3999 - Head of Hospitality

Job summary

The hospitality sector is a cornerstone of Welsh life, contributing significantly to our national identity and economic resilience. As of early 2026, the sector supports over 100,000 jobs across Wales and contributes approximately £3.5bn in GVA to the Welsh economy.

The new Head of Hospitality will be a high-profile leadership role holistically responsible for Welsh Government policy as it relates to pubs, restaurants, cafes, and late-night venues.

Job description

The postholder will be a pivotal senior role providing national strategic leadership for hospitality policy, ensuring coherence across Welsh Government portfolios - from environmental health to business rates - and act as the authoritative senior official leading the Welsh Government’s relationship with the sector. The postholder will be responsible for shaping and driving delivery of a coherent, whole‑government strategy, ensuring the sector’s economic and social contribution is maximised and that any risks to that strategies sustainability are actively managed.

Person specification

There are three overarching duties/objectives of this role, summarised as follows:

External Relationship Management (Outward Facing)

• Strategic Liaison: Represent the Welsh Government as the senior strategic lead in negotiations with major UK‑wide hospitality bodies, presenting and defending Government positions on contentious issues and managing high‑stakes discussions with significant economic, reputational and political implications.
• Policy Advocacy: Effectively communicate Welsh Government policy positions to the sector, while acting as a "critical friend" by capturing and articulating emerging industry intelligence, challenges and concerns.
• Crisis & Reputation Management: Lead the response to high-profile sector issues to ensure public confidence and sector stability.

Internal Policy Coordination (Inward Facing)

• Cross-Government Integration: The post will lead and manage the "Hospitality Map" across Welsh Government. It will pull together threads from multiple departments to create unified advice for Welsh Ministers. Key policy areas include:
• The postholder will be required to exercise senior‑level influence across Government departments, shaping policy design where hospitality impacts arise. It will also provide authoritative challenge and ensure Ministerial priorities are embedded into regulatory, economic and social policy frameworks.
• The postholder will develop a new Wales cross departmental strategy for hospitality - and chair a cross department steering group to monitor progress against the strategy.

Ministerial Support

• Provide quality assurance for high-quality, comprehensive briefings and in person support for Welsh Ministers (including the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise Connectivity and Energy). Lead on Hospitality related Oral and First Minister’s Questions and Senedd business and debates (at times with minimal notice). This includes data-driven analysis of the economic and cultural impact of hospitality on Welsh life.
• Policy Cohesion: Successful delivery of a "Unified Hospitality Brief" updated quarterly for the Welsh Ministers.
• Stakeholder Sentiment: Maintaining a formal "Engagement Matrix" with UK Hospitality and BBPA – which can be a vehicle to underpin Ministerial engagement.

Licences

A full UK driving licence and access to a personal vehicle are essential for this role, as it requires frequent visits to various premises, including during evenings and weekends when public transport options may be limited.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,098, Welsh Government contributes £17,700 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Welsh Government, like all other Government Departments use Success Profiles when we recruit. For each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job. It raises performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

The selection process and stages are:

Number of Stages:2 stage processStage 1Application FormStage 2Interview

Application to include latest CV - CVs will not be scored but will be used by the panel to gain a fuller understanding of your experience and employment history.

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment criterion: Seeing the Big Picture - Anticipate emerging issues, risks and opportunities affecting the hospitality sector and advise Ministers accordingly.

A presentation on ‘Seeing the Big Picture - Anticipate emerging issues, risks and opportunities affecting the hospitality sector and advise Ministers accordingly will be required at ‘interview stage. More information will be provided in the invitations to that stage.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

A reserve list may be held for this opportunity. Any candidate who is successful in being offered a reserve status, will remain on the reserve list for 12 months.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland,