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Job Description 

Job Title:  Strategic Communications and Marketing Planning Manager

Directorate:Communications 

Team/Department (if specific):Marketing and Planning

Date Written/ Amended:August2025

Context and Background

Every childhood is worth fighting for. This is our belief. It drives us. And it inspires our Communications and Marketingteam to find ever-more creative ways to promote our work and share how people can get involved in making a difference to children’s lives. 

The award-winning NSPCC Communications directorate is known for its talent, expertise and creativity in inspiring and challenging people to act on child abuse. We work collaboratively, both organisationally and across integrated communications disciplines, to deliver shared outcomes and measurable results through all available communications channels. 

The Strategic Communications and Marketing Planning Managerforms part of our Brand and Marketing Planning team. The role is central to developing a strategic framework to support prioritisation of our annual communications and marketing plans, ensuring we’re optimising our activity to drive impact. 

The Communications Planning Manager will lead on the communications and marketing planning process for all teams. Working with teams across the organisation, they will lead on the communications planning process. As part of this responsibility, they will work closely with senior stakeholders within Marketing and Communications and the Fundraising and Engagement directorate to maximise brand awareness and income driven by our communications and marketing activity. 

Job purpose

1.Lead the development and implementation of the strategic framework for annual communications and marketing planning, ensuring it is clear, comprehensive, and aligned with organisational priorities and budget allocation to drive the maximum impact for children and young people.

2.Coordinate and oversee the planning process across all communications teams, facilitating workshops and meetings to engage stakeholders, and ensuring plans are efficiently resourced and delivered.

3.Maintain effective planning systems and processes, ensuring timely communication of plans and priorities internally and externally, and supporting the identification and delivery of strategic communications objectives.

4.Build strong cross-organisational relationships, particularly between Communications and other directorates, to ensure alignment, coordination, and shared ownership of strategic goals.

Key relationships - Internal

·Reports to the Associate Head of Brand and Marketing Planning

·Works closely with the Director of Communications and Marketing on the overall strategy for communications and Marketing and delivery of directorate objectives

·Works closely with cross organisational campaign managers and key stakeholders, including our Senior Leadership Team to inform planning and strategic alignment. 

·Works closely with teams to inform, support and manage communications activity.

·Pro-actively works with managers and staff in other NSPCC Directorates , such as Fundraising and Engagement, Strategy and Knowledge, People, Finance and Services as necessary to further communications relationships.

Key relationships - External

·Creative, media and research agencies.

·Peers within the UK charity sector.

·Industry opinion formers, media and other stakeholders. 

·Professionals/trade bodies/organisations in charitable sector.

Main duties and responsibilities

1.Work with the Associate Head of Brand and Marketing Planning to implement the strategic framework for the annual planning process, ensuring our marketing investment is aligned to strategic priorities, led by market research and media insight, and drives impact. 

2.Facilitate workshops and meetings with relevant comms and marketing teams across the organisation to ensure all stakeholders are aligned and engaged in the annual comms and marketing planning process.

3.Support in the delivery and implementation of the communications strategy, ensuring our annual Communications and Marketing directorate business plans support our audiences to get closer to our cause.

4.Support the Associate Head of Brand and Marketing Planning in the analysis of marketing and communications impact data and insight, to share complex information in a clear and compelling way with the Communications and Marketing Leadership Team, the Director of Marketing Communications, Director of Fundraising and Engagement, Executive Leadership Team and Trustees.

5.     Ensure that there are appropriate processes in place to monitor communications and marketing performance, and delivery against business plans and the strategy.

6.     Maximise income and add value to departmental activities by sharing knowledge, specialist expertise and best practice with others as appropriate.

7.     Support the marketing and operations planning meeting by influencing and negotiating to deliver the comms planning process with internal audiences. 

8.     Work closely with finance, our media agencies and internal stakeholders to understand the investment plans and budgets for marketing across the organisation. 

9.     Support the Associate Head of Brand and Marketing Planning in the development of the brand and media investment strategies. 

Responsibilities for all Staff within the Communications

·A commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

·Actively participate in regular department and team meetings, contributing to strategy, discussions and decisions which will be beneficial to the Directorate and wider NSPCC activities.

·Adhere to all the NSPCC’s service standards, policies and procedures. 

·Evidence an understanding of and commitment to the demonstration of the NSPCC’s values.

·Maintain an awareness of and comply with NSPCC data protection regulations. 

·Be responsible for personal learning and development, to support the learning and development of others and the whole organisation. 

·Work in a manner that supports equality, diversity and inclusion 

·Be pro-active in identifying ways to improve personal and team performance

·Maintain an awareness of own and others’ Health and Safety and comply with the NSPCC’s Health and Safety policy and procedures.

·Maintain awareness of NSPCCs safeguarding duties and comply with Safeguarding Code of Conduct.

·Take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with NSPCC work to end cruelty to children, including securing updates on project and service developments and general NSPCC news

A commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people

Person specification

1.Excellent written communication skills to analyse, interpret and present proposals, reports and strategic plans in a clear and persuasive way for a wide range of audiences. 

2.Excellent ability to verbally present information, to a range of audiences in a clear, inspiring, and confident way to achieve desired outcomes.

3.Excellent ability to align, prioritise and plan marketing and communications activity against strategic organisational priorities.

4.Excellent ability to establish, develop and maintain relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, including senior level individuals and external media agencies and partners to achieve desired outcomes.

5.Well-developed ability to develop, control and manage a communications and marketing plan, keeping within financial limits, monitoring and forecasting income and marketing performance, identifying possible shortfalls or overspends and taking timely and appropriate action.

6.Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage projects, organise and plan own work and the work of others to deliver objectives on time.

7.Experience in marketing and communications planning and strategically scheduling marketing activities on behalf of a large national brand. 

8.Project Management skills

9.Significant experience in leading integrated multi-channel campaign planning for a large organisation. 

10.A personal commitment to ending cruelty to children.

Safer Recruitment

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk. 

Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults.

The recruitment and selection of our people will be conducted in a professional, timely and responsive manner and in compliance with current employment legislation, and relevant safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance. 

Our principles: 

·Always seek to recruit the best candidate for the role based on merit including their skills, experience, motivation and competencies. Our robust recruitment and selection process should ensure the identification of the person best suited to the role and the organisation. 

·Committed to diversity and equality of opportunity and will interview all applicants (internal and external) who self-declare at application as having a disability and who meet the minimum requirements in the person specification of the vacancy they are applying for.

·We will make reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process in order to enable successful candidates who declare disabilities to start working or volunteering their time with us.

·Any current member of staff or volunteer who wishes to apply for vacancies and is suitably qualified will be considered and addressed fairly and objectively based on their merit.

·As an organisation committed to safeguarding, we will ensure all under 18’s joining the organisation will have ongoing risk assessments to ensure their role and activities are safe and appropriate.

·All documentation relating to candidates will be treated confidentially in accordance with the GDPR legislation.

About Adolescent Health Study

The Adolescent Health Study (AHS) is an ambitious new UKRI-funded initiative to establish a prospective, longitudinal population study that will generate a globally leading open science data platform and research resource. AHS aims to recruit at least 100,000 young people aged eight to 18 years from across the UK and to follow their mental and physical health and wellbeing over at least 10 years. It plans to collect data through questions and measures; to obtain bio-samples for a wide range of genomic and other high-throughput assays; and to capture linked data relevant to health and wellbeing from participants’ health, education and other administrative records. Recruitment will take place mainly through schools. There will be a strong emphasis on engaging with and involving young people, schools, parents and other relevant stakeholders in the design and delivery of the study, as well as on including young people that represent as wide as possible a range of backgrounds, experiences and characteristics. AHS will focus on enabling a wide range of research, including studies of the critical biological and social developments that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood and the determinants of both mental and physical health and wellbeing in adolescents and young adults.

Purpose of the post

The HR Officer plays a key role in delivering an effective, professional, and compliant HR service across the organisation. Supporting both operational HR processes and employee experience, the post holder will contribute to attracting, developing, and retaining talent in a collaborative and values-driven research environment.

Main responsibilities

HR Operations & Administration Support

• Lead recruitment campaigns in consultation with hiring managers, including drafting job adverts, short-listing and coordinating interviews.
• Manage employee life cycle process, including background checks, onboarding and offboarding.
• Maintain accurate and confidential employee records in compliance with GDPR and organisational policies.
• Administer HR systems, contracts, and employment documentation.
• Manage relationship with 3rd party suppliers including HR consultancy and DBS check providers.
• Support payroll preparation including monthly absence reporting and ensuring accurate data submission and coordination with Finance/Payroll.
• Support the wider central administrative team as required.

 Employee Relations

• Provide first-line HR advice to managers and staff on policies, procedures, and employment matters.
• Support casework relating to absence, performance, disciplinary, and grievance processes.
• Support managers and the COO with complex people cases, working with the external HR partner as required.
• Promote a positive and inclusive working culture aligned with the organisation’s values.

Learning & Development

• Coordinate training activities and support professional development initiatives for research and support staff.
• Some delivery of internal people-related training
• Assist in identifying skills gaps and contributing to workforce development plans.

Policy & Compliance

• Ensure HR practices comply with employment legislation, charity sector regulations, and best practice.
• Monitor and assist with the development, review, and implementation of HR policies and procedures, including handbook updates.
• Support equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives across the organisation.

HR Projects & Continuous Improvement

• Contribute to HR projects such as staff engagement, wellbeing initiatives, and organisational development.
• Support the implementation of HR systems improvements and process efficiencies.
• Collect and analyse HR data to inform decision-making and reporting.

Knowledge, skills and experience 

Essential

1. Experience in an HR administrative or officer-level role.
2. Sound knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice.
3. CIPD Level 3 or equivalent.
4. Experience of supporting payroll and finance processes.
5. Proven ability to establish and evolve people processes in a growing organisation.
6. Proficiency in HR systems, such as BreatheHR or equivalent, and Microsoft Office applications.
7. Experience of working in organisations with multiple staffing arrangements i.e. direct employees, secondees, contractors etc.
8. Strong organisational and administrative skills with excellent attention to detail.
9. Ability to handle sensitive information with confidentiality and professionalism.
10. Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Desirable

1. CIPD Level 5 qualification (or working towards).
2. Experience working in the charity, academic, or research sector.
3. Experience supporting EDI and wellbeing initiatives.
4. Familiarity with public funded and/or project-based staffing environments.
5. Experience supporting or negotiating secondment arrangements, particularly within academic, charity or research environments.

Dimensions

• This is a full-time role, 37.5 hours per week, offered initially as an 18-month fixed-term contract with potential route to permanency.
• Flexible working across several geographical locations in the UK.  Travel may be required to AHS locations and partner organisations.
• AHS is a national organisation, and our activities take place across the UK.

Application Process

All candidates are required to complete the application form which can be found when clicking 'Apply Now' via Charity Job. 

Please refer to the ‘How to Apply’ section of the downloadable application form.

Please note that only applications submitted directly to Gravitate HR will be accepted for this position.

The closing date for applications is 11:00pm on Sunday 5 July 2026.

Interviews are currently expected to take place on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 August 2026.

Equal Opportunities Policy Statement

 AHS is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is our policy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of:

• Gender, including gender reassignment
• Marital or civil partnership status
• Having or not having dependants
• Religion or belief
• Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins)
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
• Age

We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.  All job applicants and employees who work for us will be treated fairly and will not be unfairly discriminated against on any of the above grounds. Decisions about recruitment and selection, promotion, training or any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination. 

Values

It is an exciting time for the Adolescent Health Study (AHS) as we establish our senior leadership team and begin to plan the pilot studies. As the senior executive team evolves, the AHS values will be grounded in inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and collaboration.