National Officer x 2- RCN02699

National Officer x 2 - RCN02699

Trade Union | RCN UK HQ with hybrid working | £52,839 (including inner London weighting of £5094)

Contract type: Permanent

2 Posts – National Officer

London HQ with Hybrid working

Permanent, 1 x 35 hours per week & 1 x 28 hours per week

There may be further flexibility to the locations advertised. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss if alternative office locations are available.

Imagine being faced with a world of exciting possibilities that could ultimately enable you to support our members and help shape the health policies of the future. We’re a trade union with a membership of close to half a million nurses, midwives, nursing support workers and students. As the UK’s largest trade union and professional body for nursing, we represent and develop members, support their practice and lobby on their behalf to make a positive difference to their working lives.

As a National Officer in the Employment Relations Department you’ll use your positive attitude, your knowledge of employment/industrial relations, your ability to deliver bargaining and negotiations, your skills in influencing for change and engaging with, and on behalf of, RCN members, to protect and improve the working lives of RCN members and the nursing profession (including all aspects of pay, terms and conditions of their employment).

We're accredited with Investors in People Silver Standard. Our people are our greatest asset, and we want people who can contribute to our purpose in line with our values.

It's a job full of possibilities, you could get involved in anything from developing and delivering the RCN pay and bargaining strategy (relating to all aspects of pay, terms and conditions, including job evaluation, for RCN members) across the UK and a range of sectors. You could also be involved in contributing expertise and leadership to the creation/development and maintenance of resources to support collective bargaining for RCN members, representatives and staff. Or monitoring and responding to developments in industrial/employment relations issues.

We'll look to you to coordinate collective bargaining and organising opportunities and responses to consultations, planning and coordinating/implementing necessary actions to ensure that RCN members are fully supported and activism is developed within workplaces. For example, you could be involved in developing appropriate guidance and materials, providing training sessions, information, for RCN members, representatives and/or staff, organising around workplace issues. You will seek to utilise an organising approach to the various aspects of industrial relations to help build member power and the RCN as the Voice of Nursing, particularly within the independent health and social care sector.

It's a great way to build your knowledge of our work and develop your potential.

To join us you’ll need to be a passionate professional who has ambition for change in support of RCN members. We’re seeking an individual experienced in employment/industrial relations with trade unions, employers, employer organisations and statutory bodies. You’ll be expert in working with a wide range of stakeholders and in developing activism. You will bring an understanding and knowledge of nursing employment/industrial relations especially relating to bargaining and pay, terms and conditions. You will also demonstrate employment/industrial relations knowledge across the breadth of different sectors where nursing staff are employed.

The ability to foster strong professional relationships and encourage close collaboration between internal and external stakeholders is at the heart of this role. Whatever your background, you'll be efficient, accurate and show a real focus on empowering RCN members in all you do.

To succeed at the Royal College of Nursing all you need to do is think bigger, better and brighter. And with an attitude like that, anything’s possible.

What we offer you

We offer an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme. We offer annual leave up to 32 days plus bank holidays and three additional days for the Christmas break plus generous maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental leave packages.

*We offer a competitive pay structure with annual pay progression until you reach the top of the salary scale. We normally offer new employees the first point of the salary range, although you may be able to negotiate a higher starting salary depending on your skills, experience and current salary.

We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs and many of our employees enjoy flexible working enabling them to deliver results whilst having a good work life balance. Our hybrid working model allows for up to 60% of your working time to be carried out from home. At least 40% of your working time will be spent working in person.

Our selection process

Please click the ‘apply now’ button to submit a CV and answer the supporting questions online demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this role. You may not be shortlisted if you don’t. Please ensure your CV is in a simple format with minimal tables and sections. Any identifying information in your application will automatically be anonymised for shortlisting purposes.

Please include what hours you are applying for in your supporting questions (0.8FTE or 1FTE).

We want your experience applying for a job with us to be the best it can be. We may hold our interviews and assessments in person or by video call. If you foresee any problems, please let us know.

Equal opportunities for everyone

Equity, diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we aim to foster an inclusive environment so our people can bring their authentic selves to work. This is integral to our mission to enable you to support our members and ensure their voice is heard by all UK governments to get the best outcomes for them and their patients.

As a proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities.

Contact details

For more information or for an informal discussion about the role please contact Deborah Shepherd, Head of Employment Relations (NHS) at [email protected]

For more information on the Recruitment & Selection process, please contact [email protected]

Opening date: 9 July 2025

Closing date: 3 August 2025

If we receive many applications after a week of advertising, this vacancy may close earlier.

Assessment & interview date: w/c 18 August 2025 (TBC)

Interview date:

Contracted hours: 35 & 28

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