Head of public affair jobs in milton keynes

Help us speak up for Scotland’s seas

Open Seas is a small, ambitious, and fast-growing environmental charity on a mission to protect and restore marine life around Scotland. We expose harmful practices, challenge bad policy, and work alongside fishers, communities and scientists to bring our seas back to life.

We’re looking for a dynamic Head of Communications to lead our external communications, shape compelling campaigns, and help us punch far above our weight.

Why join us?

We are a team of eight and we spend a lot of time out on the water and along the coast investigating damage, gathering evidence, filming, photographing, and engaging people face-to-face. We own a boat and do our own fieldwork. We take pride in turning complex science and policy into clear, motivating messages that cut through to media, decision-makers and the public.

You will work closely with our Director and Operations Lead as part of the senior management team bringing creative leadership and strategic direction to our comms team. This is your chance to help shape an organisation with growing public influence, strong legal wins, and a track record of impact in one of the most important environmental issues in Scotland, and the rest of the UK.

Who we’re looking for

We are looking for a natural storyteller and strategic thinker. You know how to land a headline, write a great campaign plan, and build lasting relationships with a range of people (journalists, supporters and other stakeholders). You will be comfortable translating science into tweets and research into narrative. You care deeply about nature, especially life under the waves.

You might have worked in campaigns, public affairs, journalism or the charity sector. You may have led a team, or be ready to step into a leadership role. Most of all, you want to make a difference.

What is the role?

• Lead all external communications across the organisation

• Develop and deliver bold, values-led campaign comms

• Manage and grow communications staff and freelancers

• Shape our digital presence, media strategy and brand

• Collaborate closely with our campaign, legal and research teams

• Help us grow our reach, profile and impact
   

What we offer

• A flexible, friendly and passionate team

• Opportunity to shape a growing organisation

• Meaningful work with real-world impact

• Time outdoors from field investigations to coastal storytelling

• Remote and flexible working, with travel across Scotland

• Supportive, collaborative environment with space to lead

To apply, please submit your CV and a short covering letter explaining why you’re the right fit for this role by 25/07/25

Please note we are unable to consider application without a covering letter

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities. If you’d like to chat informally before applying, please get in touch.

Do you want to work with a vibrant, dynamic and youth driven organisation that is committed to creating healthy futures for British children by improving the food system?

Be part of the creative, agile and growing team behind Bite Back 2030’s exceptional teenage activists. Join us as our Senior Programmes & Policy Manager, Scotland and contribute to our journey to help make the food system healthier and fairer.

About the Role

This exciting and varied role will kick-start Bite Back's work in Scotland. Please note this is a remote role but the postholder must be based in Scotland. Suiting a self-starter, this new role will lead our schools and local authority programme work in Scotland, whilst also seeking opportunities for young people to influence national food system policy in Scotland.

Responsibilities

The Senior Programmes & Policy Manager is responsible for:

Programme Development and Delivery

● Launching our two popular, fully funded, social action programmes in Scotland: Bite Back in Schools and Shape Your Streets; working with and visiting schools and local authorities across Scotland

● Supporting school pupils and communities to drive improvements to their local food environments and school food environments

● Helping facilitate youth-led events, workshops, and campaigns focused on food system change

● Working with our Scottish partners and building strong working relationships with participating schools, local authorities and other stakeholders

● Supporting with the monitoring, reporting and evaluation of these two programmes Youth Engagement and Voice

● Seeking out meaningful opportunities for young people to engage with and influence decision-makers in Scotland

● Ensuring youth voice is embedded across all programmes and policy work

Policy and Advocacy

● Actively seeking out opportunities to champion Scottish policy developments in health, education, and food systems

● Working closely with other organisations via established coalitions and more informal coordination around key issues, working collaboratively with values-aligned organisations to achieve our goals

● Developing briefings, consultation responses, and policy proposals, ensuring they are evidence-based and amplify youth perspectives

● Translating young people’s insights into campaign messaging for policymakers and distil policy detail into key points for young people to engage with and campaign on

● Working with the Senior Public Affairs Manager to conduct stakeholder mapping and build a network of supportive Scottish MPs and MSPs

● Ensuring the Bite Back staff team is kept up to date on the Scottish policy and public affairs context

Skills and Experience

We recognise that the list below is broad and we realise that the “ideal candidate” doesn’t really exist. What we will be looking for as we evaluate applications is demonstrable experience in at least some of these, and evidence of capacity to build skills in other areas. Please don’t be put off applying for one of our jobs because you can’t demonstrate every skill.

If you're passionate and excited about working for us, and possess the main skills and experience we are looking for, go ahead and apply. You could be just what we are looking for!

The ideal candidate would have the following:

Essential

● Proven experience in policy development or influencing, ideally within the Scottish context

● Track record of delivering youth voice, community or school-based programmes

● Experience working with schools or local authority settings in Scotland

● Facilitation and youth engagement skills, with experience in co-creating with young people

● Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to engage policymakers and partners with confidence

● Deep motivation to create a fairer food system and improve outcomes for children and young people

● Knowledge of Scotland’s political and public sector landscape, ideally in health or education

● A self-starter with the ability to work independently and drive new initiatives from the ground up

● A commitment to Bite Back’s values: Fresh, Resilient, Respectful, Energetic, Real

Desirable

● Familiarity with monitoring, evaluation, and impact reporting in programme or policy contexts

Approach to Work

You will be able to show the following qualities:

● A bold and open mind - you will be prepared to think differently about issues.

● A level head - you will be comfortable working both reactively and proactively.

● A sense of humour - we believe work should be fun and that we all perform at our very best when we enjoy what we do.

● Creativity - you will come at issues from new and surprising angles