Strategic design lead jobs in Manchester

Context and Background

Our award-winning Creative Team sits within the NSPCC's Communications directorate. We're made up of creatives with design, writing and film production expertise. We create campaign and marketing identities, concepts, and materials, across all channels and for all audiences. We mainly work across three brands -- NSPCC, Childline and NSPCC Learning.

Our team has a broad skillset, covering creative strategy, ideation and delivery. We provide consultancy, art direction, planning, tone of voice guidance and copywriting across print and digital. So whether our colleagues are promoting a fabulous new fundraising event, introducing one of our frontline services, or kickstarting a new national campaign, our team is on hand to offer expertise.

As our new Senior Writer, you'll play a fundamental role in making sure the work we put out is as engaging and impactful as possible to a wide range of audiences.

Job purpose

The Senior Writer will be a highly talented communicator with substantial expertise in creative copywriting, branding and communications, preferably with experience in the charity sector.

You'll work on a wide range of creative briefs that might see you writing copy for print, digital, film, social media or web, based on briefs that come in from teams across the NSPCC. You'll also share your knowledge and expertise through workshops and consultation with internal teams and external agencies.

You’ll work closely with the Head of Creative to drive the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of our marketing and communications, making sure we’re talking to our supporters and the people we help in the most effective way possible. A large part of this is continuing to increase the use of plain English across the organisation.Finally, you will develop and lead strategy relating to copywriting, core messaging and tone of voice for the organisation. And as a senior member of the team, you'll help guide and mentor more junior colleagues.

Key relationships - Internal

• Reports to the Head of Creative.

• Is a key part of the senior Creative team and the wider Brand and Marketing department.

• Works collaboratively with all teams across the organisation to ensure creative excellence and brand integrity.

• Proactively engages with NSPCC colleagues.

Key relationships - External

• Liaises with external professionals e.g. freelance writers, agencies, filmmakers.

• Develops links and shares best practice with peers within the UK charity sector.

• Establishes networks with industry opinion formers, media and other stakeholders.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Develop verbal brand identity – through copywriting, core messaging and tone of voice guidance – across the NSPCC and Childline.

• Work with the senior Creative team to agree and deliver client projects from initial concepts through to the finished product, in line with our department’s annual business plan.

• Explore and develop creative concepts and help push the boundaries of the creative direction and output of the NSPCC, working closely with the Head of Creative and senior team.

• Pitch concepts and finished copy to commissioning teams, in line with brief objectives and the NSPCC brand.

• Make sure creative collateral across NSPCC and Childline marketing and communications is consistent and of a high standard.

• Partner with teams across the charity that create content, offering expert advice and creative solutions relating to brand and tone of voice.• Work effectively with other Communications colleagues to make sure we complete projects on time and in budget.

• Support junior team members, and contribute to the growth and personal development of communications team staff through supervisory, coaching and mentoring activities.

• Identify and provide long-term strategic solutions to the NSPCC’s editorial and copywriting needs, and fulfil them by working with the Head of Creative and senior team.

• Develop high-quality writing standards for the NSPCC, including style guides and training, with a focus on increasing the use of plain English and inclusive language across our work.

Responsibilities for all staff within the Communications directorate

• Actively participate in regular department and team meetings, contributing to strategy discussions and decisions which will benefit the NSPCC’s communications activities.

• Maintain an awareness Health and Safety and comply with the NSPCC’s Health and Safety policy and procedures.

• Take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with the NSPCC’s work to keep children safe.

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

Person specification

1. Substantial experience in a copywriter role in either an agency or in-house team, with demonstrable ability of working across a broad range of briefs.

2. Proven ability to communicate and present confidently and clearly to senior stakeholders and clients.

3. Enthusiastic about embedding EDI principles across all areas of copywriting and in our wider communications work.

4. Experience working with and creating brand guidelines.

5. Experience guiding and mentoring junior team members.

6. In-depth and up-to-date knowledge of current trends and best practise in marketing, advertising and communications.

7. Highly collaborative and focused on creating a collaborative team spirit.8. Solid understanding of copywriting and editorial across environments including social, web, film and online advertising.

9. Ability to manage numerous complex projects for senior stakeholders, working to agreed deadlines often with conflicting priorities.

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.