France, is a multilateral organisation bringing together 46 European countries including all EU member States as well as countries in the Western Balkans, Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine. Its core work focuses on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, but spans the entire scope of government business. Since Russia’s expulsion shortly after the invasion, it has placed Russia accountability at the heart of its agenda. 

The work of the United Kingdom Delegation involves dealing with priorities from multiple government departments as well as geopolitical issues. Its main function is to represent UK interests in the executive bodies of the CoE, chiefly the Committee of Ministers, as well as engaging with bodies including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly. 

The UK Delegation is a small team. It nonetheless leads internationally on important issues, maintains the profile of one of the CoE’s four biggest ‘Grand Payeur’ member States, and is central to the delivery of UK Government priorities. 

We are currently looking for a Policy and Corporate Support Officer to provide policy, corporate and logistical support to the rest of the team in order to help deliver UK objectives and ensure the smooth running of the office. This will involve cross-team working, building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with colleagues in UKDel, UK Government Departments, the devolved governments, the CoE Secretariat and other CoE member States. 

The role offers a unique insight into how multilateral institutions work and the opportunity to develop core policy, networking and negotiating skills. This role would suit a person who is able to work both as part of a team and independently, has strong interpersonal skills, excellent judgement and analytical skills, is proactive and contributes with ideas, and has high quality drafting, oral and written communication skills.

The role is split in 2 key areas:

Policy

• Providing policy support to the rest of the team, including (but not limited to):
  • logistical oversight of the various CoE committees;
  • helping with preparation & briefings for meetings;
  • substituting for team members by covering certain CoE meetings/Rapporteur groups, intervening in line with UK Government policy;
  • following/distributing CoE publications to other UK delegations and UK Government policy leads;
  • taking notes and drafting meeting reports. 
• Building a network of contacts with officials in other delegations, UK Government Departments, including the UK Foreign Office, in order to advance/deliver on UK objectives at the CoE.
• Providing a point of contact for UK Government officials that attend CoE committees – keeping lists of experts up-to-date, tracking attendance in Strasbourg, and arranging/running introductory meetings – as well as helping to facilitate UK secondees to the CoE and ECtHR.
• Collating and drafting content for the Delegation’s monthly newsletter, keeping mailing list up-to-date, and circulating across UK Government.
• Supporting the Deputy Head of Mission with external communications (i.e. Twitter, LinkedIn etc).

Corporate

• Providing logistical support for Ministerial visits and events.
• Helping to maintain and set-up office IT/phone equipment and liaise with IT support colleagues in Paris and London.
• Covering for colleagues when they are absent, which can include the Executive Personal Assistant (eg monitoring a shared inbox, assisting with event and meeting organisation). 
• The jobholder will be required to support the team on wider CoE priorities and corporate issues as and when required, such as assisting with possible office move to different premises during renovations.

Our ideal candidate has:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and French (C1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
• Excellent communication skills influencing stakeholders and contacts from all levels to develop and maintain a network of contacts.
• Ability to build and maintain strategic relationships.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and ideally SharePoint applications and OneNote.
• Valid driving licence for France.