The director for the Office of Civil Society is to join the National Lottery Community Fund as a senior adviser on a 12-month secondment.
David Knott, who has been in post since being promoted from deputy director in 2017, will take up the new role in the middle of October.
The NLCF said it regularly had secondments to and from government and other organisations, at a range of levels across the fund.
“David will be joining at an important time for the fund and government as we seek to continue to support communities recovering from Covid-19,” said an NLCF spokesperson.
“He will play a role in making sure we connect what we learn from our grant-making with the government, as we all work hard to ensure we are responding in the best possible way for communities.”
The move comes as Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the NLCF, prepares to step down at the end of the year after seven years in the role.
An OCS email newsletter said Hannah Malik and Becky Morrison would be “leading across the full range of Office for Civil Society responsibilities from 24 September”.
In the email, Knott said he had enjoyed seven “wonderful and varied years” at the OCS, and looked forward to his role at the NLCF, where he said he would help shape its public policy work and strategic relationship management and development, particularly with government.
“Civil society really is the best expression of who we are, and I’m proud to have worked as part of such an amazing team of civil servants dedicated to the task of helping build a strong civil society through some brilliant policies, programmes and cross-sector partnerships,” he said.