Senior Regional Press Campaigns Officer Jobs in London, Greater London
About us
Crisis is the national charity for people experiencing homelessness. We know that homelessness is not inevitable. We know that together we can end it.
It has never been a more important time for Crisis. With homelessness a growing issue across Great Britain, this role will play a critical part in raising the public and political profile of homelessness through the media in the run up to the General Election.
Contract: Fixed term contract up to 10-months
Location: London office based. Working from home is an option in line with Crisis’ Hybrid working policy. (You will be required to work from the London office once a week or twice a fortnight).
About the role
As News and Media Manager, you will lead a hard-working and experienced team of media experts to bring to life Crisis’ work, demonstrate the solutions needed to tackle homelessness and inspire the public and politicians to join our mission to end it for good. You will oversee the development and delivery of high-profile media and communications campaigns, including our annual Christmas appeal, helping to build our brand. This is a fixed term role covering a secondment in the team, and with an upcoming general election, this is an exciting time take up the role for the next 10 months.
About you
You will have significant experience of working in a challenging, fast-paced news and media environment to secure high-profile coverage and championing the voices of marginalised people. Experience and knowledge of managing and influencing senior internal and external stakeholders is essential in this role, as is the ability to navigate competing priorities to develop and implement creative media strategies that reach a diverse range of audiences.
To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate excellent knowledge and experience of working with the media to help secure policy change at a national government level, outstanding people and project management skills and proven experience when it comes to handling reputational risk. You will also have exceptional news sense, with the ability to take a creative approach when seeking out new media opportunities.
We believe diversity is a strength, and our aim is to make sure that Crisis truly reflects the communities we serve. We are actively working towards our organisation being a place where everyone can thrive and make their best contribution to our mission of ending homelessness for good. We know that the more perspectives, voices, and experiences we can bring to this work, the better. We particularly welcome applications from people who have lived experience of homelessness, and people from all marginalised groups, communities and backgrounds.
Working at Crisis
As a member of the team, you will have access to a wide range of employee benefits including:
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Interest free loans for travel season ticket, cycle to work, and deposit to secure a tenancy
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Pension scheme with an employer contribution of 8.5%
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28 days’ annual leave
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Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption pay
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Flexible working around the core hours 10am-4pm
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And more! (Full list of benefits available on website)
Alongside our excellent staff benefits, we will support your ongoing development to build your skills, experience and career.
When you join us, you will have the opportunity to join our staff diversity networks, which aim to champion issues across the organisation, enable staff to be their authentic and best selves and contribute to making Crisis a truly diverse organisation.
How to apply
If this sound likes the opportunity for you, please click on the 'Apply for Job' button below.
Closing date: Thursday 11 April 2024 (at 23:59)
Interviews will be held on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 April 2024
Accessibility
We want our recruitment process to be as accessible as possible. If you need us to make an adjustment or provide additional support as you apply for a role, please email our Talent Acquisition team to discuss how we can help.
Registered Charity Numbers: E&W1082947, SC040094
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
About this role
Director of Policy and Advocacy is a senior leadership role within Sustain, working across a range of policy, project and campaign areas. We are seeking a strong leader, with management experience and a keen interest in promoting solutions to many of the biggest challenges currently facing us: climate change, restoration of nature, and achieving a healthy, fair, diverse and sustainable system for food and farming. Leadership includes senior oversight:
- On ‘policy’, of the priorities, coherence and cross-fertilisation between our various projects and campaigns and the priorities identified by our alliance members, expert working parties and project/campaign leads.
- On ‘advocacy’, of Sustain’s range of approaches to achieving change – e.g. campaigning, partnership working, standards-setting as well as soft influence, at national and local level.
The Sustain alliance – members and colleagues – represent a rich source of expertise and well-proven, viable solutions to many of the challenges that face us. These need to be supported and replicated at scale, with barriers to adoption removed. It is the job of the Sustain alliance to cultivate the movement, win the policies and other support for solutions, and accelerate the process of change.
As a Director, you will have a key role in supporting the development of new and fundable areas of work, as well as contributing to organisational strategy and decision-making for Sustain. You will also hold strong people leadership skills, as the role oversees key teams at Sustain with five direct reports, and will support the delivery of our organisational plan.
Tasks and responsibilities
The Director of Policy and Advocacy for Sustain will have a varied and stimulating workload, working closely with the Chief Executive and in collaboration with Sustain’s senior management, project and campaign leads, project partners, Sustain alliance members and associates, and strategic funders. The postholder will provide strategic leadership on a range of policy, campaign, influencing and communications matters relating to advocacy for healthy and sustainable food and farming. The work will include:
Policy, advocacy and campaign development
- Creating an advocacy strategy for Sustain, working with colleagues and members, and building productive relationships with key audiences and partners, including an annual programme of activities and events.
- Leading on publishing policy reports, evidence submissions, statements and press releases, and overseeing those generated by Sustain colleagues and/or wider alliance activities.
- Overseeing key policy, advocacy and campaign themes, to ensure these are pursued effectively and prioritised within advocacy and campaign work, with line-management responsibilities in relation to relevant campaign coordinators and their teams.
- Providing everyday advisory and/or skills-building support or other opportunities for colleagues to develop their policy, influencing and communications work.
Stakeholder relationships
- Ensuring that members of the Sustain alliance are engaged in policy and advocacy and benefiting from the opportunities provided by their alliance membership.
- Building trusted relationships with a range of alliance members, government departments, elected representatives, project and campaign partners, journalists, media outlets, funders and opinion formers; and cultivating opportunities to work together to achieve positive change, including potential partnership initiatives.
Leadership in organisation management
- Working with the core team to ensure that this work is adequately resourced, and budgets are managed effectively, understanding and contributing to how this fits within Sustain’s overall financial management, resource use and fundraising needs.
- Developing compelling and impactful activities, evidence-gathering, partnerships and funding bids and feeding into development of impact reporting and theories of change.
- Leading on one or more operational priorities, working with the senior team and other key members of the staff team to ensure that tasks happen in a timely and effective way.
- Maintaining excellent financial records, contact databases and mailing lists, in line with good governance, data protection and accountability.
- Ensuring that monitoring, evaluation and learning is undertaken in relation to the campaigns and advocacy work, to help shape the way these develop, and to ensure that this informs reporting to funders and Sustain’s Council of Trustees, organisational learning and development of future activities.
Oversight on public communications
- Overseeing public communications in service of advocacy goals, working with expert project and campaign coordinators at Sustain. This will include representing the Sustain alliance externally – for example, with journalists, in the media, at high-level political opportunities such as giving oral evidence to parliamentary enquiries, chairing or speaking at panel events, organising roundtables or conferences, pitching or reporting to funders, etc.
- Overseeing the work of Sustain’s colleagues who lead on communications, social media, digital and design and parliament/public affairs to enable effective delivery of the policy and advocacy strategy.
- Editorial oversight and senior sign-off for Sustain’s political, campaigning and public communications activity, ensuring consistency of tone and approach and cultivating helpful cross-fertilisation of ideas and joined-up policy responses across the range of Sustain activities. Also ensuring that communications and public affairs activities serve and respect the alliance’s strategy, agreed tone, opportunities to influence, political impartiality, legal boundaries and our charitable objectives.
The Head of Policy and Advocacy will also:
- Undertake other tasks and responsibilities that may arise from time to time.
This is a Hybrid Role however the succesful candidate will be based On Site for the duration of their probation period.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced senior communications and media professional to lead International Alert’s global Communications team.
We are hiring this role at a pivotal time for Alert, as we implement our new organisational strategy. The postholder will have a unique opportunity to lead delivery of our global communications strategy, supporting the delivery of our organisational objectives and ensuring we maximise our peacebuilding impact.
The role will work in close collaboration with our country, regional and policy teams to deliver high-quality, impactful communications about peacebuilding in the places we work and on key topics such as the climate crisis, women’s and LGBT+ inclusion, and conflict-sensitive investment, centering the voices of the people and partners with whom we work.
You’ll be an excellent communicator and strategic thinker, with experience of delivery of communications across a range of channels and media. You will be responsible for driving up Alert’s visibility and profile and maintaining relationships with journalists, bringing with you good knowledge of the media landscape and excellent contacts.
You’ll have great interpersonal skills, able to work with people inside and outside the organisation across a range of geographies and backgrounds. You’ll be comfortable advising senior leadership within Alert and adept at identifying opportunities to raise Alert’s profile. You’ll be a good people manager, able to lead and motivate a team, and have experience of managing budgets.
Role duties and responsibilities:
Strategy and planning
- Develop and implement a three year communications strategy for Alert, in line with the organisational strategy, ensuring consultation and collaboration with Alert’s global and country teams
- Work closely with country teams to support the development of in-country communications strategies, ensuring regular co-ordination with country level communications colleagues
- Set clear objectives and KPIs for Alert’s communications work, developing robust frameworks for monitoring and reporting, and linking these to delivery of the communications strategy
Media relations
- Develop and deliver a media strategy, in line with Alert’s programme priorities, influencing and funding strategies;
- Lead on cultivating new and foster existing relations with key contacts in the media, building Alert’s credibility and ensuring effective working relationships with journalists;
- Lead on delivery of media strategy for discrete projects, developing plans, drafting key messages and press releases, identifying and working with target journalists and setting parameters for success.
- Lead on Alert’s response to breaking news stories and events, working with senior staff to develop appropriate responses
- Lead on crisis communications for Alert, drafting and holding the crisis communications protocol, representing the communications team on the Crisis Management Group, supporting and advising senior staff, and ensuring regular media training for relevant staff
- Proactively identify opportunities for coverage of Alert’s work in UK, European and international media, as well as by national/regional media in countries/regions where Alert works, and maximise profile opportunities for Alert’s spokespeople and experts;
- Manage and monitor the media email account and media phone, including out-of-hours media calls.
Content, branding and profile
- Ensure robust sign-off processes, comprehensive policies and quality systems to facilitate the work of programme and/or country teams and to ensure that all Alert’s communications are consistent with Alert’s brand, coherent in tone and messages, and high in quality;
- Lead a brand review for Alert in line with the new organisational strategy, including robust audience testing
- Oversee the maintenance and implementation of Alert’s brand guidelines, supporting the marketing and publications officer to ensure brand consistency across all of Alert’s work
- Work collaboratively with other organisations and deepen relationships with donors and funders to increase the profile and visibility of Alert and the peacebuilding sector.
Events and outreach
- Ensure excellent profiling and positioning of Alert’s brand, image and impact throughout Alert’s external communications and events;
- Oversee the design, planning and implementation of specific activities or events and campaigns using a variety of media, and ensure that opportunities for contributing to Alert’s funding, media and influencing strategies and building/maintaining excellent relations with potential supporters and contacts are optimised for each event;
- Ensure that all Alert outputs are disseminated successfully, using different media and messages to reach out to and engage different target audiences, and that dissemination strategies and budgets are set for each output.
Digital communications
- Support the Senior Digital Engagement Officer to develop an annual content plan that reflects the requirements of the strategy and delivers against its objectives
- Maintain understanding of and engagement with the latest digital trends and approaches, ensuring Alert is compliant with relevant regulations
- Oversee the development of a digital plan and ensure it contributes to Alert’s programme priorities, influencing and funding strategies;
- Ensure the furthering of Alert’s reach and profile through more effective and targeted use of the website, digital marketing and social media channels
Programmatic communications
- Support programme and country teams in strengthening their communications and outreach, and facilitate the development of their own communications and influencing strategies;
- Identify deficiencies and gaps in programmes’ communications capacity, skills and materials and make plans to remedy them as appropriate;
- Ensure that quality trainings are provided for programmes, country teams and partner organisations on relevant aspects of communications;
- Provide quality technical assistance and advice to programme and country teams for project planning, proposals and reporting, ensuring communications is incorporated into programme design and budgets.
Line management, budget management and organisational leadership
- Line manage the Communications team staff, and interns, volunteers and consultants where appropriate, setting clear and manageable workplans, ensuring structured, regular support and supervision, and tailored personal development plans;
- Ensure strong team co-ordination and support, with regular team meetings and awaydays
- Accompany, mentor and functionally supervise communications staff in programmes teams;
- Set, manage and monitor the Advocacy and Communications budget, ensuring robust oversight of spend and adherence to finance and procurement policies;
- Work closely with the Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications to review and strengthen communications strategy and delivery, developing strong relationships with the Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer and the GPU Director to ensure advocacy and communications objectives are co-ordinated and complementary;
- Ensure efficient team-wide communications and knowledge management, and contribute to organisation-wide communications, knowledge management, events and discussions on related topics/projects;
- Deputise for the Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications where appropriate.
Please note that the above are just some of the role requirements. For the full role requirements, view the job description.
All applicants must have existing and permanent right to work in the United Kingdom.
International Alert prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from underrepresented people including women, people from the Global South, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, and other historically marginalised people.
While International Alert will endeavour to contact all candidates within a reasonable time, this may not always be possible due to limited resources.Therefore, if you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, you can assume your application has, on this occasion, been unsuccessful.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.