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Are you a social media whizz with a passion for telling powerful stories? Keen to progress in your career in public relations and digital communications while making a real impact in the charity sector? Join Dravet Syndrome UK as a Marketing and Communications Manager (home based,16 hours/week) and bring your creativity and energy to a role where you’ll help shape our online presence, generate meaningful media coverage, and connect communities through engaging content.

Reporting to the Head of Marketing and Communications and working with the Marketing, Communications and Fundraising Manager in this varied position, you’ll drive DSUK’s social media activity, creating and scheduling posts across our social media channels. Alongside engaging online audiences, you’ll be instrumental in our proactive PR work—writing press releases, pitching stories to key media, responding to journalist enquiries, and helping develop compelling family case studies for campaigns. As part of a passionate and supportive team, you’ll collaborate to measure the impact of our communications and marketing work.

If you’re ready to grow your career in communications and want to make a difference for families affected by Dravet syndrome, we want to hear from you.

As part of DSUK’s commitment to safeguarding, the postholder is expected to undertake an enhanced DBS check.

About Dravet Syndrome UK

Dravet Syndrome UK (DSUK) is a small independent UK charity dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by Dravet Syndrome. Dravet Syndrome is a rare neurological condition that affects around one in every 15,000 people in the UK. As well as experiencing severe, difficult-to-control seizures, children and adults with Dravet Syndrome have varying degrees of intellectual disability and a spectrum of associated conditions (known as ‘comorbidities’), which may include autism, ADHD, behaviours that challenge and difficulties with speech, mobility, eating and sleep.

The charity was founded in October 2008 by a small group of 30 families. Today, DSUK is a registered charity helping over 550 families with support, education, and research programmes, underpinned by a world-class Medical Advisory Board.

What you will bring

Essential

· Demonstrable experience in planning and delivering engaging and targeted social media content to build community, raise awareness and drive engagement.

· Hands-on experience managing websites (using WordPress), delivering e-marketing campaigns (e.g. Mailchimp or similar), and applying SEO principles and other techniques to optimise digital communications and online visibility.

· Demonstrable experience in media relations, including writing press releases, working with case studies and successfully pitching and responding to a range of media (online, press, radio, broadcast)

· Demonstrable experience of working in charity, patient advocacy or healthcare sectors

· Ability to deal with people at all levels with empathy, tact and credibility

· Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to distil large amounts of information and present it in engaging and innovative ways for a variety of audiences

· Demonstrable design skills and knowledge of desktop publishing software e.g. using Canva to create in-house designs for social media and our website

· Act as a brand guardian, ensuring external designers and agencies understand and apply our brand, visual identity, and corporate communications guidelines effectively

· Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to prioritise

· Be a self-starter and team player with experience of remote working, and able to work effectively with colleagues using remote technology (e.g. Zoom, Google meets, etc)

Desirable

· Membership of a professional body such as Chartered Institute of Public Relations and/or a commitment to continuous professional development

 Why join Dravet Syndrome UK?

Join our dynamic and growing charity, where you'll thrive in an exciting and engaging environment. We are proud to be a family-oriented charity experiencing growth and fuelled by an ambitious plan for expansion. Our dedicated team is deeply connected to our core audience, and their motivation stems from witnessing our impact on people's lives. Join us today and contribute to making a lasting difference in the lives of those we support.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday, 24 September 2025, with shortlisting interviews taking place in early October with job to commence November 2025.

Our commitment to diversity

As part of our ambitions to improve equality and diversity, we welcome applications for this role from those who identify under any of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, which include race, age, disability, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

Physical activity is vital to good health. So we need you to get Salford moving.

Salford CVS (Community and Voluntary Services) is the city-wide infrastructure service for the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector. We support almost 1,000 VCSE groups and organisations in Salford, with 7,000 paid staff and 62,000 volunteers between them. With a 40-strong team of our own, we’ve been making a difference for local residents since 1919, and we have some exciting plans for the future. We’d like you to be part of them.

Leading an exciting new community engagement project, you will understand and break down barriers to physical activity and maximise provision to help residents become healthier and happier. To make this happen, we will look to you to design and deliver a far-reaching investment programme for VCSE organisations, so you can expect an extremely high profile. In particular, you will:

• Secure buy-in from diverse groups and stakeholders to make things happen.
• Bring together public bodies, investors and colleagues to secure and deploy funding.
• Manage the relationship with our core partner Salford Community Leisure.
• Constantly monitor and report on project activity.
• Find innovative ways to connect with hard-to-reach groups and increase their participation in physical activity.
• Effectively manage your time and oversee your own administration.

As you would expect, we require a confident and ambitious self-starter with:

• Experience of overseeing commissioned or grant-funded work, including reporting to partners.
• A track record of providing information to individuals and groups.
• Proven ability to conduct research, analyse data and gain clear insights.
• Outstanding interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrable flair for multi-tasking and prioritising conflicting demands.

Finally, an understanding of the importance of physical activity would be very useful, as would some exposure to the voluntary, community or social enterprise sector.

In return, you can expect a comprehensive package of benefits including:

• Development opportunities
• 28 days’ holiday (rising to 30 days after five years)
• Pension scheme with 7% employer contribution
• Subsidised membership of the Hospital Saturday Fund, and much more.

Hours: Part-time, 18.75 hours per week.

Contract: Fixed term contract until March 2028.

Help us release the potential of the people of Salford and we will do the same for you, giving you the training and development to take your career to the next level.

To learn more and apply, visit our website.

Closing date: Noon on Monday 22 September 2025.

Interview date: Monday 29 September 2025.

Together, the charities Sands and Tommy’s have formed a Joint Policy Unit (JPU) focussed on achieving policy change that will save more babies’ lives during pregnancy and the neonatal period and on tackling inequalities in loss, so that everyone can benefit from the best possible outcomes.

The JPU’s mission is to secure policy change that will reduce rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, pre-term birth and neonatal death, and to work to eliminate inequalities in these outcomes.

While there is widespread agreement on the need for change to improve the safety of maternity and neonatal services, what that change looks like is not clear.  To save more babies’ lives we believe that a continued focus is required, and that governments should set new commitments to reduce perinatal mortality and preterm births, focused on matching the best-performing countries in Europe.

This role will be crucial to the continued success of the JPU unit; leading, shaping and coordinating all the unit’s work. 

We are looking for an independent and assertive problem-solver, a policy expert who can manage multiple priorities, take the initiative, lead the national conversation and is as excited as we are about taking the helm of this venture for both of our organisations.

The successful candidate will need to have a substantial track record of effectively leading and implementing national policy and influencing programmes, driving change and achieving the desired impact.

You will have considerable experience across research, data analysis, policy development, public affairs and communications.  Additionally, you will be well-versed in research and data management, including analysing complex data and evaluating policy developments.

Experience of being a member of a senior management team with successful, significant and relevant management and leadership experience is also essential.