Head of development jobs in grays, thurrock

Department: Communications and Public Affairs 
Contract type: Permanent  
Hours: Full time
Salary: £36,000 – £38,000 per annum
Location: Home Based with UK wide travel as required
Reports To: Media and External Affairs Manager

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) is seeking a proactive and skilled Media Officer to join our Communications and Public Affairs team. This is a newly created role, offering the opportunity to help shape and strengthen NFCC’s voice in the national conversation around fire and rescue services.

Reporting into the Media and External Affairs Manager, you will play a central role in growing our media presence and positioning NFCC as the go-to source for journalists covering national fire and rescue issues. You will help to ensure our messages are clear, timely, and authoritative across all platforms.

Join us and help ensure that fire and rescue services have a strong, consistent voice on the national stage.

Key responsibilities:

Serve as a point of contact for incoming media enquiries.

Draft high-quality, publication-ready communications content – including press releases, news articles, opinion pieces and other engaging content. 

Support NFCC’s campaigns and policy initiatives by securing media coverage and developing strong relationships with journalists and editors.

Take ownership of key communications tools and systems, including media monitoring and audit of coverage. 

Act as the lead Comms officer on at least one area of NFCC’s work in partnership with the relevant NFCC teams and lead officers (but will also work on a wide range of our issues and areas).

Participate in an out-of-hours communications rota as part of NFCC’s communication support function (with some out of hours support – see job description for more information). 

What we are looking for:

Experience in a media, journalism or communications role. 

Excellent writing skills with the ability to produce accurate, compelling content under pressure. 

Confidence in handling media enquiries and building positive relationships with the press. 

Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively. 

A collaborative approach, with experience working across teams and engaging with senior stakeholders. 

A good understanding of the UK media landscape and wider external environment. 

If this sounds like the kind of opportunity that you would be interested in, please have a look at the Job Description on the NFCC website and apply.

Working with us:

NFCC is a fully remote organisation, and all staff work from home. This role will involve some travel for stakeholder meetings, events, conferences, training sessions and team away days, for which travel expenses are paid.

How to apply:

Please complete the application form linked from the ‘apply now’ button on the NFCC Website. CVs will NOT be accepted for this position. 

Closing Date – Sunday 1 June with interviews being conducted on Teams on Tuesday 17 June. If you are not available for interview on this date, we will try to provide an alternative date, though we advise that we may not be able to do this.

NFCC is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and will require a DBS check to be completed prior to commencing in post. 

NFCC is committed to being an inclusive employer. We comply with the Equality Act 2010, and we believe that everyone deserves to work in safe environments that are free from bullying, harassment and discrimination, abuse, and harm, where they feel supported, welcome, and able to thrive. 

NFCC acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice, all staff are expected to share this commitment. 

Unifrog’s mission

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.
 

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.
 

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and over a thousand international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer (check out this video to hear more about the Unifrog platform). 

Our next exciting step is to start working with primary schools, helping them to deliver careers and the PSHE curriculum across all year groups in primary school. Together, we’ll work to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and inspire children - especially those who may feel certain pathways are out of reach - when it comes to what their future might hold.

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!
 

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. In advance of applying, if you have any questions about working at Unifrog, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).

 

What you’ll do

As one of our first Primary Schools Partnership Managers, you’ll play a key role growing our newest partner base and supporting primary school partners to make the most of the Unifrog platform and resources. Excellent customer service is at the heart of what we do, and you’ll make sure that all interactions with Unifrog are positive and successful. 

Your key responsibilities:

Sell Unifrog subscriptions to primary schools

• Design and deliver impactful prospecting campaigns and marketing collateral aimed at engaging potential new partners, tracking campaign performance and continually improving your approach to secure demonstrations and drive partnership growth.

• Meet with potential partners on video calls (and sometimes in-person). Understand their priorities, demonstrate the Unifrog platform and resources, and secure their subscription.

• Identify and attend conferences and events to promote Unifrog to primary school audiences, while networking and cultivating relationships for future partnership opportunities.

• Develop a sound awareness of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) and the PSHE Association Framework within the UK. You’ll need this to confidently navigate conversations with relevant contacts at primary schools.

 

Support primary school partners to make the most of Unifrog

• Set up new partner schools for success. Help them to embed Unifrog across their staff, student and parent community. You’ll deliver an initial staff training session then provide ad-hoc support.

• Proactively work to foster a sense of community amongst our primary school partners and think of ways to promote the sharing and embedding of Unifrog best practice across between partners.

• Achieve sky-high resubscription rates by securing partner renewals when their subscriptions come to an end.

 

What we’re looking for

• Resilient, and motivated to exceed targets: Our sales and resubscription targets are achievable but ambitious. You’ll need to be determined to meet and exceed them.

• Sales experience: You’ll be responsible for meeting sales targets so sales experience is desirable but not essential.

• Strong communication skills: You’ll be in frequent communication with lots of different people, both within Unifrog and externally – this will be in person, written, over the phone and via video call. You’ll need to be an outstanding communicator.

• Strategic and innovative: You’ll be strategic in your approach to driving growth within the newest team at Unifrog, and be innovative and creative in your solutions to any barriers along the way.

• Personable, with a track record of excellent relationship management: At Unifrog we’re known for our excellent customer service. You’ll need to provide fantastic support for your partner schools.

• Sector insight: You will be working with schools that have different contexts and priorities; you’ll need to be quick to understand how we can support them.

• Attention to detail: It’s important you have the skills and discipline to carefully check your communications to schools, your prospects and contacts in your network.

• Proactive attitude and willingness to get stuck in: You need to be excited about going beyond the core responsibilities detailed above to improve what we do and make it a success.

You will be one of the first members of our newest team at Unifrog, with the opportunity to be at the forefront of building an exciting and impactful offering for primary schools across the UK. If this excites you and you’re an energetic person who is willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Working together

You’ll work alongside one other Primary Schools Partnership Manager and be line managed by our Partnerships Director (UK schools and Employers). You will also have daily contact with the wider Unifrog team, including our Marketing, Content and Finance teams.

 

Key benefits

Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools. 

• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.

• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.

• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.

 

Key details

• £37,485 per annum (Grade B), plus:

  • Unlimited commission, OTE of £50,000.

  • Bonuses linked to strong performance against KPIs.

• Full-time

• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays). 

• Working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 4:30pm on Friday – some days you may need to start earlier but you can finish earlier as a result.

• All travel expenses covered and car allowance paid.

• Full UK driving licence is essential.

• The role is remote (or hybrid for candidates in London or Edinburgh).

• Start date: as soon as possible (but no later than August 2025).

• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

• To discuss reasonable adjustments or any details about the role before applying, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).

 

Application process

Deadline: 10:00am (BST) Monday 19th May 2025.

Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) ✍️

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

i. With reference to examples of your recent experience, what would make you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)

ii. A school we are hoping to partner with have concerns about the budget available for Unifrog. What would be your approach to securing a partnership with them for this academic year? (250 words)

iii. Tell us about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities whilst meeting targets. What was your approach? (250 words)

Stage 2: Phone task (15 minutes) ��

• A short role play task over the phone. We will schedule these tasks throughout the application window so we encourage you to apply early.

Stage 3: Video call interview (45 minutes hour) ��

• Short pre-prepared presentation (15 mins) 

• Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions) (30 mins).

• Video call interviews will be held w/c 26th May 2025.

Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently. 

Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring

 

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog

• Within the company we try to foster a culture of innovation, and a happy working environment, both because this is the right thing to do, and because we think this results in the most effective team. To this end we believe in open communication, celebrating successes, supporting each other, not being afraid to be wrong or to fail, and promoting good ideas wherever they come from.

• As a platform that supports teachers and students from a huge variety of backgrounds it’s important that our team and leadership reflects this diversity. This is something we are actively working towards and prioritising. We want to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across everything we do, continually evaluating policies and practices to make sure they are inclusive and equitable.

• To make sure everyone’s voice is heard and people have the opportunities to learn to be better allies in the workplace, we encourage the team to share what they’re celebrating, facilitate training and group discussions, and seek regular feedback about what more the company could do to help people feel included.

• To ensure that our recruitment process is consistent and fair, we anonymise your application and therefore do not see your name, personal, educational or professional background. We also randomise the order of responses so that it’s less likely that a candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by where their answers appear compared to other candidates.

The Corporate Partnerships Manager will play a vital role in supporting New Horizon Youth Centre’s mission by managing and growing a portfolio of valued corporate partners (>£20k) and supporters (<£20k). They will nurture these relationships to ensure meaningful, long-term support for our work with young people facing homelessness.

This will include organising volunteering days that inspire action, delivering lunch and learn sessions that deepen understanding of our cause, and finding creative ways for partners to make a real difference. This role will also drive new business, proactively building relationships with companies who share our values and want to help young people fulfil their potential.

In addition, they will lead on New Horizon’s events programme, developing and delivering inspiring events that connect corporate partners, high-net-worth individuals, and other supporters to the heart of our mission.

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Membership Officer to work as part of our Fundraising Team, in our Office in London.

Imagine being part of an organisation whose common purpose is to help those who are severely impacted by mental illness. We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity – and that’s why equity is one of our core values. We draw on the expertise, unique perspectives and lived experience of our people – regardless of who they are or their background – to help us become inclusive and anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider that reflect the diverse communities we support as a mental health charity.

The objectives of the fundraising team are to generate additional income for the charity so that they can continue to provide and develop services to those severely affected by mental illness. We operate under the guidelines from the Fundraising Regulator and abide by the Fundraising Code of Practice.

How you will make a difference

Our members are central to our past and our future. Formed by carers of people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in 1972, our first members laid the foundations for the Charity that exists today, which now helps thousands of people severely affected by mental illness.

Our many thousands of campaigners, supporters and donors, along with our members, give Rethink Mental Illness its mandate. Members are an important source of volunteers for our governance and peer support groups. They help shape the direction of our work through our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the work of the Board of Trustees and other committees. Membership also provides people with a sense of community and belonging to our organisation that helps them to cope with the demands of living with severe mental illness, whether they have direct experience, or are a carer, relative or friend.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion 

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer.  We recognise and support staff networks and support groups for our ethnically diverse and LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. 

We aim for our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve; for those who work for us to feel heard, valued and feel they belong; and for our work to help tackle wider mental health inequalities. We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience of mental illness, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and any other gender identity not expressed here (LGBTQIA+); people who are neurodiverse, have a health condition, or a disability or hidden disability and people from an ethnically diverse background - regardless of your age, religious or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, political view or socio-economic status.

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation 

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrates our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation. You can read more about our progress here. 

About us

We’re Breast Cancer Now, the research and support charity. We’re the place to turn to for anything and everything to do with breast cancer. However you’re experiencing breast cancer, we’re here. 

The brightest minds in breast cancer research are here. Making life-saving research happen in labs across the UK and Ireland. Support services, trustworthy breast cancer information and specialist nurses are here. Ready to support you whenever you need it. Dedicated campaigners are here. Fighting for the best possible treatment, services and care for anyone affected by breast cancer.

About the role

12 month fixed term contract (maternity cover)

This role is involved with the day-to-day running of our social media channels and peer-to peer support forum—2 of our most important spaces for connection and conversation. You'll shape content, manage engagement, and ensure our digital spaces are welcoming, inclusive, and supportive for everyone affected by breast cancer. You’ll work closely with teams across the charity to amplify our voice, grow our reach, and support our wider goals. You’ll also line-manage 1 digital community officer. It’s a hands-on, people-focused role where your digital skills will make a real difference every day.

About you

You’re a digital native with a heart for community and a mind for strategy. You believe in the power of connection—particularly for those navigating or impacted by breast cancer—and you’re ready to work on inclusive, impactful online spaces.

You’ve got experience managing digital spaces, writing copy for social, and confidence creating short videos for social channels.

You enjoy mentoring others, and you’re always looking for new ways to connect with diverse audiences.

You’re curious, collaborative, you often seek out opportunities to innovate, and you enjoy learning and sharing what you learn.

Job description and benefits

Please download the job description and our attractive benefits package.

Primary location of role and hybrid working

This role is primarily based in our Cardiff, Glasgow, London, or Sheffield office. Our hybrid working model allows you to work up to 3 days per week at home.

When applying

We hope you choose to apply for this role. To support your application, you’ll be asked to submit your anonymised CV and a supporting statement. Please refer to the essential criteria on the person specification and clearly provide as much information as you can with examples, to demonstrate how and where you meet the criteria. If you’ve any immediate questions please contact Breast Cancer Now recruitment. 

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We’re committed to promoting equity, valuing diversity and creating an inclusive environment – for everyone who works for us, works with us, supports us and who we support.

Closing date 9am on Wednesday 21 May 2025

Interview date Week commencing 26 May 2025