This role is no longer live but keep your eyes peeled for future postings! And still check out the details below to get to know Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL).

Summary

Location: Remote-working role, based within ±3 hours of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

Type: 35 or 28 hours per week 

Salary: £53,000 (pro rata)

Expected start date: As soon as possible

Deadline: 23:00 BST Sunday 1st October 2023 

Application via this Google form (when asked where you heard of the role, remember to share Known Impact 😁) . Please make sure you read all the details below before applying.

Are you ready to lead DEAL’s work in Government & Policy to turn the ideas of Doughnut Economics into transformative practice?

If yes, we’d love to hear from you!

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) works with innovative cities, businesses, teachers, students, and community groups worldwide to turn the ideas of Doughnut Economics into irresistible practice.

We explore and demonstrate how to create economies that meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, collaborate with others to bring about this transformational change, and so help to realise a regenerative and distributive future.

In this newly created role, you will be leading DEAL’s engagement with national governments, policymakers, and international institutions that are interested in exploring the implications of Doughnut Economics in their own context.

This is a remote-working role and it can be 28 or 35 hours per week. The annual salary is £53,000 (pro rata). We welcome applications from outside the UK as part of our commitment to building a diverse team. At the same time, we are still building our capacity to work as an international team and so we are offering this as a remote-working role based within -3/+3 hours of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). As we learn and evolve as a team, our intention is to expand this range further globally for future recruitments.

Job description

DEAL’s Government & Policy Lead

About Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL)

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) works with innovative cities, businesses, teachers, students, and community groups worldwide to turn the ideas of Doughnut Economics into irresistible practice. 

We explore and demonstrate how to create economies that meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, collaborate with others to bring about this transformational change, and so help to realise a regenerative and distributive future.

DEAL was founded as a Community Interest Company in July 2019, in response to the interest generated by Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics: Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist (Penguin Random House 2017). DEAL is funded by a range of foundations.

Over the past three years, practitioners in many fields internationally – including educators, community organisers, local and national governments, NGOs, and businesses – have started exploring ways to apply the concepts of Doughnut Economics in their work. 

DEAL aims to create synergy out of these diverse initiatives and to make the new economy visible through building critical mass amongst pioneering innovators and early adopters of new economic ideas and action.

You can learn more about DEAL, our strategy, and our team on our website and in DEAL’s Strategic Plan.

About the role:

In this newly created role, you will be leading DEAL’s engagement with national governments, policymakers, and international institutions that are interested in exploring the implications of Doughnut Economics in their own context. As part of our team, you will:

• Work closely with DEAL’s Strategy Lead and Conceptual Lead to shape and evolve DEAL’s strategic approach to bringing Doughnut Economics thinking to governments, and their policies and on how to engage with politicians and political parties. This may include ideas on what is the best way to work with and support national governments, where to focus, what types of tools and resources to develop or co-create, and how to handle interest from governments and manage those relationships.

• Be DEAL’s main point of contact in engaging with national and regional governments, and international governmental organisations, responding to new enquiries and maintaining ongoing working relationships across a dynamic and evolving network of practice.

• Work closely with existing allies and Doughnut Economics practitioners in the wider movement of change, to continue to develop our relationships with them and to spread Doughnut Economics thinking and practice; identifying and building relationships with new allies already working in a similar field. 

• Present the core concepts and possible policy implications of Doughnut Economics in compelling and accessible ways, to national and international and governmental agencies, both in closed meetings and at external public events.

• Research and curate a series of compelling examples of existing national policies which are strongly aligned with the core concepts of Doughnut Economics – for example, policies for regenerative & distributive transformation – taking into account very different national and regional contexts worldwide.

• Work closely with and support DEAL’s Conceptual Lead (Kate Raworth) in preparing for and engaging in governmental meetings and events when official protocol requires her involvement, including:
  • providing background research and briefing materials on the national/regional policy context to engage effectively in discussions; 
  • documenting regionally relevant examples of policies aligned with Doughnut Economics that we can draw on to bring granularity to our narrative. 

• Work closely with DEAL’s Cities & Regions Lead to identify synergies between local and national policy and explore areas for collaborative work. 

• Work closely with DEAL’s Business Lead to identify and develop strategy on how national-level policies can enable and promote regenerative and distributive business and finance. 

• Create new tools and adapt DEAL’s existing tools to create learning materials and training for governments and organisations interested in applying Doughnut Economics frameworks.

• Collaborate with advocacy groups, think tanks, researchers and others whose work is aligned with the values and vision of DEAL, to influence national and international policies and processes. 

Essential skills and experience: 

Taking note: research shows that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet around 60% of the criteria, while women and marginalised people tend to only apply when they check every criteria. So if you think you have what it takes, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still apply.

• You are committed to DEAL’s vision of a world in which all people and the living planet thrive in balance, and you share DEAL’s values (page 8 of DEAL’s Strategic Plan) with a commitment to put them into practice.

• You have experience being involved in multiple policy-making processes at a national level and possess a deep understanding of these processes.

• Your experience in policy-making processes is in more than one national context, which has given you an appreciation for the nuances and differences between different countries, continents and regions, and demonstrates you are able to engage with different governments, ministries and public institutions globally.

• You have experience working in, and have a strong familiarity with, the post-growth, social economy and new-economics policy sphere

• You have a good understanding of key intergovernmental frameworks, agreements, commitments and processes.

• You have a strong understanding of the core concepts of Doughnut Economics and their relevance to, and potential to influence governments and their policies.

• You have excellent spoken communications skills in English, and are a confident presenter, especially in making public presentations both in-person and online (such as in webinars, conferences and other high-profile events).

• You have excellent written communication skills in English, including the ability to convey complex concepts simply.

• You thrive in using a strategic, systems-thinking, tactical approach when influencing others.

• You are calm under pressure and able to handle situations of tension or uncertainty: DEAL plays a challenging role in bringing transformative ideas into practice, sometimes with critique or resistance from within or beyond the wider movement for change, and we seek to navigate these situations strategically and with care.

• You have experience developing collaborative networks and building strong relationships amongst diverse individuals and groups.

• You have experience in designing and delivering accessible, creative and insightful materials, guides, workshops and tools.

• You are flexible and can adapt and work independently in a distributed organisation. You are also able to co-create strategies that respond to the context and events.

• You are very comfortable collaborating as part of an online team using tools such as Dropbox, Slack, Google apps, Miro and Trello.

Desirable skills and experience:

We know that no one can have all these skills and experiences – but you will likely be able to bring 2 or 3 of the following to the role:

• Experience in direct engagement with high-level governmental officials
• Experience providing research and briefing materials to support colleagues
• Experience working with data from national and international databases to support the work you’re doing
• Experience working for like-minded government-facing NGOs, think tanks or institutes
• Experience working with key international governmental frameworks and processes
• Experience/familiarity with local governments, and how their work intersects with national policy
• Experience engaging with international organisations and/or coalitions
• Fluency in additional languages other than English
• Lived experience outside of the UK
• Work experience outside of the UK
• Facilitation experience

What it’s like to work at DEAL:

We consider ourselves a small team, currently made up of 12 team members. We’re very proud of the organisation we have built and the culture we continue to nurture but we’re also still figuring out its own evolution and scale. We acknowledge that our ways of working and structure may not work for all so we wanted to share what it’s like to work here.

We work in a spirit of trust, reciprocity, flexibility, integrity and experimentation, and we aim to provide a collaborative and equitable working environment where every member of the team is set up to thrive. Our roles work fairly autonomously. This means you will have the trust to make some decisions and will need to collaborate/ask questions when making decisions that affect others. Our decision-making models are a work in progress. In the day-to-day, this means that you will need to be comfortable being agile, adaptive to change and generally embrace the unknown. In the beginning, we intentionally created a culture of co-creation and participatory decision-making, however as we grow, we’re experimenting with how this might change. 

As a team we treat each other with kindness, we care for each other and we often laugh together.

Some of our strategic principles and principles of practice translate into the way we work including:

• Be agile and adaptive: we respond to circumstances and evolve when new opportunities emerge
• Go where the energy is: we work with the changemakers who are already in action, and there are plenty of them
• Nurture human nature: Promote diversity, participation, collaboration and reciprocity; Strengthen community networks and work with a spirit of high trust; Care for the wellbeing of the team.
• Think in systems: Experiment, learn, adapt, evolve and aim for continuous improvement; Be alert to dynamic effects, feedback loops and tipping points.
• Be distributive: Work in the spirit of open design and share the value created with all who co-created it; Be aware of power and seek to redistribute it to improve equity amongst stakeholders.

We are a distributed, remote team, working and collaborating across several countries. We meet online at least three times a week and collaborate in small groups as needed throughout the day, using a mix of Zoom, Slack, Trello, Miro, collaborative documents, and other online tools.

Depending on Covid restrictions and safety, there will be required travel for in-person team gatherings twice a year. You will also be required to travel to take part in other events and meetings relevant to your role. 

As part of this role, you will work with government officials, high-profile individuals, civil servants, and other allies in the wider movement of change, to embed the core concepts of Doughnut Economics in policy.

Within the DEAL team, you will work particularly closely with DEAL’s directors (in their roles as Conceptual Lead and Strategic Lead). You will also work with our thematic leads (such as Cities & Regions Lead, Business & Enterprise, and Research & Academia), as well as with the rest of the DEAL Team in day-to-day work. 

Application process 

We acknowledge that many social groups and identities are under-represented in our team and we’re committed to changing this. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of colour, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, and people from other marginalised groups.

Our recruitment approach aims to make the opportunity as accessible as possible and ensure a diverse range of people are able to demonstrate their potential. We know that there is more that we can do to make this recruitment process more accessible, particularly if you have experienced exclusion, disadvantage or discrimination, or if you have specific accessibility needs. We would be happy to provide any further support that you may require – please get in touch so that we can work together to provide that –  recruitment@doughnuteconomics.org 

Job sharing: We are accepting applications from pairs of people who would like to apply for a job share. Each of you will have to complete your own application form. There is a place on the application form to name the other person you are applying with.

Do you have further questions?   You’re invited to join a few DEAL team members who will be hosting a 45min webinar about the Government & Policy role. They’ll go through the job description briefly and answer any questions you may have.

Date: 18th September, 2023 

Time: 17:30 BST

Pre-registration is required:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KcPXY71gRz-epNsWhb3EsA 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please note, this will be recorded and shared with those who are unable to attend the live event. If you would like a link to the recording, please email us at recruitment@doughtnuteconomics.org.

There are 3 required components to the application process:

1. Application Google form
2. Video submission
3. CV
4. Equality and Diversity form (optional)

1. Application form:

Please complete this Google form (when asked where you heard of the role, remember to share that you heard of this role via Known Impact 😁) . It will ask you for your personal details, referees, and the questions below. Refer back to the job description above to help you complete the questions in the application form fully; There are strict word counts so please stick to them.

• How will your experience and understanding of policy-making processes allow you to succeed in this role? 600 words 
• The Section ‘Essential skills and experience’ in the Job Description gives a list of what we are looking for. Please choose 3 points from this list and provide at least one example of how you meet each of them. 250 words per point
• The Section ‘Desirable skills and experience’ in the Job Description gives a list of other possible skills and experience an applicant can bring to the role. Please choose 1-2 points from this list and provide at least one example of how you meet each of them. 250 words per point
• Where do you see the potential/opportunity for Doughnut Economics to be applied in shaping national public policy across the global south and north? 600 words 
• Additional information: If you have any other skills, experience or qualities relevant to this role, please share the highlights below, along with any other information that you’d like to share with us. 600 words 
• If you are applying as a job share please tell us how you see this job share working in practice. 600 words 

2/3. Video and CV submission: This role requires you to demonstrate excellent spoken communications skills (especially in delivering public presentations both in-person and online). To give you an opportunity to demonstrate this, we would like you to record and submit a video as part of your application, answering the following question: Why does this role appeal to you?  

Important instructions:

• Your video must be no longer than 2 minutes
• Please click here to upload your video and your CV to a private Dropbox folder
• To make it easy for us to match your video and CV to your application, please include your full name (First and Last name), ensuring it matches your name in the ‘Personal Details’ of the application form you submit.

4. Equity and Diversity Form (optional):

We are committed to providing equal opportunities for everyone regardless of their background. We value diversity and lived experience, and acknowledge the underrepresentation of people from certain backgrounds both within our community and team.

In the application form, you will have the opportunity to fill in our equity and diversity survey. This will not be used to select candidates and is entirely voluntary.

The data you provide will be used to monitor whether we are receiving applications from candidates across the whole of society. If there are differences in application and success rates it will enable action to be taken to ensure that no group is treated unfairly.

Your response will be kept completely separate from your application and your answers will be treated confidentially and anonymously and will not affect your application in any way.

If you do not wish to submit any responses to the survey you are able to skip this stage in the application form.

The deadline for receipt of your application is 23:00 BST Sunday 1st October. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to do an interview on the 24th or 25th October. Additionally, you will be asked to prepare an exercise to present during the interview.

Successful candidates will be asked to do a second interview on the 1st or 2nd November.

All interviews will take place via Zoom.

Privacy Notice:

We will only use the personal data for the purpose of proceeding with the job application process. Applications from unsuccessful applicants will be kept on file for six months before being destroyed. By signing this form, you consent to your personal data being processed and kept for the purpose described in DEAL’s Privacy Notice in accordance with The Data Protection Act.

How to Apply

There are 4 components to the application process:

1. Application Google form
2. Video submission
3. CV
4. Equality and Diversity form (optional)

We acknowledge that many social groups and identities are under-represented in our team and we’re committed to changing this. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of colour, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, and people from other marginalised groups.

Our recruitment approach aims to make the opportunity as accessible as possible and ensure a diverse range of people are able to demonstrate their potential. We know that there is more that we can do to make this recruitment process more accessible, particularly if you have experienced exclusion, disadvantage or discrimination, or if you have specific accessibility needs. We would be happy to provide any further support that you may require – please get in touch so that we can work together to provide that –  recruitment@doughnuteconomics.org.

Job sharing: We are accepting applications from pairs of people who would like to apply for a job share. Each of you will have to complete your own application form. There is a place on the application form to name the other person you are applying with.

The deadline for receipt of your application is 23:00 BST, Sunday 1st October. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to do an interview on the 24th or 25th October. You will be asked to prepare an exercise to present during the interview.

Successful candidates will be asked to do a second interview on the 1st or 2nd November.

All interviews will take place via Zoom.

FAQ

Do I need to live in the UK to apply? 

Nope! We welcome applications from anyone who is based within -3/+3 hours of Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) as per the following map:

When will I hear back from you? 

We will let you know whether or not you have been shortlisted to proceed to the next stage of recruitment by Friday 20th October.

When do I need to apply by?
Applications must be received by 11pm noon (UK time) on Sunday, 1st October.  NB we will not be able to accept late applications

I have further questions about the role 

We will also be hosting a 45 min webinar about the role and a Q&A on 18 September at 17:30 BST.

Pre-registration is required which you can do here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please note, this will be recorded and shared with those who are unable to attend the live event. If you would like a link to the recording, please email us.

Alternatively, you can contact us by emailing recruitment@doughnuteconomics.org.

Can I have a conversation with you before applying?
No. To ensure a fair and transparent recruitment process, all applicants are provided with the same information. We have organised the webinar on the 18 September where you can ask all questions you might have.

Can you tell me if I’m a good fit for the role I want to apply for?
We are not able to advise on whether you would be a good fit for a specific role before you apply. We encourage you to look at the job description and assess yourself against the set of requirements listed.

How often do you get together in person? The whole team gets together for 1-2 in-person gatherings every year. We also encourage individuals to self-organise and get together when they can throughout the year. This might include working together for a day at a workspace, meeting for a 1-1 etc.

I’m having technical difficulties uploading my video/CV

Please contact us by emailing recruitment@doughnuteconomics.org.

Can DEAL sponsor me as a non-UK resident? 

Unfortunately DEAL is unable to sponsor individuals at this time.