Media and public affairs assistant jobs

Assistant x 2

1 x to the CEO | 1 x Communications & Helpline

Location: Hybrid – working from home, with at least 1 day a month working in London.

Contract: Full-time (35 hours per week).

Salary: £25,000 per annum

We’re looking for two enthusiastic, ambitious and organised individuals to join our team as Assistants, each supporting a different area of the charity. One role will provide high-level support to our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), while the other will focus on helping our Communications and Helpline team deliver their vital services. These are excellent opportunities to work at the heart of a charity that is committed to creating a dyslexia-inclusive society.

About the roles

Executive Assistant

This role will support the smooth day-to-day functioning of the CEO’s office, helping manage key processes, communications, and external relations. You’ll be central to diary coordination, board support, stakeholder liaison, and financial administration, contributing to strong governance and strategic delivery.

Key responsibilities include:

· Managing the CEO’s diary, inbox, travel and meeting logistics

· Preparing board papers, agendas, minutes, and reports

· Liaising with stakeholders and trustees

· Supporting advocacy and public affairs activity (e.g. parliamentary events)

· Helping with financial admin tasks such as raising invoices and supplier forms

· Providing wider administrative support to the senior leadership team as needed

This role would suit someone confident in managing sensitive information, working to tight deadlines, and liaising with senior contacts across the charity and beyond.

Communications & Helpline Assistant

This varied and rewarding role provides hands-on support to our helpline and external communications work. You’ll be helping our volunteers offer accurate and empathetic support to the public while also assisting with digital content, social media and outreach campaigns.

Key responsibilities include:

· Supporting helpline volunteer coordination, training and performance

· Helping develop and maintain helpline resources and records

· Creating and publishing content for our social media and website

· Supporting email marketing, digital analytics, and campaign promotion

· Assisting with press releases, stakeholder communications and events

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys helping people, has strong communication skills, and an interest in digital content and community engagement.

What we’re looking for (both roles)

· Excellent organisational, administrative and multitasking skills

· Demonstrable experience in a similar job

· Excellent written and verbal communication abilities

· A friendly, proactive, can-do attitude and attention to detail

· Confidence using IT systems, including MS Office and databases

· Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a small team

· Discretion when handling sensitive or confidential information

The following is also highly desirable - experience in a charity setting, knowledge of dyslexia/neurodiversity, and familiarity with tools like Xero, Canva, or WordPress (depending on the role).

Please view the job descriptions for additional information.

Why join us?

At the BDA, we are passionate about making the world more inclusive for people with dyslexia. You’ll join a friendly, supportive team where your work makes a real impact. Whether supporting our CEO’s strategic aims or helping deliver services to the public, you’ll be contributing to lasting change.

Closing date – 15 July 2025. Please note, we reserve the right to close these vacancies early if we receive sufficient applications for the roles. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Reports to: Director of Strategy

Staff responsibilities: Line manage four staff; Senior Social Media Officer, Communications Officer, Communications Assistant, Media Officer 

Hours of work: 37.5 hours, full time. The role is contracted until 31 March 2026, due to government funding.

Please note, candidates must be based in the UK.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the promotion of Bikeability, the Government’s national cycle training programme, as a key member of the management team.

The Head of Marketing and Communications is responsible for the creation, development and delivery of marketing and communications activity with both internal and external audiences, including the Bikeability industry, schools, parents, the general public, media, and key stakeholders.

You will head up a team of talented communication experts, as part of the Strategy team, ensuring the delivery of all communications activity, including marketing campaigns, social media, press relations, industry engagement, and communications support to our public affairs strategy.

You will have excellent experience of delivering outstanding marketing and communications campaigns to increase brand awareness and drive service demand. You will have a collaborative approach and enjoy working as part of a team.  You will report to the Director of Strategy and be actively engaged in advising the executive team and trustees. 

Responsibilities:  

Lead the Promotions and Communications team to: 

• Develop and deliver The Bikeability Trust’s marketing, communications and media activities, including campaigns and project communications

• Manage relevant contracts with external agencies, including website management and graphic design

• Deliver the Bikeability social media programme to key audiences including parents, schools, internal Bikeability industry, and general public for wider awareness 

• Deliver communications support for Bikeability industry through a programme of regular communications 

• Work collaboratively with teams across the organisation to deliver effective project communication deliverables 

• Effectively manage team budget 

• Use media monitoring and brand tracking to evaluate impact and manage brand reputation

• Ensure evaluation and impact of communications work is collated and learning shared.

Enhance and improve strategic stakeholders’ engagement, including joint campaigns, cross-promotion and/or specific project activity to: 

• Ensure the Department for Transport and Active Travel England are fully engaged in any communications activity, working with them to amplify messaging 

• Work with cycling and active travel organisations on joint campaigns and promotions 

• Suport our Fundraising team to generate engagement and income from individual donors and corporate partners 

• Work with our agency partner to provide communications support to public affairs strategy 

• Ensure equality, diversity and inclusion are considered, and the Bikeability industry voice is at the centre, in all research projects and programmes. 

Provide communications leadership across The Bikeability Trust: 

• Champion and advocate the brand, supporting and motivating teams across the organisation to adopt our tone of voice and messaging 

• Track communications performance management and make recommendations for improvement 

• Deputise for the Director of Strategy in reporting to Board and attending Board meetings. 

Essential Skills and Experience 

• Minimum of 2 years leadership experience in communications, PR or marketing, including management of a small team.

• Experience of communications and marketing, including promotional campaigns 

• Experience of website management 

• Strong leadership and collaborative working style 

• Self-motivated with positive mindset 

• Excellent communication and analytical skills 

Desirable Skills and Experience: 

• Experience working in charity or non-profit sector 

• Experience working in cycling industry 

• Experience working with local and national government 

About The Bikeability Trust 

The Bikeability Trust’s purpose is to ensure that all cycle training is delivered to a gold standard, inspiring everyone to cycle with competence and confidence.   

We are:  

• Expert: The Trust has successfully administered the Bikeability programme on behalf of government since 2018, delivering high-quality delivery guides and instructor training, and our workforce has thousands of years combined experience teaching people to cycle.  

• Inspiring: Every rider completes our training feeling able, confident and motivated to cycle safely on the roads for short journeys. Transforming the traditional image of cycling to an everyday, everyone activity.    

• Quality focussed: Our instructors deliver high-quality, consistent and standardised cycle training. We aim to ensure that every rider achieves the same outcomes to the same standard, taking into account their individual capabilities, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).  

• Inclusive: We take action to reduce barriers to participation, support underrepresented groups and ensure that anyone who wishes to access Bikeability cycle training is able to do so, and cycling is seen as an activity for all.   

• Efficient: Our delivery programme offers value for money and is delivered in an economic, proportional and efficient way.  

• Influential: We share our evidence of the impact of cycle training across a variety of sectors (transport, education, environment, health, leisure, etc) and work collaboratively with stakeholders, partners and commercial organisations to achieve our vision and influence behaviour change.

Rainbow Migration is the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system and has been campaigning for their rights since 1993. We are recruiting a Senior Casework and Service Coordinator to assist the Support Services Manager, provide guidance and advice to colleagues, and manage incoming queries from service users.

Rainbow Migration has grown in recent years from a small charity generating £200k income in 2019 to £1M in 2024. The Senior Casework and Service Coordinator is a new role that will take on some of the responsibilities of the Support Services Manager, freeing the manager up to work on service development and strategic matters. 

Responsibilities include:

· Managing systems for incoming service user inquiries

· Casework for service users with the most complex needs or challenges

· Facilitating complex case discussions with colleagues and providing support and guidance

· Ensuring accurate reporting on service delivery outputs, outcomes and trends

· Assisting the Support Services Manager to implement changes in the service

Rainbow Migration’s vision is that LGBTQI+ people can settle in the UK and lead fulfilling lives. Our values are: 

· Safety: We believe everyone should be safe from persecution and safe to be themselves. We strive to create a safe workplace culture, and we place importance on the wellbeing of everyone involved with Rainbow Migration. 

· Integrity: We are thorough and honest in everything we do, and we take responsibility for our actions. We want to be accountable to our communities and those who support us. 

· Belonging: We welcome and include all LGBTQI+ people, and we celebrate and value their range of experience in terms of gender, religion, race, age, disability status and class. We try to remove obstacles to participation, champion equality and promote a sense of family or home through our services. 

· Respect: We believe that every person is equal and deserves the same level of courtesy, care, and attention. We respect the rights, wishes and feelings of our service users, and campaign for their rights to be respected as they go through the asylum and immigration system. 

Diversity, inclusion and anti-oppression

At Rainbow Migration, we don’t just accept difference – we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We do not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. We consider all qualified applicants, consistent with any legal requirements.

We strive to build a team that reflects the diversity of the community we work in and welcome applications from candidates who have been through the UK asylum system and people of colour, who are currently underrepresented among our staff in relation to our service users.

We are also reviewing what we do and how we do it through an anti-oppression and anti-racism lens, as well as investing in being more informed and led by LGBTQI+ people who have sought asylum.

We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for anyone considered as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if they meet all the necessary criteria in the person specification. If you wish to qualify under this scheme, please make this clear when applying.

We send a selection of questions in advance of job interviews to give applicants more thinking time. You are welcome to take notes in interviews to help process information. If your interview is online, we can also put questions in the meeting chat. Please let us know if we can make other adjustments to support your interview process.

Role overview

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (35 hours per week). Working part-time (minimum 28 hours) will be considered. Occasional work in the evenings and at weekends may be required but with plenty of notice. Rainbow Migration encourages staff to maintain a good work life balance and has a TOIL system in place.

Salary: Starting at £36,994 with potential annual step increases up to £41,315 (pro rata if working part time), plus statutory employer’s pension contribution. In addition to an annual step increase, we consider giving a separate inflationary increase every April.

Location: Rainbow Migration’s wheelchair accessible offices are based between Vauxhall and the Oval, London. This role will have an office-based contract but the postholder can choose to work from home for part of the week in agreement with their line manager as per our hybrid working policy. You must be available to work from our offices in London when necessary. The successful candidate would also be welcome to work from the office full-time if that is their preference. At the time of posting this advert, staff mostly work from home. There might also be occasional travel outside London with plenty of notice. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Annual Leave: Initially 25 days per year. After two years of employment, this will increase by one day per year up to a maximum of 28 days (pro rata if working part-time).

Benefits:

· Two days of wellbeing leave to be taken at short notice in each calendar year (pro rata for part-time staff)

· Enhanced parental leave and pay

· Full pay for jury service (up to four weeks), compassionate leave (up to two weeks) and dependants’ leave (up to four days, pro rata for part-time staff)

· Separate salary step and inflationary increases considered every year

· TOIL system

· Hybrid working policy, including possibility of working abroad for 10 working days (pro rata for part-time staff) each year

· Policy on staff loans or salary advances for difficult times

· Work laptop and mobile phone

· Training and learning opportunities

· Occupational health assessments for disabled employees to understand how we can support and make reasonable adjustments

· Employee assistance programme which includes counselling service, wellness advice, legal and money advice, and other matters

· Clinical supervision for staff delivering services (a safe space with an independent therapist to offload and discuss feelings and challenges)

How to apply

Closing date: 9am 14 July 2025

Interview dates: Initial interviews will be 30 July and 1 August 2025 by Zoom. A second round of face-to-face interviews in London will follow.

Please read the job description and person specification. If you have any questions about the role or would like to find out more before applying, then you can contact the line manager via the email in the JD or on our website.

Please send to the email in the JD:

1. Your CV

2. A written statement (max 1,000 words). Instead of a written statement you may submit your statement by video or audio recording (max 8 minutes)

We would also be grateful if you could complete the optional monitoring form (link in the JD).

In your statement, please:

1. Explain why you are interested in this role and give examples of how you meet the person specification. In addition to what is on your CV, we want to hear about any relevant skills and experience that demonstrate you meet the necessary (and, where applicable, advantageous) criteria for the role. Skills and experience could be from training, volunteering, interests or life experience

2. Confirm if you wish to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme for anyone considered as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 (physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ effect on your ability to do normal daily activities)

3. State how many hours a week you wish to work and if you have a preferred pattern

While AI can be a helpful tool, we expect all applications to be original and authentic. Please ensure your final submission personally reflects your own experiences, qualifications and style of writing. Transparency is valued, so if you use AI to help with your application in any way, please explain why. Applications that are obviously written with AI without explanation will not be considered.

By submitting an application, you:

1. Confirm that you have the right to work in the UK and will produce the necessary documentation if you are offered this post.

2. Declare that to the best of your knowledge and belief, the information provided in your application is true and correct and that you understand that any false information or statement given will justify your dismissal from Rainbow Migration if appointed.

3. Accept that owing to the nature of the work, if successful, you will be required to disclose all spent and unspent criminal records at the point of conditional job offer and subsequently to undergo an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. See our website for more information.

We are proud to be a member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network, which aims to create a charitable sector that is led by people with lived experience of the asylum and immigration system. As part of this network, we challenge the one-size-fits-all approach in our employment practices and respect the personal circumstances and needs of people with lived experience.

If you are an expert by experience (a refugee or a migrant with direct, first-hand experience of issues and challenges of the UK asylum or immigration system), you can ask for independent and confidential support for your job application from the Experts by Experience Employment Network. Please complete the form (link in JD) to request support and they will confirm if they can match you with a mentor to support your application.

Privacy notice

If you apply for this role, the information you provide will be processed according to Rainbow Migration's privacy policy. Rainbow Migration will not share your information with any third parties unless part of the recruitment process or are legally required to do so. By applying, you are permitting Rainbow Migration to access and use the information for recruitment purposes. Rainbow Migration will store data on unsuccessful applicants for 12 months after the conclusion of the recruitment campaign. Monitoring information is kept separately and is pseudonymised to avoid identification of applicants. It is amalgamated for statistical purposes and the original data is then deleted after six months.