Stakeholder Engagement Manager

The National Lottery Community Fund is recruiting for a Stakeholder Engagement Manager, a key role in our External Affairs Team sat within our newly formed Communications Directorate.  

This role is part of our ambitious transformation as we implement a significant pivot in our communications approach – building on our support for grant-making to demonstrate the powerful impact communities have in strengthening society and improving lives.

This role offers an exceptional opportunity to shape our stakeholder engagement during a time of exciting change. You will position the Fund as a convening force in civil society, advancing community priorities through evidence-based advocacy that demonstrates how our funding strengthens communities.

Using your insight into the sector, you will work with colleagues to map and manage priority stakeholder relationships relevant to our missions and the impact of our funding. You will develop targeted engagement strategies to strengthen and diversify our stakeholders, delivering key activities including communications, events, briefings and meetings to support the development of these relationships.

Working with colleagues across communications and funding teams, you will identify and act upon opportunities to demonstrate the impact of our funding on communities and how it aligns with relevant and influential stakeholders and organisations. You will have strong project management experience, with a robust approach to tracking relationships and managing stakeholder data, ideally through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

The ideal candidate will bring a strong communications and engagement background, as well as experience in working with senior level stakeholders. Ideally you will have had exposure to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors. You should excel at building relationships with diverse stakeholders and be adept at navigating complex external environments.

Key responsibilities:

• Map and prioritise the Fund's stakeholder framework, identifying key influencers and decision-makers across sectors, ensuring an effective cadence of engagement (making it clear who are we talking to, when and why)
• Design strategic engagement plans that align stakeholder relationships with our missions and corporate plan, as part of the Fund’s integrated communications strategy
• Lead the creation of stakeholder toolkits and narrative materials that enable senior leaders and colleagues to engage effectively
• Coordinate high-profile events and engagement opportunities that strengthen the Fund's position in civil society
• Build measurement frameworks to evaluate the impact of stakeholder engagement activities
• Provide expert counsel to colleagues on relationship management and influencer engagement
• Maintain the SRM system and support colleagues across the Fund to use appropriately.
• Work with Communications Business Partners to integrate stakeholder engagement into portfolio strategies

Location: You will be expected to be based in the country you will be supporting. We have a hybrid approach to working with work pattern and exact location agreed with the successful candidate. Our offices are in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Newtown.

Interview date: Week commencing 7th July - virtual

On application, please align your supporting statement to the criteria below

Essential criteria

• Strong experience in stakeholder engagement and partnership development, with a track record of advising at senior levels
• Proven ability to design and deliver engagement programmes that meet organisational objectives
• Experience building stakeholder mapping tools and evaluation frameworks
• Strong project management, coordinating complex engagement activities
• Experience drafting and delivering high-quality presentation materials, often under tight timeframes
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of, or background in VCSE, public sector or civil society partnership development
• People management experience

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)