4 Public affairs manager jobs

Help us achieve our vision that fewer people die by suicide.

Suicide can be prevented but urgent action is needed. We are looking for an experienced Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager to lead our work to mobilise our campaigners and maximise our political relationships to push for action to prevent suicide.

Samaritans is the UK and Ireland’s leading suicide prevention charity. While we are best known for listening to those who need us, we also work to influence change through our policy, advocacy campaigning and relationships with political stakeholders.

The Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns team of five works alongside people with lived experience, our campaigners, supporters and volunteers to push for the public policy and legal changes that will help us achieve our vision. We work to achieve system change through our work with the Westminster parliament, UK Government departments, policy makers and service leads, alongside our offices in the nations. We're looking for a Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager to lead this area of work.

We know that to make a real difference to those who are affected by suicide, we need to drive meaningful change in UK legislation and policy, funding and research.

If you're a strategic thinker with a track record of successfully influencing for change, we'd love to hear from you.

Contract terms:

• £42,000 - £44,000 per annum, plus benefits
• Permanent
• 35 hours per week (full-time)
• We are passionate about flexible working, talk to us about your preferences
• Hybrid, linked to our Ewell (Surrey) office
• We value meeting in person and working collaboratively. We work in person around 2 days or more per month. This role will also involve regular travel to Westminster.
• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays

What you'll be doing:

You'll lead our public affairs and advocacy campaigns work focused on influencing decision-makers and driving advocacy campaigns.

Your key responsibilities include:

• Overseeing our advocacy campaigning activity across England and line managing the Public Affairs and Campaigns Officer, ensuring that our advocacy campaigns are rooted in lived experience, and that our supporters have a positive ongoing experience. 
• Leading the implementation of our public affairs and campaign strategies to achieve change on Samaritan’s key influencing priorities
• Identifying, creating, and evaluating opportunities and mechanisms to increase political engagement and persuade decision makers to take positive action on suicide prevention 
• Identifying, cultivating and maintaining excellent relationships across the UK parliament and key political decision makers. 
• Working across the charity to connect all of our relevant work to Parliamentary audiences, including support for Samaritans branches and volunteers on public affairs activities
• You’ll play a pivotal role in leading our efforts to drive meaningful change to help prevent suicide. 

What you’ll bring:

• Great people skills with the ability to turn contacts into action
• Proven experience in successfully influencing within the UK Parliament
• Experience of leading effective advocacy campaigns and trialling new and exciting campaign tactics
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences effectively
• A passion for involving people with lived experience in your campaigns and public affairs work

For full details, please see the Job Description and Person Specification

Why Samaritans?

At Samaritans, you’ll join a values-led organisation with a powerful mission. You’ll be part of a collaborative and supportive team where your voice matters, your expertise makes a difference, and your work helps save lives.

We offer flexible hybrid working, great benefits, and the chance to make a tangible difference in suicide prevention across the UK and Ireland. To find out more about Samaritans, please read our recruitment brochure.

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that reflects the people we support and who support us. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels seen, heard and supported, at all levels of the organisation.

Apply now

If this sounds like the opportunity for you, we’d love for you to apply. You will be asked to answer some short application questions and to upload your CV. If you require adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know.

Applications close: 20th September 2026

Interviews: w/c 28th September

At Samaritans, human connection is at the heart of everything we do. 

We do not use AI at any stage during the selection process. Your application will always be carefully reviewed by the recruiting manager or a member of the Talent Attraction Team. 

We kindly ask that you avoid using AI tools to generate your application or interview answers. We want to hear your own ideas, insights, and writing style so your unique strengths can shine through. We recognise that some candidates may use assistive technology or tools to help with accessibility, structure or grammar.   

This is a fantastic opportunity to lead a team working for democracy, peace and climate justice.

We’re looking for someone to manage our Advocacy and Media team for a year. The team covers public affairs, media, social media, and relationships with other churches and faiths.

We need someone with the relevant skills and experience, who can also learn fast and start leading the team’s work quickly. You will have a background in policy, public affairs and/or campaigning work, and experience of line-management. You will need excellent interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.

We have our own advocacy projects on democracy and human rights in Westminster and Holyrood, as well as working in coalition with other organisations on issues such as climate justice and peace.

You will have the opportunity to work within a friendly and collaborative team for an organisation striving for peace, truth, equality and sustainability.

Contract: Fixed term for 13 months, maternity leave cover.

Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week.

Location: Based at our offices in London (NW1) or at home nationally, but must be within 2 hours’ travel of London and willing to travel regularly and sometimes at short notice. Office-based staff can work at home some of the time by agreement.

For details of how to apply, please visit our website.

Closing date: 8.00am on Monday, 5 October 2026.

Interviews: Wednesday, 21 October 2026 (Friends House, London).

Quakers are committed to equality and welcome applicants from all identities and backgrounds. Selection is based solely on skills, experience, qualifications, and abilities. We aim to prevent age, belief, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, neurodivergence, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or social class from being a barrier to employment. We aim for an equitable, user-friendly application process, and reasonable adjustments can be made if needed. As a Quaker organisation we expect all applicants and employees to uphold our values.

We are committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults. All candidates will undergo pre-employment checks in line with our Safer Recruitment guidelines.

Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a not-for-profit committed to keeping children safe online. We are one of the leading online safety organisations in the UK, working with major global brands including founding members BT/EE, Sky and Virgin Media O2 as well as partners such as TikTok, Samsung and Roblox.

We’re here to offer the best advice and information available to help parents, carers and professionals engage in the online lives of children and young people, empowering them to manage the risks they may face online.

We conduct regular research on families’ online experiences and use these insights to influence policymakers, regulators and government, helping to drive positive outcomes for children’s online safety and media literacy.

We exist to:

• Give parents and teachers the advice and support they need to help all children embrace the internet with confidence, and to protect them from online harms.
• Build understanding and raise awareness of families’ online experiences through research, campaigns, events and partnerships, helping children and young people to be happy, healthy and safe online.
• Ensure the views of parents and children are consistently heard by industry, policymakers and government.

Our website hosts comprehensive advice, information and practical tips & tools for parents, alongside our research and insights.

About the role

It is an exciting time to be working in children’s online safety. New measures restricting popular social media platforms’ access to children, alongside existing requirements under the Online Safety Act, are reshaping the role of technology companies in keeping children safe online. At the same time, curriculum reform, votes at 16 and the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) create real opportunities to shape online safety and media literacy policy, and improve outcomes for children and young people.

Yet the challenges families face online are evolving at pace, from mis- and disinformation to the rapid adoption of AI. There is cross-party consensus on the importance of tackling these issues, and now is the moment to harness this momentum to drive lasting change for children.

Against this backdrop, Internet Matters is recruiting a Policy and Public Affairs Manager to help ensure online safety policy works in practice and improves outcomes for families. This wide-ranging role will include:

• Stakeholder engagement, public affairs and influencing, including maintaining and developing a network of contacts across Government, Parliament, regulators, civil society and industry. Identifying opportunities to push forward our agenda with decision-makers, including through convening meetings and events and actively contributing to events held by others. 
• Supporting the development of Internet Matters’ policy positions, ensuring they are underpinned by the latest research and informed by the sector and political landscape. Key policy areas the role will lead on are media literacy, safeguarding girls online and supporting children with SEND online.
• Monitoring UK parliamentary business and proactively finding opportunities to influence.
• Writing policy outputs for a range of audiences including social copy, blogs, briefings, reports and responses to consultations and calls for evidence.
• Presenting and sharing policy and research in a range of settings, including at external meetings and events, tailoring messages to different audiences. 
• Acting as secretariat for Internet Matters’ Vulnerable User Working Group and Expert Advisory Panel.
• Contributing your ideas to team discussions about the overarching strategy for our policy and research work.

This role sits within the Policy and Research team and a core aspect of the role will be the ability to shape research and insights for policy and sector audiences. You will also support with the analysis of research in relation to policy related tasks.

About you

The successful candidate will have professional experience of working in policy, public affairs or a closely related field. They may have gained this experience from another charity/not-for-profit, a regulator, government, parliament or industry. Although not required, experience of one of the following sector or policy areas would be an advantage: tech, online safety, education, tech-facilitated VAWG or SEND.

We are particularly keen to hear from candidates that have experience writing outputs for a range of audiences and translating primary research into engaging policy insights. You will also have experience building and maintaining relationships with sector, policy and parliamentary stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will have a strong eye for detail and take pride in producing high-quality work. We are seeking someone excited by the opportunity of working in a small organisation, where everyone lends a hand to deliver key priorities, and where you can contribute actively to our wider thinking and strategy.

Please see the attached job description for skills, knowledge and experience.

Further details, including how to apply, can be found in the attached job description.