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About the Role

As our Community Cohesion Engagement Officer, you will work at the heart of Barnet's communities, building and maintaining strong relationships with residents, community leaders, voluntary organisations and faith groups. You will lead innovative engagement activities that bring people together, encourage meaningful dialogue, and create opportunities for communities to shape local decisions. This is a proactive and preventative role, focused on identifying emerging issues, reducing tensions, and strengthening community resilience before challenges escalate. You will work collaboratively across the Council and with external partners to support Barnet's commitment to tackling hate crime, promoting inclusion, safeguarding vulnerable communities, and fostering positive relationships between people from different backgrounds, cultures and faiths. Working closely with a wide range of stakeholders, you will use community insight and local intelligence to inform policy, shape engagement strategies, and support early intervention approaches that strengthen cohesion across the borough.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain trusted relationships with diverse communities, community leaders, faith groups, partner organisations and council colleagues.
Design and deliver innovative and inclusive engagement programmes that encourage participation and amplify community voices.
Foster dialogue and collaboration between different communities to strengthen social cohesion and mutual understanding.
Identify emerging issues and community concerns, helping to prevent tensions and support constructive local responses.
Develop initiatives that celebrate diversity, promote inclusion and empower residents to play an active role in their communities.
Use community insight, lived experience and local intelligence to influence policy development and strategic decision-making.
Work closely with Community Safety council services to ensure coordinated responses to cohesion-related challenges.
Support communications and awareness campaigns relating to hate crime, extremism prevention, safeguarding and community resilience.
Monitor community trends and risks, evaluate impact, and share learning and good practice.
Build strong relationships with local, regional and national networks to promote innovation and continuous improvement in community cohesion work.

Requirements

Experience of community engagement, participation, community development or cohesion-related work within diverse communities.
Experience of working effectively with diverse communities, faith groups and voluntary sector organisations to build trust and encourage participation.
Excellent communication, facilitation and relationship-building skills.
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to engage confidently and sensitively with a wide range of audiences.
A good understanding of the voluntary, community and faith sector and the important role it plays in supporting local communities.
Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines.
The ability to use insight, evidence and local intelligence to inform engagement approaches and decision-making.
Political awareness, sound judgement and the ability to manage sensitive issues with professionalism and discretion.
Knowledge of community cohesion, equalities, community safety, hate crime or counter-extremism policy.
Understanding of local government and public sector partnership working.
Experience of supporting hate crime, prevent or safeguarding initiatives.
Experience of analysing data and producing high-quality reports, briefings and recommendations.

Skills

Community engagement
Participation
Community development
Cohesion-related work
Communication
Facilitation
Relationship-building
Interpersonal skills
Organisational skills
Project management
Insight
Evidence
Local intelligence
Political awareness
Judgement
Professionalism
Discretion

Location

Barnet

Work Type

Flexible working
Part-time
Compressed hours
Hybrid working

Experience Level

Degree level or equivalent professional experience

Education Level

Degree level

Benefits

31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
Comprehensive Flexible Working Policy
Lifestyle discounts
Payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
Excellent training and development opportunities
Employee well-being training programs including confidential employee assistance

About the Company

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation, our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning to Improve, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative – which drive everything we do.

Equal Opportunity

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers.
As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.
Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance.
Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities.
If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process.
We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply