Senior regional press campaigns officer jobs in Westminster, greater london
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Help us achieve our vision that fewer people die by suicide.
We’re looking for a Social Media Manager to join the team for 12 months, covering maternity leave. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the social media presence for Samaritans.
You’ll lead a dynamic team in delivering impactful social media strategies across multiple channels. As part of the External Engagement team, you'll play a crucial role in shaping our online presence and driving connections with our audiences.
If you’re an experienced Social Media Manager, who is passionate about meaningful online engagement, then we’d love to hear from you.
Contract terms:
- £42,000 - £45,000 per annum, plus benefits
- £1,500 per year additional ‘on call’ allowance
- 12-month fixed term contract
- 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
- 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
What you'll be doing:
- Provide empathetic leadership and mentorship to our social media team, fostering a culture of excellence and growth.
- Collaborate closely with stakeholders across various departments to ensure our social media approach is informed by evidence and tailored to our audience's needs.
- Lead strategic planning and editorial decision-making to maintain the integrity of Samaritans' messaging across social platforms.
- Champion social media literacy across the organisation, providing training and support to empower colleagues at all levels.
- Take ownership of Samaritans' social media reputation, managing crisis situations and mitigating reputational risks.
- Maintain positive relationships with external agencies to deliver social media moderation.
What you’ll bring:
- Experience of line managing a team with compassion and empowering them to deliver their best work. Ideally experience of supporting staff who may often be dealing with sensitive and triggering issues.
- Great stakeholder management skills and a proven ability to inspire, influence, and collaborate effectively at all levels of an organisation.
- Good prioritisation skills to enable you to manage a range of competing projects.
- Understanding of how to develop a channel specific social media content and engagement strategy that meets organisational strategic objectives.
- Specialist knowledge of latest trends in social media tactics, strategies and platforms.
- Track record in driving successful and strategic social media content, campaigns and community management.
- Social media crisis management experience and proven ability to lead and advise senior leaders on approach for social media.
- In-depth knowledge of safeguarding vulnerable people via social media.
- Experience of delivering EDI commitment within social media context.
- Experience working in the charity sector or not for profit sector.
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 upload your CV and a cover letter outlining your motivations for applying and your relevant experience. If you require adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know.
Applications close: 09:00am on Monday 27th July 2026
Interviews: w/c 3rd August
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.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
We prevent suicide through the power of human connection. Connecting people in crisis with trained volunteers who will always listen.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Do you have demonstrable experience of working in a high-performing, busy press office, operating at pace to respond to news and media enquiries while managing competing deadlines? Are you an advanced communicator with the skills to manage a team and build stakeholder relationships effectively?
We are recruiting for a Media Manager to join on a full-time basis, working 35 hours per week, on a permanent contract. This is a home-based role, with occasional travel required for in-person team meetings and events.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced communications professional to join our award-winning and ambitious National Media Team, to build on our success so far in making dementia a priority.
As Media Manager you will help deliver some of the biggest moments in Alzheimer’s Society’s calendar, working closely with large parts of the organisation, including our regional, celebrity, social media and research communications colleagues, to inform, inspire and engage our audiences.
You will line manage and support a Media Officer to deliver high quality and impactful national media coverage aligned to organisational priorities. You will take a leading role in devising, delivering and evaluating integrated national media plans that support Alzheimer’s Society priorities and campaigns, in addition to producing high standard media materials, including press releases, pitches, key messages, spokesperson briefings, and photography and video briefs.
Interviews for this role have been provisionally scheduled to take place via MS Teams during the week beginning Monday 10th August.
About you
Joining us, you’ll have demonstrable experience of working in a high-performing, busy press office, operating at pace to respond to news and media enquiries while managing competing deadlines. You’ll have the ability to engage media effectively and build relationships with journalists, possessing established contacts within the media industry.
You’ll also have a proven track record of securing impactful national media coverage, with a good understanding of news values and what drives coverage with advanced writing and verbal communication skills.
Crucially for this role, you’ll have the necessary interpersonal and relationship-building skills to both line manage effectively and influence a variety of stakeholders. You’ll also have the ability to manage projects with good organisational skills and the attention to detail required for you to meet deadlines reliably in time-sensitive situations.
What you’ll focus on:
- Showing bravery and creativity, taking a leading role in devising, delivering and evaluating integrated national media plans that support Alzheimer’s Society priorities and campaigns.
- Providing day-to-day account management of key media campaigns and key areas e.g. services, fundraising, research and influencing, assigned by Senior Media Manager.
- Line managing a Media Officer to deliver high quality and impactful national media coverage aligned to organisational priorities.
- Producing high standard media materials, including press releases, pitches, key messages, spokesperson briefings, and photography and video briefs.
- Providing an effective, professional press office service, by taking part in a reactive press office rota and an out-of-hours rota.
- Work with internal subject-expert teams to analyse and translate complex data, information or issues, to inform media statements, press releases and briefings.
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Salary: £62,415 - £64,058 (if UK based) / Competitive Birches rated salary for the
local market if based outside of the UK
Location - London, United Kingdom or the following Start Network countries of operation: DRC · Pakistan · India · Somalia · · South Sudan · Philippines · Kenya · Bangladesh
Team - Communications
Line Manager - Director of Impact and Change
Line Reports - Manage the Communications team, including line management of, Communications Manager and Digital Communications Manager.
Hours - 35 hours per week
Contract - Permanent
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Head of Communications is a senior role responsible for shaping and delivering Start Network’s communications strategy—externally and internally—to strengthen organisational influence, impact and coherence across all audiences. The role provides leadership to a global hybrid and remote working communications team, including direct line management responsibilities.
The role is responsible for ensuring an integrated, audience-led approach to communications that effectively engages key stakeholders and advances organisational priorities. The role will also oversee the delivery of key publications and act as our brand champion, ensuring that our outputs, messaging and communications are consistently on-brand, clear, compelling and aligned with our values and strategic objectives.
As part of the Impact and Change Directorate, the role will work with colleagues across Policy, Advocacy and External Affairs, Evidence and Learning, and Systems Innovation and Change in positioning Start Network as a leading agent of change, translating evidence and learning into compelling communications that influence policy, practice and funding across the humanitarian system.
The role plays a critical part in strengthening Start Network’s profile, influence and thought leadership across the global humanitarian system.
WHAT IS START NETWORK?
Our purpose is to be a catalyst for system-level change that improves the efficiency, effectiveness and ethics of humanitarian action. We do this by working as a network to develop, test & spread new ways of collaborating and resourcing locally-led crisis response and anticipation.
Our current membership is made up of nearly 145 local, national and international NGOs based all around the world. We also support 10 national and regional hubs made up of civil society organisations and NGOs as our vehicle for devolving power, resources and accountability.
OUR VALUES
WE PUT PEOPLE FIRST: Communities come first in our decision-making and programming.
WE ARE BRAVE: We have great ambition and are willing to explore new things and take risks to achieve it
WE OPERATE COLLECTIVELY: We leverage the value of working as a network, sharing risk and resources, and learning together.
WE ARE INCLUSIVE: We see the value in diverse perspectives and work to remove the barriers that prevent voices from being heard.
WE ARE OPEN: We work transparently and with integrity, building mutual trust in all levels of our work, from governance to programming.
WE ARE ETHICAL: We behave and operate based on key principles of anti-racism, non-discrimination, and anti-colonialism. This is a work in progress.
OUR OFFER TO YOU
- Being a part of a network involved in bringing change to the humanitarian sector.
- Hybrid working with options to work from home and remotely to support your work/life balance
- Employee Assistance Programme through Smart Health (depends on the country based)
- Family friendly policies, e.g., flexible working, maternity policy, parental leave and more!
- 25 days’ holiday (if UK based) plus 2 company days over the End of Year period for all staff (depends on the country based)
INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES
Our roles are open to discussion about flexible working. For part-time working and job-shares, please get in touch with us before putting in an application.
Start Network is committed to protecting people, particularly children, at-risk adults and affected populations from any harm. We are also committed to safeguarding staff from any forms of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse of power as outlined in the Dignity at Work policy. Start Network embraces diversity, promotes equality of opportunity and eliminates unlawful discrimination. We are an equal opportunities employer and treat every application on merit alone. We particularly encourage applications from disabled, BAME, LGBTQ+ and non-binary candidates. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet our essential selection criteria set out in the Person Profile.
APPLICATION
Please contact the People and Culture Team if you have any questions or need support with your application.
We use Recruitment+ IRIS Cascade as our online recruitment platform. Recruitment+ IRIS Cascade allows you to demonstrate your skills and abilities through blind-review by our team to reduce bias.
Closing date: 26th July 2026
Date for 1st Interview: 18th August (Subject to change)
Date for 2nd Interview: 25th August (Subject to change)
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications and we may review candidates on an ongoing basis, so please apply early where possible to avoid disappointment.
Any offer of employment will be conditional subject to relevant checks. Please refer to our privacy candidate privacy notice regarding treatment of your data. Start Network also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. The core of the scheme is that participating organisations share information about safeguarding-related misconduct (i.e., sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment) that a candidate has been found to have committed during employment, or incidents under investigation when the candidate left employment. For more information regarding this scheme, please visit their website.
The Company
Start Network is made up of more than 90 non-governmental organisations across five continents, ranging from large international organisations to local and national NGOs. Our programmes allow members to deliver humanitarian action around the world.
Our mission is to create a new era of humanitarian action that will save even more lives. We aren’t driven by media headlines or political will, we’re here for the communities affected by and at risk of crises.
We are an organisation committed to doing things differently. For some roles, we need more technical humanitarian expertise, but for other roles, we are looking for relevant transferable skills, the right attitude, and a passion to bring change.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.