External affairs advisor jobs in Birmingham
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We are entering a period of unprecedented opportunity. Advances in treatment, increasing recognition of the condition, and growing awareness of healthcare inequalities provide a unique chance to strengthen our impact and expand our reach across the UK. Our ambition is bold: to engage and support at least 50% of the UK myasthenia community as members within the next five years, creating a movement that is representative, influential and impossible to ignore.
The successful candidate will lead the development of a thriving national community of people affected by myasthenia, ensuring that individuals and families feel connected, represented and empowered. They will transform community insight into meaningful campaigns, influence policy and healthcare decision-making, and position myaware as the authoritative voice for everyone affected by the condition.
Success in this role will be measured not only by influence and campaigning outcomes, but by the growth, engagement and mobilisation of our community. The Director will play a central role in delivering our ambition to reach, engage and retain 50% of the UK's myasthenia population as members and active supporters within five years, creating a change-maker movement that is representative of our goals.
Key Responsibilities
Community Growth and Engagement
- Contribute towards the development and delivery of a comprehensive membership growth strategy aimed at engaging at least 50% of the UK myasthenia community within five years.
- Build a deep understanding of the patient journey and identify opportunities to connect with people from diagnosis onwards.
- Lead the development of services, programmes and engagement approaches that increase membership recruitment, retention and participation.
- Ensure that people affected by myasthenia are at the heart of all organisational decisions, campaigns and strategic priorities.
- Create pathways for members, volunteers, supporters and ambassadors to actively contribute to myaware's work.
- Use data, insight and market intelligence to measure community reach, identify underserved groups and drive continuous improvement.
Campaigning, Policy and Influence
- Develop and implement a national campaigning and influencing strategy focused on awareness, equity of care, access to treatment and service improvement.
- Position myaware as a leading voice within healthcare, policy and rare disease discussions across the UK.
- Build strategic relationships with parliamentarians, government departments, NHS organisations, Integrated Care Boards, NICE, clinicians, researchers, industry partners and allied charities.
- Lead public affairs activity, including consultation responses, parliamentary engagement, policy briefings and stakeholder events.
- Ensure lived experience evidence informs policy development, healthcare decision-making and treatment access discussions.
Organisational Leadership
- Serve as a member of the Senior Leadership Team and contribute to organisational strategy and performance.
- Foster a culture of innovation, inclusion, collaboration and measurable impact.
- Work closely with fundraising, communications, partnerships, and service delivery colleagues to maximise organisational reach and effectiveness.
Awareness and Public Engagement
- Increase awareness and understanding of myasthenia among healthcare professionals, policymakers, media and the public.
- Lead initiatives that strengthen myaware's visibility, reputation and influence.
- Support the development of compelling campaigns, media activity and storytelling that inspire engagement and drive action.
- To be the spokesperson for myaware.
What Success Looks Like
Within five years, the postholder will have:
- Led significant growth in membership, progressing towards engaging at least 50% of the UK's myasthenia community.
- Increased participation in surveys, campaigns, events, volunteering and lived-experience activities.
- Established myaware as the recognised national voice for people affected by myasthenia.
- Secured meaningful influence in policy, healthcare and treatment access discussions.
- Generated evidence of improvements in awareness, service delivery, treatment access and patient representation.
- Built a highly engaged and empowered community capable of driving change at local, national and system levels.
Person Specification
Essential Experience
- Significant senior leadership experience within the charity, healthcare, membership, public affairs or advocacy sectors.
- Proven success in growing and engaging communities, memberships, movements or supporter bases at scale.
- Experience developing and delivering campaigning, influencing or public affairs strategies that have achieved measurable outcomes.
- Strong track record of building relationships with senior external stakeholders and decision-makers.
- Experience using data, insight and lived experience to shape organisational priorities and influence strategy.
- Experience leading, motivating and developing high-performing teams.
Essential Knowledge and Skills
- Outstanding strategic thinking and leadership abilities.
- Exceptional communication, influencing and relationship-building skills.
- Strong understanding of community mobilisation, supporter engagement and membership growth.
- Ability to translate complex healthcare and policy issues into compelling public narratives and calls to action.
- Strong analytical and performance management skills.
- Commitment to inclusion, co-production and patient-centred approaches.
Personal Attributes
We are looking for someone who is:
- Ambitious about building one of the UK's most engaged rare disease communities.
- Passionate about amplifying the voices of people with lived experience.
- Collaborative and inspiring.
- Politically astute and credible with senior stakeholders.
- Resilient, innovative and outcomes focused.
- Motivated by creating lasting change for people living with long-term health conditions.
Why Join Us?
myaware is the only charity in the UK dedicated solely to the care and support of people affected by myasthenia.
This is a rare opportunity to build a community movement capable of transforming lives. You will lead the growth of a national membership community, shape policy and healthcare conversations, and help ensure that every person affected by myasthenia feels informed, supported, represented and connected.
Together, we aim to ensure that within five years, at least half of everyone living with myasthenia in the UK knows, trusts and actively engages with myaware as their community, their advocate and their voice.
We are working hard to raise awareness of myasthenia, as it is a little-known condition. We provide support for people with myasthenia and their families, whilst offering advice and tips for living with the condition.
We also fund the research that brings us closer to finding a cure as well as funding specialists nurses and advisors.
Members of myaware have full access to a wide range of support services and events including our specialist benefits and welfare advisor.
myaware supports people with myasthenia and their families. We campaign for better medical services for people with myasthenia and work to inform medical professionals.
The myasthenias are a group of neuromuscular conditions. They are rare but also manageable and can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender or nationality. Myasthenia gravis, ocular myasthenia and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome are autoimmune conditions whereas congenital myasthenic syndrome is caused by an inherited genetic fault. It is thought that there are approximately 20,000 people currently living with myasthenia in the UK.
Benefits
- Generous holiday allowance
- Perkbox account (global benefits and rewards platform)
- Group Life Assurance after 6 months of service
- NEST workplace pension scheme
- Free inhouse staff benefits and welfare advice
- Investment in your personal and professional development
- Annual salary review
Application instructions
Candidates should submit their CV and tailored covering letter by: 11:30pm on Friday.4th September
Provisional interview dates will be week commencing: 28.9.26
Interviews will be held over Microsoft Teams.
Applications submitted without a tailored cover letter will not be considered.
This post, due to its nature, duties and responsibilities, will be subject to an enhanced check by the DBS. This is funded by myaware.
This organisation supports anonymous recruitment. That means hiding your personal identifying information, removing bias from the hiring process.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
ID: 1861 Senior Website & Digital Content Manager
Service: Digital Marketing
Salary: Grade 4 point 38: £37,867.30 pro rata (£46,703 FTE) per annum, plus £480 home-based allowance FTE per annum (£389 pro rata)
Location: Homebased
Hours: Part time, 30 hours per week
We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.
Contract: Temporary 12 month contract (mat leave)
Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.
We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead the Website and Digital Content Team through a crucial period. You will have the chance to manage a portfolio of websites, including Family Action’s and Relate’s, and oversee the development and creation of digital content for a range of channels. You will manage a small team and work collaboratively across the wider development and external affairs directorate to drive brand awareness and income generation.
Main Responsibilities (for details check the job description and person specification):
· Strategically manage a portfolio of websites across two distinct brands and a number of sub identities, ensuring they meet organisational goals, user needs, and sector best practice.
· Lead on the development and creation of digital and multimedia content across Family Action and Relate brands to support key business objectives
· Lead continuous optimisation of sales and donation journeys across Family Action and Relate websites, including testing, personalisation, and conversion rate improvements.
· Oversee the development of a new Relate website as part of a wider adaptive change programme, working closely with the Website and UX Manager and other key stakeholders.
· Use sophisticated analytics, data and insight tools to test, measure and evaluate content and website performance against KPIs, drive decisions and prioritise enhancements.
· Line manage a small team including a Website and UX Manager, Digital Marketing Executive, Content Executive and two temporary Website Project Managers
Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
· Extensive experience of website development and management within complex organisations
· Extensive experience of managing complex digital projects with multiple stakeholders such a website builds
· Experience of optimising website user journeys to drive a measurable increase in conversions such as sales and donations
· Ability to drive and manage content generation, working with a range of subject matter experts and within a robust governance architecture Extensive experience of using tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster to successfully plan, measure and evaluate content performance
· Experience of line management
Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities
We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.
To Apply:
· Click the “Apply Now” link below and fill out our digital application form
· Closing Date: Monday 31st August at 23:59. Please note, we may close the position early if we find the right candidate.
· To learn more about Family Action: Careers
Interviews will likely to take place virtually during the first week of September 2026.
For direct queries or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or flexible working requests, please email: matthew.dennis (full email address located on advert document)
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role, and will reimburse your travel cost if you attend an interview.
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
Family Action is an award-winning national charity working from the heart of local communities across England and Wales.
Thank you!
Who we are
IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) is a national charity working to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the educational support they are legally entitled to. Since we were formed in 1983, we have helped to improve the education experience of thousands of children and young people across England. We do this by providing free and independent legal advice and casework support for families, undertaking policy work and delivering training on the SEND legal framework.
What you’ll do
Reports to: Chief Executive
Location: Home-based or Hybrid (with frequent travel for events and meeting with parliamentarians and other stakeholders)
We are seeking a Policy Manager to lead IPSEA's policy and influencing work to achieve positive change for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. Working closely with the Chief Executive, Head of Legal and Training, trustees and colleagues across the organisation, you will set strategic policy priorities and develop evidence-based influencing plans that support IPSEA's mission and long-term objectives.
Drawing on insights from our advice and tribunal services, legal expertise and the experiences of families, you will identify systemic issues within the SEND system and develop policy solutions that improve children and young people's access to the support and education to which they are entitled. You will ensure that IPSEA's policy positions are credible, legally robust and informed by the lived experiences of those we support.
You will lead IPSEA's engagement with government, Parliament and other key decision-makers, identifying opportunities to influence legislation, policy and practice at both national and local level. This includes overseeing responses to consultations, parliamentary inquiries and calls for evidence, as well as preparing briefings and strategic advice to support senior-level engagement and advocacy.
Working collaboratively with colleagues across legal, communications, fundraising and training teams, you will ensure IPSEA's policy, campaigning and public affairs activities are aligned and maximise the organisation's impact. You will also monitor developments across the political, legal and policy landscape, helping IPSEA respond proactively to emerging opportunities and challenges affecting the rights of children and young people with SEND.
This role offers the opportunity to make a real difference as part of a small, friendly, and dedicated team. If you are passionate about helping children and young people with SEND and have the skills and experience needed, we would love to hear from you.
Who are we looking for?
You will have significant experience in a senior policy and campaigning/public affairs role and have good knowledge of local and national government structure including the legislative process.
You the ability to build and maintain relationships with a range of stakeholders including MPs, civil servants, campaigners and parents. You exhibit tact and diplomacy and can be impactful with people of varying levels and experience.
Your research and critical thinking skills enable you to analyse policy and data to produce relevant reports and position papers. You have experience of drafting organisation responses to government consultations and parliamentary calls for evidence.
IPSEA should also reflect the communities we support. We would particularly like to hear from candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ people, under-served communities and disabled people, as well as those with lived experience of the SEND system, either as a child or as a parent/carer.
What we can offer you
- 5% employer pension contributions
- Healthcare cash plan
- Flexible working arrangements
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays plus an additional day off for your birthday (pro-rata if part-time).
To apply
Visit our website to download a recruitment pack and application form.
Deadline for applications: 9am on 7 September 2026.
First-round interviews: on 15 September 2026 in our offices in Takeley, Essex, with second-round interviews (online) on 18 September 2026.
NO AGENCIES PLEASE.
Registered Charity
21 - 50
We help children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) get the education they are entitled to by law
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.