Policy Officer jobs in United Kingdom

UCL is one of the world’s leading universities, with more than 51,000 students, 18,000 staff and a total income exceeding £2bn. We are consistently ranked among the global top 10 institutions and are committed to delivering excellence in research, education, and innovation.

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) provides strategic legal and governance advice across UCL and ensures that effective risk, compliance, and assurance frameworks are in place to support our mission, strategy, and values.

Led by the General Counsel, the OGC comprises the Legal Services, Data Protection & Freedom of Information, Governance, Policy, and Risk & Compliance teams. The Chief Policy Officer will play a central role in strengthening UCL’s governance and compliance environment, ensuring that the institution operates effectively within its internal and external regulatory frameworks.

The Chief Policy Officer will lead UCL’s institution‑wide approach to policy governance, working with specialist teams to manage, develop and maintain UCL’s extensive policy portfolio. This senior role provides strategic oversight of policy development, ensuring consistency, transparency and alignment with legal, regulatory and institutional requirements.

The post holder will maintain an up‑to‑date policy register, implement a robust policy lifecycle management framework, and establish clear processes for policy development, consultation, endorsement and approval. They will work closely with colleagues across UCL to improve the quality and effectiveness of policy development, ensuring policies reflect UCL’s regulatory obligations, charitable status, role as an HEI and institutional values. The role also involves reviewing the current portfolio to ensure coherence, collaborating with Governance to embed policy processes within governance structures, integrating policy with UCL’s wider compliance framework, and working with Legal Services to track legislative and regulatory developments. The post holder will provide expert advice to senior stakeholders and support the timely creation and revision of policies.

This is a high‑impact position that will shape UCL’s policy landscape and strengthen governance, risk management and compliance across the institution.

You will be an experienced legal professional with a strong record of operating at a senior level within a large and complex organisation, bringing clarity, leadership and strategic insight to UCL’s policy environment. You will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with relevant post‑qualification experience and a current (or eligible) practising certificate from the SRA or BSB. You will have significant experience influencing and advising at senior management and board level, together with excellent drafting and communication skills and the ability to synthesise complex information and balance differing perspectives. Strong stakeholder‑engagement skills, exceptional organisation, attention to detail and experience developing and promulgating policy within a complex organisation are all essential.

Ideally, you will have at least four years’ relevant post‑qualification experience in a leading law firm or comparable in‑house role (although strong candidates outside this range will be considered), as well as experience in designing and managing policy lifecycle processes.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.

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