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Job description

Join us at Housing Rights as our Legal Reform Engagement Lead where you will lead stakeholder engagement activity to support Housing Rights' work to reform homelessness legislation in Northern Ireland. About the role This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to one of the most significant developments in homelessness policy in Northern Ireland in a generation. The postholder will build relationships across the statutory, voluntary and community sectors, gather evidence and insights from organisations and help develop recommendations for change. Combining stakeholder engagement, project management and policy analysis, this role will play an important part in helping shape a more effective homelessness system that focuses on prevention, early intervention and better outcomes for people at risk of homelessness.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, coordination and delivery of a large-scale stakeholder engagement programme with organisations supporting people who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders,including statutory bodies,housing providers,charities,voluntary and community sector organisations,health services,criminal justice partners and other relevant agencies.
• Ensure suitable engagement processes are in place to gather meaningful insights, highlight key issues and identify solutions to inform the development of recommendations for the proposed legal reform of Northern Ireland’s homelessness legislation.
• Manage programme timelines, budgets and resources to ensure successful delivery of engagement activities.
• Gather, analyse and synthesise stakeholder feedback to produce high-quality reports, presentations and recommendations.
• Organise meetings of the project group on an agreed schedule, managing any relevant logistics and issuing relevant papers and briefings on behalf of Housing Rights in a timely and professional manner.
• Act as a liaison between relevant stakeholders and the Senior Leadership Team, bringing relevant issues to the attention of the Head of Policy and Development to ensure the success of the project.
• Develop engagement and communication plans that ensure stakeholders remain informed and involved, as agreed with the Head of Policy and Development.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Third level qualification or equivalent in a relevant discipline, e.g. social policy, research, economics, politics or similar.
• Minimum of two years’ experience leading and delivering programmes, projects or policy initiatives involving multiple stakeholder .groups
• Minimum of two years’ experience designing and delivering stakeholder engagement, consultation or partnership programmes.
• Minimum of two years’ experience producing evidence-based reports, recommendations and presentations for senior stakeholders.
• Experience working with organisations that support vulnerable people or communities, particularly within homelessness, housing, social care, health or community services.
• Stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• Project and programme management capabilities.
• Organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.

Desirable Skills

• Professional qualification in project management for example, PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, APM (or equivalent).
• Experience working within a homelessness, housing, public sector or charitable environment.
• Experience of contributing to policy development, legislative reform, consultation exercises or service improvement initiatives
• A understanding of housing or homelessness law in Northern Ireland.

Further Information

This role is fixed term, initially for a period of 14 months from December 2026 to February 2028, with the possibility of extension.