I currently work on delivery of the flagship £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund. I hold responsibility for the development of policy to onboard projects. In this role, I have worked with senior leaders and ministers to develop and agree a robust framework to ensure projects provide value for money. I also manage a multi-million pound contract with Arup & Deloitte, who are providing support to local authorities to unblock delivery of funding. I have cultivated a robust working relationship, ensuring alignment with key performance deliverables whilst also identifying opportunities for growing the relationship in a mutually beneficial way.

Working as the communication and engagement lead for the flagship £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, I managed the overall communications strategy for the Fund. As communications lead, I developed national press releases for our funding announcements, which were lead stories on the BBC website and in other major publications. I also led responses to press enquiries & correspondence, and developed materials for ministerial meetings, leading pre-meets with ministers to ensure they were fully briefed. As engagement lead, I developed and maintained relationships with stakeholders across government, bringing together insights from different teams to understand risks and issues, and put appropriate mitigations in place.

As Programme Manager for the Private Rented Sector team, I was responsible for the management of the portfolio of policies to be delivered through the Renters (Reform) Bill - a major change to resolve the power imbalance in the private rented sector. I had a broad oversight across multiple policy areas and worked closely with policy leads to understand timelines, consider policy objectives, identify risks and drive solutions for issues that endangered the policy areas inclusion in the bill.Recognising a learning gap, I also worked to increase broader knowledge of bill process within my division. I arranged for numerous learning opportunities to build knowledge in areas such as the public sector equalities duty and the process for laying bills in Parliament.

As a policy advisor in the Shielding Directorate, I work closely with colleagues and local authorities to ensure vulnerable people were supported during the Covid-19 crisis. I was responsible for updating guidance that was regularly issued to councils, outlining their responsibilities in supporting vulnerable people. Working at pace with policy colleagues across the department, I ensured the guidance remained accurate, relevant and deliverable. I also set-up a Management Information (MI) collation process to measure support for people self-isolating. Working closely with colleagues across government and in local authorities, the MI collected was used at senior and ministerial level to inform key decision making processes.

Leading a benefit delivery team, I directly managed 12 colleagues, and wider team of over 60 people, across multiple specialities, whilst leading on national projects. My day-to-day duties involved managing my staff’s workflow, dealing promptly with HR issues, setting goals and targets, communicating effectively with my team across multiple channels and liaising with internal and external stakeholders. I fostered a trusting work environment, where wellbeing and development were at the heart of individual and team discussions. I also led on a national digital capability project, bringing together senior stakeholders across multiple business areas to implement a wide-ranging, long-term plan to improve digital capability and confidence across 40,000 colleagues.