• Duration: Fixed term (EML Cover)

• Salary: Circa £49,000 per annum

• Job Level: Level 3

• Hours: 35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered

• Disclosure Level: Basic. This role involves no direct work with children

• Reports to: Head of Soccer Aid for UNICEF

• Location: Working from home and at 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we work together to achieve the best possible results for children around the world.  We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children. 

Our work is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Soccer Aid Team is a project team that brings together key specialisms from across the organisation to deliver Soccer Aid for UNICEF. The multi-functional team works with departments across UNICEF UK and stakeholders at ITV, Initial and Soccer Aid Productions* to deliver UNICEF UK’s biggest broadcasted fundraising event to create a better world for every child.

*UNICEF UK has partnered with Triple S Sports and Entertainment Group to create Soccer Aid Productions Ltd (SAP Ltd) to deliver the commercial elements of the campaign.

ABOUT SOCCER AID FOR UNICEF

Soccer Aid for UNICEF brings together two teams of celebrities and football legends from England and the World XI for the biggest celebrity football match in the calendar, broadcast live on ITV. The event started in 2006 taking place every two years and since 2018 has taken place annually. Since its inception, Soccer Aid for UNICEF has raised more than £121 million for UNICEF UK, helping to protect the right to play for every child.

2026 marks the 20th anniversary of Soccer Aid for UNICEF and the team has ambitious plans to mark this milestone, which this role will be pivotal in delivering.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Content Manager will provide strategic oversight and comprehensive support to the Soccer Aid for UNICEF multi-functional delivery team. This role is critical in ensuring a cohesive brand and unified voice across all channels, delivering audience-centric content that aligns with the key objectives of increasing ticket sales, fundraising, and enhancing viewership.

This role is ideal for a strategic thinker and proactive creative leader who is passionate about creating impactful content that drives engagement and supports the overarching goals of the Soccer Aid for UNICEF campaign.

To support on the delivery the campaign, the postholder will recruit and manage a Content Manager and Marketing Manager, who will join the team on fixed-term contracts from approximately January to July.

What we will expect you to achieve

• Lead the implementation of the Soccer Aid for UNICEF cause content strategy, focusing on fundraising initiatives and promoting UNICEF's work for children. Ensure that all content aligns with overarching campaign objectives and resonates with target audiences. Embedding consistent messaging and branding across all platforms, fostering a unified voice that supports the campaign’s objectives.

• Lead on the creation of engaging and audience-led content that effectively communicates the campaign's messages.

• Lead the implementation of Soccer Aid for UNICEF brand guidelines and tone of voice - including a new cause narrative and logo for 2026 - ensuring all content adheres to UNICEF UK guidelines.

• Collaborate with internal and external teams to ensure content is planned effectively, and is  strategically integrated and amplified across various channels.

• Developing project management best practices, tools, and documents, in collaboration with the Creative Team’s Traffic Manager and Workstream leads, to streamline creative processes across multiple teams. Ensure efficient workflow and timely delivery of content outputs, adhering to project timelines and quality standards.

• Effectively prioritise deliverables and refine content briefs to balance multiple deadlines. Adapt strategies and workflows to accommodate shifting priorities and ensure successful project outcomes

• Lead on the cause content sign-off process, ensuring these are fit for purpose and efficiently applied across teams. Establish a solution-focused and constructive challenge approach to enable teams to deliver the best possible outputs.

•  Recruit and manage a Content Manager and Marketing Manager. Provide leadership and mentorship to these roles, fostering a collaborative and high-performing team environment.

•  Collaborate with the workstream leads to capture post-campaign insights and ensure that recommendations are implemented to enhance future campaigns.

• Demonstrate and model a commitment to our shared values, behaviours and inclusive practices (known as Our Shared Commitment) in all aspects of your work.

BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

This section contains the essential behaviours, experience, knowledge and skills needed in order to be effective and successful in this role. All criteria in this section are essential.

Effective behaviours

Supporter driven and mission aligned

• Is committed to children and their rights and motivated to work towards achieving a better world for every child. 

• Raising children’s voices and their representation through the work.

• Take a supporter-centred approach to storytelling, identifying ways to deepena supporter’s relationship with UNICEF through creative content, whilst achieving the campaign objectives.

Collaboration

• Consults others and shares expertise, know-how and ideas with colleagues for best results

• Values diversity, respecting and drawing on colleagues’ different perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge

Creating and innovating

• Contributes ideas, approaches and insights that enable innovation

• Scans the external environment for trends, insights, ideas and best practice that could benefit UNICEF UK’s work

• Empowers people to innovate and welcomes new ideas that are focused on the delivery of strategic priorities

• Approach problem-solving creatively; bring ideas from outside to help achieve our vision; challenge established processes; demonstrates flexibility and adaptability to working in new scenarios.

Communication

• Conveys complex ideas using a variety of methods to engage an audience and win understanding and support

• Anticipates and responds to the needs of an audience, adapting content, style, language and use of channel to deliver maximum clarity.

• Presents complex and difficult messages clearly and with impact

Results focused

• Prioritises and sustains focus on work that will have the greatest impact on agreed aims

• Reviews results and extracts learning to optimise future performance

• Anticipates internal/external challenges that could impact UNICEF UK’s work and adapts approach accordingly

Efficiency and effectiveness

• Manage conflicting priorities to ensure that objectives are achieved, and deadlines met.

• Responds flexibly to unforeseen events such as emergency responses to ensure that effectiveness is not compromised

• Suggests simplifications to overly complex ways of working to improve results

• Able to work calmly and effectively in a busy, deadline-driven environment and to perform to a high standard under pressure

• Confident decision-maker who is able to use initiative to work both independently and collaboratively to meet deadlines and produce results

Relevant experience

• Experienced in content strategy development and management.

• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with an emphasis on maintaining a consistent and unified brand voice.

• Experience of developing creative briefs and working within brand guidelines to produce high quality creative content. Working with internal and external creatives to deliver on briefs.

• Evidence of excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to proactively organise and influence teams, and build strong and effective working relationships.

• Leadership experience in managing teams and driving creative initiatives.

Specific knowledge and skills

• Knowledge of digital marketing, fundraising strategies and brand management.

• Strong project management skills, including workflow tools such as Asana, with the ability to lead complex projects across diverse teams.

• Ability to manage and filter workflow, as well as organise and prioritise workloads to maximise productivity.

• Highly creative with the ability to generate ideas and practically contribute to creative outputs.

• Excellent written English, with a high level of attention to detail when it comes to grammar, punctuation and the written word in general.