Communications, Marketing and Engagement

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager will work closely with the CEO, Extended Leadership Team and other staff to tell the story of what we do and the impact we have, and play a key role in the next phase of our growth and development. 

They will take particular responsibility for: 

• The development and delivery of a multi-channel communications, marketing and engagement strategy which supports our mission, enables growth, and enhances our presence and influence in the sector and beyond 

• Leading proactive and reactive  communications and marketing including website, video, social media and publications 

• Ensuring we have a systematic, successful and sustained approach to public relations and the media and stakeholder engagement, which delivers our commitment to ‘courageous leadership’ on issues relating to school and trust improvement, and reducing educational disadvantage

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager will have the following key areas of responsibility and will be expected to undertake other responsibilities as requested, which are commensurate with the role: 

Strategic leadership and management 

• Work with the CEO and Extended Leadership Team to ensure our communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement strategy supports our mission and organisational strategy 

• Line manage and develop our Communications and Marketing Executive

• Lead training, development and guidelines that enable all staff across the organisation to support our communications, marketing and engagement efforts

• Provide advice and guidance to colleagues to ensure consistent high quality and clarity of messaging in all of our communications

• Develop and maintain effective relationships with peers at key organisations in the sector and beyond 

Communications, marketing and engagement strategy 

• Develop a communications, marketing and engagement strategy to further build trust and awareness of the Challenge Partners brand, thus providing a strong platform for accelerated growth in our network, and influence in the sector and beyond 

• Develop a costed implementation plan, providing clarity on the role colleagues in the central team and across the partnership will play in realising the strategy 

• Update performance indicators and quality assurance measures to monitor the impact of the strategy and drive continuous improvement 

Communications and marketing delivery 

• Lead implementation of the communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement strategy, taking personal responsibility for delivering key aspects of it 

• Further refine our core narrative, so that we are able to describe crisply who we are, what we do and the impact it has 

• Oversee the re-development of the Challenge Partners website so that it serves our needs as an organisation, helping those viewing it for the first time to understand what we offer, and supporting our existing partners to get best use of the resources on offer 

• Produce high quality content, publications and materials, including our annual impact report, trustees’ report, marketing assets and digital content 

• Maintain a consistent identity and high standards of graphic design and house editorial style for all materials produced for Challenge Partners 

• Oversee the digital marketing campaigns and social media activities of  the Marketing and Communications Executive

Stakeholder engagement delivery

• Work with the CEO and Executive Directors to map our stakeholders and devise a plan for developing and maintaining positive relationships with them, considering the role to be played by Trustees, the central team, Senior Partners and others in our partnership 

• Support teams across Challenge Partners with stakeholder and partner engagement strategies through a range of channels including direct mail, email campaigns, social media, events and newsletters 

Conferences and events 

• Set and deliver the marketing and PR strategy for events and conferences,  ensuring that these events are widely known, well-attended and attract appropriate PR and publicity from relevant sources 

In addition to the skills and experience required to fulfill this role, we are looking for someone aligned to our mission and values (as available on our website), ambitious for Challenge Partners and the schools, trusts and young people we serve. The ability to move seamlessly between strategy development, project management and operational delivery, as well as collaboration with colleagues and practitioners is essential - we are a small team and everyone is expected to get stuck in! A good understanding and/or experience of working with/within the English education system would be an advantage - if you do not have this yet, you will need to set out what you will do to gain this understanding.

About Challenge Partners 

Who we are: Challenge Partners is a practitioner-led education charity and our mission is to enable collaboration between schools to enhance the life chances of all children, especially the most disadvantaged. 

How we do it: The Challenge Partners central team works closely with school leaders and other education professionals to facilitate a variety of programmes and networks for schools in our partnership. We ensure the knowledge and skills of the best in our network are available to everyone, reducing the variability in education provision whilst improving the performance of all schools, leaders, and pupils in the partnership. 

Our team: There are currently around 25 people in our growing team. We are dedicated to working hard for our schools whilst enjoying what we do and who we work with. You will be working in a friendly and dynamic group with backgrounds in education, the wider social enterprise and charity sector, and the corporate world. The majority of roles are school-facing, and team members work closely with leaders in our schools to generate and refine ideas and create maximum value for the network. 

Our recruitment: We are recruiting for this position on an ongoing basis, and will close the recruitment period when the right candidate is found. Please submit your application as soon as possible.

Challenge Partners is an equal opportunity employer. People with lived experience of poverty, from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ individuals and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. We welcome evidence of experience from both work and non-work settings, such as volunteering.

Applications are welcomed from individuals who would like to work full-time, part-time, job-share, flexibly or on secondment and we will explore through the recruitment process how such arrangements could work.

We endeavour to provide a response to your application within 2 weeks of the closing date, and finalise interview arrangements for the two weeks after that. 

Benefits of working for Challenge Partners 

• 25 days of paid holiday per year 

• An employer contributed pension - matched up to 5% of your own contribution

• Private health insurance 

• Flexible working hours

• Blended working - we are trialing and refining our approach to blended working, and require all staff to attend our office in South Bermondsey each week. The Communications and Engagement Manager will, in addition, be expected to attend events and visits taking place predominantly in London and across England

• A collaborative and friendly team 

• A chance to make a real difference to educational outcomes