Head Of Communications And External Affairs Jobs in Bristol, City Of Bristol
Senior Communications Officer
Location: Remote (with occasional travel)
Salary: £34,200
Length of contract: Permanent
Hours per week: 37
Interviews: 15th & 16th May
Who are Women’s Aid?
Women’s Aid is the national charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children. We are a federation of over 170 organisations which provide just under 300 local lifesaving services to women and children across England. For almost 50 years we have campaigned on behalf of our members and survivors to shape policy and practice, and to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
Purpose of the Senior Communications Officer role:
As Senior Communications Officer, the successful candidate will be a creative, agile and impactful professional, who will play a pivotal role in shaping Women’s Aid’s communications campaigns, working closely with the Communications Manager and the Head of Media, Brand and Relationships. The successful candidate will take the lead on generating creative, engaging content and ideas for Women’s Aid communications – including major campaign moments and brand awareness. Working across all external channels, including traditional media and social media, you will curate compelling stories that build our profile and target key audiences in our mission to keep women and children safe from domestic abuse. You’ll be joining us at an exciting time, as we mark our 50th Birthday with some powerful campaigns and engagement.
Key duties and responsibilities of the Senior Communications Officer:
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To be the key communications officer representing the communications team, developing the key messaging of external campaigns, brand-building and communications for the organisation and developing public awareness of these.
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To lead on planning, drafting and implementing a communications plan for Women’s Aid key communications campaigns such as International Women’s Day, 16 Days, as well as wider organisational projects, incorporating press and social media and providing media support as required.
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To develop relevant media and social media contacts, as well as contacts in the sector, to maximise the reach and coverage of key communications campaigns as well as wider organisational projects.
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To work with colleagues to ensure the campaigns take an intersectional approach and centres the most marginalised voices.
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To work with a diverse range of survivor case studies and media spokespeople, including Women’s Aid member organisations, and to ensure they are treated in an appropriate and safe manner.
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To help identify both proactive and reactive media opportunities.
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To write blogs, news articles and promotional copy for Women’s Aid.
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To proof and typeset publications as required.
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To be part of the communications team out-of-hours on call rota for media calls.
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To line manage the Junior Communications Officer
What we are looking for in our Senior Communications Officer:
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At least two years experience working in communications/journalism/publications or similar.
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Experience of liaising with a variety of individuals and organisations of all seniorities, internally and externally.
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Experience of maintaining systems for information storage and retrieval.
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Experience of online communications/websites/social media, including Content Management Systems.
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Experience delivering public-facing campaigns with a range of stakeholders.
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Experience in getting effective PR results.
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Ability to produce high quality written material, for copy writing, copy editing and publicity materials, posters and press releases.
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Capable of translating complex information into audience-friendly messages.
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Ability to carry out a range of research and information-gathering activities.
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IT skills, including accurate data inputting skills, ability to use Microsoft programmes, understanding of Content Management Systems and troubleshooting simple website problems, and willingness to learn new packages and IT skills as required.
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Ability to communicate sensitively with survivors of domestic violence to discuss case studies.
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Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise work, work to tight deadlines and respond to urgent unplanned demands.
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An understanding of public affairs and the role that campaigning plays.
Benefits of joining us as our Senior Communications Officer include:
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Generous Annual Leave: 25 days + 2 Company Holidays + 8 UK Bank Holidays, with an extra 1 day per year after 1 year of service, up to a maximum of 5 additional days.
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Valuable Pension Benefits: a generous 7% employer contribution.
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Flexible Working: remote working, a generous TOIL scheme, and family-friendly policies
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Wellness and Support: including a cycle to work scheme, free optician check-ups, annual flu vaccines, access to a 24-hour employee assistance counselling helpline, a ‘Headspace’ app for mindfulness, and ‘Reflective Practice’ sessions.
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Making a genuine difference, in a rewarding role where your work will directly result in helping Women’s Aid to be able to provide lifesaving services for women and children across England.
How to apply?
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Please submit your CV and a Cover Letter. Your Cover Letter should be no more than 2 pages long and should include a summary of your reasons for applying for the position. You should also include details of how your skills, behaviours and experience meet those necessary for the role, as listed in the Job Description and Person Specification.
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Please ensure that you also complete the EDI form and send all completed paperwork to the recruitment email address. (Please clearly mark your name and the role title in the subject line of your email).
NB:
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Women only need apply under schedule 9 (Part 1) of the Equality Act 2010
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If you have been shortlisted for interview, you will be informed by email. Regrettably, we are normally unable to acknowledge unsuccessful applicants.
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We reserve the right to close a recruitment campaign earlier than the advertised closing date if a high volume of responses are received.
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All posts, including remote posts, must be based in the UK.
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Women’s Aid is committed to quality, equality, and valuing diversity. Applications are particularly welcome from Black and minoritised women.
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We are a Disability Confident employer. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for vacancies.
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Please read our Single Sex Statement on the Women's Aid webste
Salary: £59,588 (London) / £55,890 (National) per annum
Hours: Full time
Contract: Fixed term until March 2025
Benefits:
- 27 days annual leave + statutory holidays + 3 closures days over the Christmas period;
- Flexible working for all staff including working from home / hybrid working, and flexi-time/TOIL scheme;
- Attractive family friendly policies;
- Private healthcare cover;
- Season ticket loans;
- Employee awards, and training and development opportunities.
For more information about our benefits please visit our website.
Location: London/Bristol - employees are able to work from home on an arrangement agreed with their line manager
An exciting opportunity has arisen at the National Housing Federation (NHF) for an interim Head of Member Relations to ensure that our members are at the heart of what we do. Working in a team with two other Heads you will lead and manage our member relations team of 8 External Affairs Managers, plus our member intelligence and business support teams. You will work closely with colleagues in Public Impact taking a lead on ensuring that our influencing strategy and policy positions reflect our Housing Association member priorities.
The NHF is the voice of housing associations in England. We are the trade body to almost 600 housing associations, who have grown from philanthropic roots to provide 2.6 million homes to around 6 million people.
Interested in a varied and challenging role in a trade association during a busy general election year? Are you committed to working to support our members in providing quality homes and tackling the housing crisis?
Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the full job profile and person specification for this role.
Key elements of the role:
- You will shape our strategic engagement with members to ensure our external influencing and policy positions reflect their priorities, working collegiately with colleagues in the Public Impact Directorate.
- You will lead programmes of work, aligned with organisational priorities, leading teams of people from across the organisation.
- You will ensure member satisfaction and member risk is understood, monitored and managed effectively by the member relations team and wider organisation.
- You will work with colleagues across the NHF to ensure that the organisation’s resources are used to deliver agreed offers to cohorts of members, and exceptional service for all members.
- You will manage the work of at least two External Affairs Managers, the Member Intelligence team and the Member and Business Support team as agreed with the Executive Director.
The successful candidate:
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:
- Strong knowledge and understanding of the housing sector and the issues facing Housing Associations.
- Knowledge and experience of establishing and maintaining relationships with senior customers and stakeholders demonstrating credibility, diplomacy, effective communication and negotiation skills.
- Clear leadership skills, able to lead complex programmes of work effectively, both through direct line management and matrix management.
- Ability to manage budgets effectively.
- Excellent analytical skills and ability to summarise complex information effectively to aid decision making.
- The ability to manage and motivate a high performing team.
- Ability to manage budgets effectively.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
The NHF has published its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which was co-created with staff. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and we value the contribution each individual makes to our work.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and are working to increase the diversity profile of our workforce. We are currently under-represented by ethnic minorities, people with a disability or disabilities and LGBT+, and would particularly welcome applications from people in these groups.
Disability confident committed employer
We are a disability confident committed employer and if you are a disabled person who demonstrates you meet the skills and experience we consider essential for the role, we will offer you an interview.
We are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process if you have a disability or have a condition that you feel may affect your performance during the recruitment process. Please contact Stephanie Green, People Manager with your request or to arrange a time to discuss in more detail.
Our role profile and job advert can also be requested in large print or in accessible format via this email address.
Uploading your CV and cover letter
If you decide to apply for this role, when requested, please upload a version of your CV that does not include any personal details, such as name, gender, age etc. You should also ensure that you do not add your name at the end of the cover letter. This will help us to shortlist candidates for interview based solely on their knowledge, skills and experience.
Right to work in the UK / UK VISA Sponsorship
You must have the right to work in the UK and it is important to note that the NHF does not sponsor individuals to work in the UK.
Closing date for applications: 6 May 2024
Interview date: 24 May 2024
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you passionate about ensuring everyone can engage effectively with the digital world? Are you a brilliant influencer who relishes harnessing great policy and research to realise social change? Do you want to work in a pioneering initiative with impact at its core?
Then this could be the role for you. At the Digital Poverty Alliance, we are looking for our new Policy & Insights Manager. You must be able to inspire us and our partners and spearhead our public affairs work, including through our National Delivery Plan to unite action to end digital poverty by 2030.
We bring together charities, corporates and government to address the underlying issues stopping families gaining full access to digital services such as education, healthcare and employment. We seek social change through our National Delivery Plan, whilst also delivering solutions in local areas that help real people and provide evidence for change.
This is an exciting, high profile and fast-paced role, joining our small team and working alongside partners, National Delivery Committee members and our wider stakeholders to effect real change for people. You will report directly to the Chief Executive, working alongside our Head of External Affairs.
A big part of our social change ambition is delivered through our public affairs work; influencing policy makers so that our ambitions are shared with government, companies and with everyone able to deliver to our vision of a world where everyone is able to connect successfully with the digital world where and when they want to. You will also be responsible for drafting white papers, analysing trends and data, and identifying new insights. You will support our Industry Forum, working with existing and new members to broaden the group.
The DPA aims to work through partners in delivering to our core mission and, as such, we retain only a small core team with support from our PR agency. As such, you’ll lead on delivering our policy and public affairs work, from briefing MPs to developing our policy positions.
Whilst the role is remote based, you will regularly need to attend in-person meetings and events in central London (daytime and evening), as well as undertaking travel across the UK. Given the need to attend meetings in Westminster and Whitehall, you will need to live within commuting distance of London.
Key focus areas
- Building relationships with public, private and third sector organisations, including the wider DPA community.
- Working to convene and collaborate with organisations and individuals committed to ending digital poverty.
- Work with colleagues across local, regional and national governments and across political parties to advocate for policies to promote digital inclusion.
- Undertaking research and analysis to understand digital poverty and the impact of policies to address it.
- Managing policy and research projects including the ongoing development of the national delivery plan and supporting ‘proof of concept’ projects.
- Developing commercial and research partnerships with organisations and supporting the development of the industry forum.
- Communicating the DPA vision and perspective through verbal and written communication.
First interviews will be held w/b 6th May 2024 via Microsoft Teams. Second interviews will be held soon after. The role is to start as soon as possible. Please note this role will be subject to a DBS check.
Unfortunately, due to the expected volume of applications and our small team, we will not be able to acknowledge every application. If you have not heard from us by 6th May you have not been successful on this occasion.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.