Events & Training Development Officer, PolicyWISE

Weekly Working Hours:  37

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 6 months from start date

Job Description: 

About the Role

Are you passionate about creating impactful events and training programmes that drive engagement and learning? PolicyWISE is seeking an enthusiastic and organised Events & Training Development Officer to join our dynamic team.

In this role, you’ll play a key part in planning, delivering, and evaluating a range of in-person, hybrid, and virtual events and training sessions. You’ll also help grow our training workstream, with a focus on external engagement and income generation. Working collaboratively across teams, you’ll ensure our events are inclusive, high-quality, and strategically aligned, while building partnerships and identifying new opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Events Planning and Delivery

• Coordinate logistics for in-person, hybrid and virtual events, including venue liaison, supplier management, scheduling, and accessibility arrangements.
• Coordinate on the delivery of flagship events, including conferences, workshops, and stakeholder roundtables.
• Support with the promotion of events and stakeholder management.
• Develop and maintain event documentation, including risk assessments, briefing packs, and evaluation reports.
• Support the delivery of internal and external focused training, roundtables and promotional events.

Training and Programme Support

• Support on the design and delivery of training sessions aligned to PolicyWISE’s strategic priorities and overarching objectives.
• Coordinate training logistics, including trainer liaison, materials preparation, and delegate communications.
• Monitor and evaluate training effectiveness, gathering feedback and supporting continuous improvement.

Business Development

• Support the development of the events and training business workstream, including market research and competitor analysis.
• Identify and pursue partnership and sponsorship opportunities.
• Contribute to the development of promotional materials and communications strategies.
• Maintain accurate records of engagement and income generation activities.
• Work collaboratively across multiple teams.
• Work closely with PolicyWISE colleagues across research, communications, and operations to ensure alignment and integration of events and training.
• Represent PolicyWISE at external meetings and events as required.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Experience in planning and delivering events and/or training programmes, in-person, hybrid and online.
• Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including experience working with senior stakeholders
• Strong presentation and writing skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and digital collaboration tools (e.g. Teams, Zoom, Eventbrite).
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. 

Desirable

• Experience in business development or income-generating activities.
• Understanding of the policy or public affairs landscape in the UK.
• Experience working in a charity, public sector or membership organisation.
• Familiarity with data management.
• Budget management experience.

Essential Requirements

To apply for this role please submit the following documents:

• CV 
• A personal statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job description. 

Please Note: We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

Flexible Working: We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you. 

Interview Dates: We anticipate that interviews for this role will be taking place during the week commencing 22 September 2025.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. The role can be contractually aligned to either our Milton Keynes or Cardiff office, however it is expected that some attendance in the Cardiff office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately once a month.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength. We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.