Head Of Development Jobs
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:
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
To work with colleagues to ensure the campaigns take an intersectional approach and centres the most marginalised voices.
-
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.
-
To help identify both proactive and reactive media opportunities.
-
To write blogs, news articles and promotional copy for Women’s Aid.
-
To proof and typeset publications as required.
-
To be part of the communications team out-of-hours on call rota for media calls.
-
To line manage the Junior Communications Officer
What we are looking for in our Senior Communications Officer:
-
At least two years experience working in communications/journalism/publications or similar.
-
Experience of liaising with a variety of individuals and organisations of all seniorities, internally and externally.
-
Experience of maintaining systems for information storage and retrieval.
-
Experience of online communications/websites/social media, including Content Management Systems.
-
Experience delivering public-facing campaigns with a range of stakeholders.
-
Experience in getting effective PR results.
-
Ability to produce high quality written material, for copy writing, copy editing and publicity materials, posters and press releases.
-
Capable of translating complex information into audience-friendly messages.
-
Ability to carry out a range of research and information-gathering activities.
-
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.
-
Ability to communicate sensitively with survivors of domestic violence to discuss case studies.
-
Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise work, work to tight deadlines and respond to urgent unplanned demands.
-
An understanding of public affairs and the role that campaigning plays.
Benefits of joining us as our Senior Communications Officer include:
-
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.
-
Valuable Pension Benefits: a generous 7% employer contribution.
-
Flexible Working: remote working, a generous TOIL scheme, and family-friendly policies
-
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.
-
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?
-
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.
-
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:
-
Women only need apply under schedule 9 (Part 1) of the Equality Act 2010
-
If you have been shortlisted for interview, you will be informed by email. Regrettably, we are normally unable to acknowledge unsuccessful applicants.
-
We reserve the right to close a recruitment campaign earlier than the advertised closing date if a high volume of responses are received.
-
All posts, including remote posts, must be based in the UK.
-
Women’s Aid is committed to quality, equality, and valuing diversity. Applications are particularly welcome from Black and minoritised women.
-
We are a Disability Confident employer. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for vacancies.
-
Please read our Single Sex Statement on the Women's Aid webste
Salford Family Partnership Hubs are places within local communities across Salford offering services and support for children, young people and families.
Salford is a trailblazer area and will become the national leader for the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programmes, making the quickest improvements to services and sharing learning and best practices with all local authorities in the country.
Salford CVS has been working with Salford City Council’s Early Help Team on the first and second years of the Family Hub work. Our role has been consulting with communities through the Seeds of Change Box and Wishing Tree project, engaging Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise (VCSE) Sector organisations and volunteers. We also manage a Family Hub small grants scheme providing small grants to VCSE organisations to support them in delivering their services as part of the Family Hub partnership.
We are seeking two dedicated Family Hub Navigators to work across the city of Salford to improve the wellbeing of parents and carers in the following cohorts:
- Young parents
- Fathers
- Families (communities of identity)
The Navigators will work with individuals to explore ‘what matters to them’, consider their strengths and interests, and identify an appropriate activity or service and connect them to it. The roles will be embedded within our wider Family Hub work and will link to our Wellbeing Matters Programme, which supports people to feel more connected to their community, more confident and less isolated by linking them to local groups and services.
We are looking for someone who:
- Will enjoy working within a team of dedicated, friendly people who believe in making a difference in Salford
- Will engage and build relationships with VCSE organisations and Family Hub teams
- Is confident working with people using a person-centred and strengths-based approach
If that sounds like you – then we want to hear from you!
Benefits of working for Salford CVS
- 28 days’ holiday – rising to 30 days (after five years), plus Bank Holidays (pro rata for part-time)
- Paid sick leave – subject to terms and conditions of service
- A compassionate approach to dependants’ leave and compassionate leave – to help deal with life’s unforeseen circumstances
- Pension scheme – with 7% employer contribution (and 1% mandatory employee contribution)
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Membership of the Hospital Saturday Fund via an employer-subsidised scheme (optional and non-contractual)
- RHS family membership (optional and non-contractual)
- Development opportunities – we support and encourage our staff to progress in their careers (including formal training)
- A supportive working culture – we respect and support one another to do the best we can
For further information and to apply, please visit our website via the Apply button.
Closing date: Noon on Thursday 25th April 2024
Interview date: Wednesday 1st May 2024
We reserve the right to review applications before the closing date should we get sufficient applications.
Please note late applications will not be accepted.
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Our system keeps your personal information hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
The Food bank Campaign Coordinator is responsible for delivering Trussell Trust’s influencing and mobilising work, in their target area, during the General Election. You will do this by building strong relationships with other food banks in your Parliamentary constituency areas of Rhondda and Ogmore, Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan. Campaign Coordinators implement Trussell Trust’s national General Election strategy, by using organising techniques to put pressure on PPC’s in each Parliamentary constituency.
You will build and lead local community teams who support ending the need for foodbanks, securing commitments from your PPC’s to ‘prioritise the problem of people going without essentials if re/elected, acknowledging the role social security needs to play in tackling it.’
This role is funded by the Trussell Trust as part of their General Election strategy, and you will be part of a network of Campaign Coordinators around the UK doing this work. You will be the link between your food bank(s) and the Mobilisation team at Trussell Trust, as we build a movement to end the need for food banks.
Responsibilities of Campaign Coordinator:
· To build trusted relationships with food banks during (pre and post) UK General Election. You will hold 1:1 conversations with each food bank in your allocated area and ensure there is clear communication between the food banks.
· To support teams of community volunteers. You will have 1:1s with: food bank staff, volunteers, interested individuals, partner organisations and stakeholders in each community to develop community bases for your campaign work.
· To lead effective door-knocking teams in your community. You will door knock with your community campaign team to drum up support for the campaign, provide members of the public literature on Food bank use in their local community, and invite people to their local hustings.
· To help each of your community campaign teams organise a local husting. You will ensure that your community campaign teams: attend national Trussell Trust webinars, receive national guidance on how to approach PPC’s, understand the Trussell Trust legal GE guidance, understand the logistics of organising a hustings, ensure that the husting is accessible as possible and ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are heard through the hustings.
· To develop good relationships with local press and media outlets. You will work alongside national Trussell Truststaff to find key press and media contacts in your assigned area, ensuring your community campaign teams get coverage for their hard work.
· To deliver the local campaigning strategy working with food bank staff, volunteers and clients.
· To work with the Organising and Local Mobilisation team in Trussell Trust and engage with the training and support on offer, including work with other Campaign Coordinators in the Trussell Trust network.
Person Specification
Desirable technical skills and knowledge:
● Experience of campaigning or organising to achieve a change.
● Experience working alongside people with lived experience of poverty
● Experience facilitating groups and organising engaging group activities
● Experience managing and working with volunteers.
● Experience of community outreach in the local area.
● Good project management skills, able to balance a range of priorities.
● UK driving licence and access to vehicle
Behaviours and competencies:
● Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships and gain trust of people with lived experience of poverty and using food banks
● Confident in communicating and, able to seek and balance a range of views and stakeholders, influencing where required.
● Demonstrate a commitment to the values of the Trussell Trust /local food bank.
Key Stakeholders
● Your local food banks, including the project manager, volunteers, and people they support.
● Local elected representatives
● Local stakeholders and partners (charities, churches, and other relevant community groups)
● Local organisations working to support people in poverty
● The Trussell Trust Area Team, who support your food banks in their day-to-day work.
● Trussell Trust’sSenior Manager for Organising and Local Mobilisation
● The wider TT Organising and Local Mobilisation (OLM) Team who will deliver training and relational support.
● Trussell Trust’s Head of Organising and Local Mobilising
● Trussell Trust’s Activations team
● Trussell Trust’s church engagement team
● Joseph Rowntree Foundation staff
● Trussell Trust Policy, Research and Impact department
Our Values
The Trussell Trust is a charity that works to end the need for food banks. It is founded on and shaped by Christian principles.
Our values of dignity, justice, compassion and community, are central to all that we do and therefore supports our aim to be an organisation where the diversity of all employees is valued. We welcome people of all faiths and none and those that are committed to these values.
We recognise that we have under-represented groups within our workforce. As part of our commitment to diversity and equality of opportunity we are actively encouraging applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions and those with a lived experience of poverty as well as any other under-represented group in our workforce. We are committed to ensuring the safety and protection of our employees from all forms of harm.
Please forward your covering letter outlining your experience which is relevant to the job description and CV
We don’t believe anyone in our community should have to face going hungry.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Salary: £31,000 per annum
Location: Hybrid working to include Tyseley, Birmingham and some home working, and travel outside of Birmingham.
Hours: Full time, 36.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, with some evening and weekend working.
Contract type: Permanent
The Active Wellbeing Society (TAW) is a community benefit society working to tackle inequalities and promote community wellbeing. Our vision is for a society where people have the autonomy, capacity, resources, and skills to become the architects of their own destiny. The work we do with communities is underpinned by our values of an open heart, open mind and open will. Our work with communities’ cuts across a wide range of policy agendas – from health and social care to transport and planning, community cohesion to climate justice and physical activity. We are increasingly recognised nationally as demonstrating best practice in working with communities in most need and achieving significant systems and behaviour change.
We are looking for an experienced Senior Communications Officer to join our fast-paced organisation as we grow and maximise opportunities for national delivery. As part of a dynamic and friendly communications and marketing team, your role will help widely raise the profile of TAWS across all areas of work, from creating content for internal and external communications channels, optimising digital content for national reach, building relationships with strategic stakeholders online, to cultivating media relations and drafting impactful press releases.
This role is suited to someone with a passion from tackling inequalities and promoting community wellbeing, and a keen understanding of the social and political landscape in which we operate. You will play a key role in helping to bring the TAWS brand proposition to life, telling our story in compelling and engaging ways to a range of audiences. You will be able to think creatively and see the bigger picture, as well as be comfortable delivering key tasks such as producing a newsletter and social media content. You will be responsible for communications about our key projects, and priorities, taking complex and varied information and translating it into content that promotes the work of TAWS and its impact to diverse audiences.
We are working to a hybrid model across the organisation and value in-person contact. This role will require regular weekly working at our head office in Birmingham or other designated offices / locations across the city and travel and work from other locations outside of Birmingham as part of our national work.
Main duties
- Write and edit high quality engaging copy for sharing across internal and external marketing communications channels and in support of the strategic vision, mission and values of TAWS.
- Build organisational profile with key strategic audiences online on social media, the website, digital channels and through content creation.
- Support the development and execution of communications and marketing strategies, tactics and deliverables, in line with the brand proposition; develop and implement quarterly communications plans.
- Working with HR, lead and implement internal communications projects and plans including delivering a monthly internal newsletter and updating the intranet.
- Develop and deliver communications campaigns for positive social change.
- Track analytics and create regular reports detailing effectiveness of communications campaigns and our digital channels.
- Build and maintain relations with local and national media and identify opportunities to amplify our successes and impact.
- Draft press releases and respond to media requests.
- Ensure consistency in terms of tone of voice, branding, messaging and frequency of communications across all channels.
- Source, create, and post content for our social media accounts (using Sprout) and the website, working closely with a range of teams across the organisation including delivery, business development, funding and partnerships.
- Take complex and varied information and translate it into content that promotes the work of TAWS and its impact to diverse audiences
- Proof reading, research thematic issues, new digital tools and media channels.
- Monitor national and local trends, news and opportunities and provide regular internal briefings.
- Keep abreast of new and emergent thinking across wellbeing, community development and tackling inequalities.
- Maintain and update an organisational media library (photos, videos, stories, and audio) in line with data protection/consent.
- Capture and record media to promote projects and key priorities in line with data protection/consent
- Provide design support for comms collateral, reports, newsletters, brochures, flyers, posters and presentations using appropriate software (e.g., Canva, Adobe, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) for a range of audiences.
- Carry out all duties as may be reasonably assigned from time to time and within the level of this job description.
Knowledge,skills and experience
- A sound understanding of the UK social and political landscape and inequalities.
- A highly skilled copy writer with excellent editing and time management skills.
- Demonstrable experience of crafting compelling narratives, writing press releases and tailoring messages and tone to translate and summarise complex ideas in writing.
- Demonstrable experience of developing and delivering effective communications/social change campaigns.
- Demonstrable experience of working with the media and providing effective public relations/journalism support.
- A sound understanding of communications, public relations, and marketing best practices.
- Ability to develop strategic narratives that showcase our work and align with organisational goals.
- Demonstrable experience of producing a range of communications and marketing materials.
- Excellent social media and digital marketing skills to optimise content, thinking creatively about how to reach diverse audiences with key messages, and increase reach, engagement and impact.
- Excellent creative skills and a good eye for design – excellent IT skills and experience of using design software to create graphics and edit imagery.
- Excellent collaboration and networking skills, and ability to build rapport with key stakeholders internally, externally and with the media.
- Track record of working autonomously and collaboratively in a dynamic, fast-paced, and challenging environment.
Staff benefits
We offer our team members a comprehensive staff benefits offering to include:
- Annual Leave – 25 days FTE (increasing to 29 days with service) plus 5 wellbeing days.
- Nest Pension – 8% employer contribution - 3% employee contribution.
- Heath Cash Plan – giving you discounts on everyday healthcare such as dental, optical, physio, prescriptions & more.
- Employee Assistance Programme (counselling and DRs on call 24hrs a day).
- Life Assurance – x4 your salary paid to beneficiary.
- Flexible working.
- Fantastic volunteering opportunities within The Active Wellbeing Society every month.
Application details
Please submit a Cover Letter and CV addressing the experience you have had relevant to the 'Main Duties' and the 'Knowledge & Skills' sections of the advert, but as a minimum please address how you meet the the following criteria which will be weighted highly in the first sift of shortlisting:
- A highly skilled copy writer with excellent editing and time management skills
- Demonstrable experience of crafting compelling narratives, writing press releases and tailoring messages and tone to translate and summarise complex ideas in writing.
- Demonstrable experience of working with the media and providing effective public relations/journalism support
- Excellent social media and digital marketing skills to optimise content, thinking creatively about how to reach diverse audiences with key messages, and increase reach, engagement and impact.
- Excellent collaboration and networking skills, and ability to build rapport with key stakeholders internally, externally and with the media.
Closing date: Tuesday 16th April 2024 at midnight
Interview date: TBC
Due to the high numbers of applications we received for our job vacancies, we may close application windows early, so we would encourage you to submit your application ASAP
We will provide all applicants with an outcome on your application, this will usually be within 1 week of the application window closing.
Successful applicants will be required to be DBS checked prior to starting.
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we, in recruiting for our team we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring. The Active Wellbeing Society is committed to being an equal opportunity employer, we recruit based upon capability and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. At The Active Wellbeing Society we are searching for people who share the passion for what we do with different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, collectively making a difference.
If there is anything we can do to assist you in your application or preparations to be interviewed for one of our job vacancies please let us know and we can ensure you have a positive and comfortable experience.
Thank you for your interest in working for The Active Wellbeing Society, we look forward to receiving your application.