Communications jobs in stoke on trent, staffordshire

Introduction

Iswe is a social impact foundation dedicated to finding ways to put people at the heart of social and political decision-making to solve some of society’s greatest challenges. 

We are looking for a hands-on Product Manager to lead the delivery and ongoing development of Assemblis - a hugely ambitious global platform to strengthen community-led decision-making - as it moves from a working prototype to a fully fledged product used by community groups worldwide.

The period from 2025 to 2026 presents a unique opportunity to scale the use and impact of Assemblis around the COP30 UN Climate Conference—set to take place in the Amazon at the end of 2025—by leveraging strategic relationships, including key support from the Brazilian government.

About Assemblis

Assemblis will support communities across the world to run community gatherings, deliberate on shared challenges, and make collective decisions. The platform combines step-by-step guidance, storytelling features and data aggregation, enabling community groups to deliberate meaningfully, share their insights and connect with each other.  Our vision:

A world of resilient local communities that have the tools and confidence to make fair, effective decisions, through community assemblies that facilitate learning, build solidarity and have clear pathways to local and global action.

Assemblis will support people to deliberate on challenges and act together in their communities, whilst building a global picture of citizen needs, actions and solutions, which will inform global decision making. One of the ways it will do this is through the Global Citizens’ Assembly - a permanent institution that Iswe and partners are building.

A Global Citizens’ Assembly for COP30 to be launched in Brazil in November is the key opportunity to pilot Assemblis. We are about to test a minimum viable product (functional prototype) with small sets of global users, and are looking for someone who can lead the iteration process, with the goal of an alpha launch in Climate Week in September.

Assemblis’s vision - A world of resilient local communities that have the tools and confidence to make fair, effective decisions, through community assemblies that facilitate learning, build solidarity and have clear pathways to local and global action. 

We know that building a team representative of wider society fosters creativity and innovation. We welcome people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences and are committed to being a place where all belong. We therefore particularly welcome applications from candidates who are disabled, Black, Asian or from other minority ethnic backgrounds, who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community, or identify as from a lower or disadvantaged socioeconomic background as these groups are currently under-represented on our staff team.
 

About the role

You’ll take a user-centred approach to shaping the product, balancing strategic vision with on-the-ground experimentation. You’ll lead, and help to build, a small, agile team, currently a developer, researcher/product designer and data specialists, working closely with a wider team of deliberation specialists, content creators and a strong network of global partners. 

You will play a key role in defining the roadmap, testing features with real-world users and ensuring Assemblis becomes a powerful, trusted tool for citizen-led change.

We are open to full-time or part-time applicants, depending on experience and availability.
 

Main duties

• Lead product delivery: Own the product vision and roadmap, ensuring features meet user needs and align with organisational goals.

• User-centred design: Champion a user-first approach through ongoing testing, feedback loops, and engagement with a diverse global user base.

• Team leadership: Lead and support a small cross-functional team; identify and recruit additional roles as needed.

• Technical direction: Work with developers to make key decisions on technology architecture, infrastructure, and tools, ensuring scalability and sustainability.

• Stakeholder collaboration: Work closely with Iswe’s internal leads to ensure strategic alignment, and global partners (civic groups, movement partners, and research collaborators) to incorporate their needs into the platform.

• Governance and data: Embed deliberative values in product choices, including data ethics, privacy, accessibility, and transparency.

• Business model development: Support the development and testing of a sustainable income-generating model for Assemblis, while ensuring accessibility and alignment with Iswe’s mission.

• Agile processes: Implement lightweight product management processes (e.g. sprints, prioritisation frameworks, documentation) to maintain momentum and clarity.

• Working in the open: Publish regular blog/weeknotes content to communicate about the work to ensure transparency and inspire healthy criticism and collaboration.
   

About you

This role will suit you if you are a decisive leader who is excited by the potential of civic tech to deepen democracy and empower communities. But you must also be a doer - ready to take responsibility for getting things done, while you grow the team. You might come from a digital agency, a startup, a civic organisation, or a product-led nonprofit. What matters most is your ability to lead with empathy, think strategically, and build things that work.
 

Essential skills and experience

• Strong product management experience in digital platforms, tools or services

• Passion for civic technology and democratic innovation

• Good knowledge of the technologies shaping deliberative democracy, such as facilitation tools, decision-making platforms, participatory budgeting systems, emerging AI tools, etc.

• Creative and bold; willing to listen to competing opinions, ask questions and raise healthy challenges 

• Self reflective; able to give and receive feedback well

• Experience managing or collaborating with cross-functional teams

• Excellent communication skills, both internally and externally

• Able to be an ambassador for the product, speaking persuasively to partners and stakeholders

• Ruthless and pragmatic prioritisation and strong project management skills

• Comfortable working in a startup-style environment (adaptable, proactive, solutions-oriented)
   

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience building online tools or platforms

• Experience working with global, multilingual, or underserved communities

• Familiarity with accessibility and inclusive design principles

• Understanding of data governance, privacy, and ethics in civic platforms
   

Salary, Benefits & Working Conditions

• Salary:  £55-70k per annum, depending on experience

• Hours: Full-time or part-time (minimum 4 days/week); UK adjacent hours

• Location: Remote (occasional UK in-person meetups)

• Leave: 35 days holiday plus UK bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time); 14 days medical leave

• Pension: Statutory employer contributions (currently 3%)
   

About Iswe

We believe that many of the crises we face today - health, climate, the cost of living etc - are symptoms of failing governance structures, and that putting people in the driving seat of decision-making will transform our futures for the better. Our work focuses on Citizens’ Assemblies.

Our team has decades of experience in democratic innovation. Projects include Global Assembly for COP26 and The Future Armenian. Iswe is a fast-growing foundation, dedicated to empowering citizens to play a leading role in the decision-making that affects their lives. 

Our work is founded on strong values, including openness, transparency and humility. We believe that when ‘I’ (an individual) becomes ‘we’ (part of the collective), the results are transformational. We are actively working to build a healthy culture, rooted in care and characterised by being self-organising and self-reflective. We are committed to addressing the dynamics of oppression in ourselves and our work.
 

How to Apply

Please submit a CV and short cover letter outlining your interest in the role and relevant experience, via CharityJob.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the advert may be closed early if we find a suitable candidate.

Role: Senior Officer, Policy & Advocacy (Climate Change & Environment)

Reporting To: Policy & Advocacy Adviser (Climate Change & Environment)

Salary: £47,333

Location: Remote working (preference for GMT +/- 8h). 

For non-UK candidates: Please note that you would be hired via Deel either as a contractor or as an employee with local national benefits.

Contract duration: 3 year fixed-term contract, renewable

Probation period: 6 months

Contract type: Full-time or part-time (minimum 4 days a week), compressed hours and flexible working arrangements available

Closing date: 13 June 2025 at 23:30 UK time

What does United for Global Mental Health do?

At United for Global Mental Health, we work with trusted partners to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and increase support for mental health worldwide.

The United for Global Mental Health team is made up of diverse, passionate and knowledgeable individuals based in the UK and in countries around the world. By combining our extensive in-house expertise in advocacy, financing and campaigning with the unique insights of our many partners, we’re making progress on ensuring that everyone, everywhere has someone to turn to in support of their mental health. You can read about our three-year strategy and our 2024 impact report here.

What will I be doing? 

This role will support the delivery of several activities within our portfolio of activities on climate change, the environment, and mental health. The four main areas of work that the Senior Officer will be responsible for include:

• Leading work with national partners (50% of post)

• Integration of people with lived experience (hereafter referred to as PWLE) across the portfolio (25% of post)

• Developing our advocacy on the intersection of air pollution and mental health (15% of post)

• Developing our advocacy on the intersection of biodiversity loss and mental health (10% of post)

National level work (50% of post)

A key component of the current project will be to support national partners in a subset of countries globally (approximately 6 countries) to advocate for action on climate change and mental health. The final set of countries is yet to be defined but will likely include one country per WHO region and one country from the Small Islands Developing States. The specific responsibilities of this component will include:

• Lead in the selection of national partners in each country. This will include supporting the running of a competitive process to select one civil-society organisation based in each country to conduct the work

• Strengthen the capacity of national partners to work on climate change and mental health (e.g., via training to national partners to be delivered by the Senior Officer), if required

• Support national partners in advocating for the integration of mental health into climate policies, including but not limited to Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, Heat Health Action Plans etc.

• Lead in cohort-building activities for this subset of countries (e.g., organising regular meetings, ensuring shared learnings etc.)

• With the support of our Operations team, support in the logistics of sub-contracting national partners and monitoring deliverables

Involvement of people with lived experience (25% of post)

The meaningful engagement of PWLE of mental health challenges is central to all work at United for Global Mental Health. The specific responsibilities of this component will include:

• Leading on setting up and coordinating a Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG), which will meet every two months to provide guidance to UnitedGMH and national partners on their work on climate and health. The Senior Officer will be responsible for recruiting approximately 12 PWLE (2 x WHO region), organising regular meetings, and ensuring that the feedback of PWLE is integrated across different projects

• Support the attendance of PWLE to key global advocacy moments in a meaningful, safe, and impactful way

• Support national partners on the integration of lived experience considerations in their work on climate change and mental health 

Work on air pollution and mental health (15% of post)

The evidence on air pollution and mental health is a nascent, but rapidly growing, area of interest. The specific responsibilities of this component will include:

• Scope what concrete opportunities exist for integrating mental health considerations into air pollution policies at the global, regional, and national levels 

• Build connections with organisations working on air pollution and clean air policies

• Refine our messaging on air pollution and mental health

• Lead on the production of one advocacy brief on air pollution and mental health

Work on biodiversity loss and mental health (10% of post)

There is emerging evidence on the association between biodiversity loss and mental health, but very little work has yet been done in the policy space. The specific responsibilities of this component will include:

• Scoping what concrete opportunities exist for integrating mental health considerations into biodiversity policies at the global, regional, and national levels 

• Build connections with organisations working on biodiversity, conservation, and nature

• Refine our messaging on biodiversity and mental health

• Lead the production of one advocacy brief on pesticide use and suicide

• Lead on our engagement with the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (biodiversity COP)

Is this job for me?

Requirements

• A minimum of 3 years of experience working on global mental health policy, advocacy, research, or practice

• Expertise in managing and engaging with multiple different types of stakeholders (e.g., civil society, UN agencies, governments etc.) 

• Experience working on co-creation, patient and public involvement (PPI), or working with people with lived experience of mental health problems

• Excellent project management skills and strong planning skills including attention to detail, critical thinking, multi-tasking and problem-solving

• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written

• Ability to work collaboratively in a team

• Expertise in the development of funding proposals and ability to track and report on grant deliverables

• Expertise in organising meetings, events, and small gatherings of partners and other stakeholders

• Ability to travel 2-3 times a year internationally

Desirable

• Expertise in climate change and mental health is desirable but not required

• Experience of working in low- and middle-income countries on mental health is desirable but not required

• Experience of working on influencing policy within a government is desirable but not required

• Fluency in English is essential, the ability to work in a second UN language would be an advantage (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian)

Diversity and inclusion

Equity, diversity and inclusion are central to UnitedGMH’s core mission and values, and the organisation is dedicated to promoting this across our work and also within the workplace. We will ensure that this commitment is embedded in all operational aspects of the organisation and also implemented within our day-to-day working practices.

Reasonable adjustments statement

We aim to ensure that all applicants are provided with the same opportunities during the recruitment process. Should you have a disability and require a particular adjustment to be made to allow you to fully participate in the recruitment process, please ensure that this is made known to the person arranging your interview.

How can I apply?

To apply please submit your CV and a cover letter (800 words maximum) via Charity Job. 

Selection process

• A subset of candidates will be invited to:

  • Submit a short written assignment

  • Participate in at least 2 online interviews between the 1st of July and the 18th of July

Benefits

• 28 days of holiday a year plus national holidays in your country of residency 

• Possibility of being hired by Deel as a local employee (with local pension and social security benefits) or as a contractor (decision up to the employee based on personal preference)

• Up to 1000£ a year of allowance for office space

• Up to 500£ a year in personal development training allowance

• A minimum of 1 in-person team retreat a year

• Possibility to work from anywhere in the world (where you have the legal right to work from)

• Possibility to work compressed hours 

• Access to Employee Assistance Programme via HealthAssured

• [For UK-based staff] You contribute 5% of your salary and we pay for 3% (8% total)