The office is conveniently located around a 12-minute walk from Haymarket station, with excellent rail connections as well as frequent bus and tram services, making it easy to commute from across the city and beyond. Combined with our flexible and hybrid ways of working, the Quay building offers an attractive, well-connected and comfortable working environment.

About the team

You'll join a supportive and collaborative team of six colleagues within our Devolution and Law Directorate.

The Scotland team plays a key role in ensuring the views and needs of stakeholders across Scotland are understood and reflected in the Commission's work. We provide expert insight into Scotland's political and electoral environment, helping to support effective regulation, stakeholder engagement and well-run elections.

We're committed to creating an environment where colleagues can grow, learn from one another, and make a visible impact through meaningful work.

Who we’re looking for

We're interested in people who can bring strong analytical, stakeholder management and communication skills, alongside the ability to interpret and explain complex information clearly.

You may have gained experience in electoral administration, regulation, governance, compliance, public policy, public sector delivery, performance management, operational improvement or a similar environment where you've provided professional advice and worked with legislation, standards or regulatory frameworks.

To be successful, you'll be able to demonstrate:

• Experience providing guidance, training or advisory services.
• Experience exercising judgement and providing advice on complex legislative, regulatory or operational matters.
• Experience analysing performance information and identifying opportunities for service improvement.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to build effective working relationships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical skills with attention to detail and the ability to communicate complex information accurately.
• Confidence influencing and engaging stakeholders using tact, persuasion and sound judgement.
• Good numerical and data analysis skills, including experience using spreadsheets such as Excel.
• The ability to work independently and collaboratively, including during busy or high-pressure periods.
• Political impartiality, integrity and a strong commitment to equality.

Experience of delivering or supporting electoral services within the UK would be advantageous but is not essential. We welcome applicants with transferable skills and will provide support to develop specialist knowledge of electoral legislation and practice.

Why work for us?

This is a unique opportunity to:

• Develop specialist expertise in electoral law, electoral administration and performance standards.
• Build relationships with senior electoral stakeholders across Scotland.
• Contribute directly to the delivery of well-run elections and electoral registration services.
• Work on varied, high-profile and operationally significant issues.
• Help improve democratic processes and strengthen confidence in elections.
• Be part of a supportive and collaborative team environment.

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Flexible working and hybrid model for office-based staff, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent in the office.
• Flexi-time scheme, allowing flexible hours with the option to accrue and take flexi leave.
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Civil Service Pension Scheme (28.97% employer contribution).
• Performance-related pay.

How to apply

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

• Do not include:

  • Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details
  • Your date of birth or age
  • Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers
  • A photo of yourself
  • Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age
  • There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

• Do include:

  • Your employment history including employers and dates of employment
  • Explanation for gaps in your history
  • Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV.

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and non-disabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: 28th of September (23:59)
• Interviews (1st stage): Week commencing 12th of October
• Interviews (2nd stage): TBC
• Anticipated start date: 7th of December

Interviews may be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams or in-person.