About Social Finance

We are an ambitious not for profit organisation that helps to design, fund and scale better solutions to complex social problems. Our vision is a fairer world where together we unleash the potential of people and communities. We do this by working in partnership with local and national governments, funders, communities and the social sector to tackle complex and enduring social problems in the UK and across the world.

Our skills include financial analysis, data and digital insight, outcomes-focused partnerships, strategy, research and design. We combine these specialisms in different ways to address specific social challenges. We create effective solutions that blend the expertise of communities and professionals to deliver better outcomes in issues such as homelessness, domestic abuse, children’s services, health, employment and skills.

Ready to make your own impact on these issues? Then come and join us.

Our multi-skilled team of over 120 people come from diverse backgrounds in the public, private and charity sectors, all sharing a passion for making change happen. We provide a high-quality training and development programme in-house with great opportunities for career progression. We’re a friendly and intellectually curious bunch, always up for a debate. Read more about what it’s like to work here.

The Role 

Reporting to the Director responsible for Strategic Communications, the purpose of this role is to support the planning, execution and leadership of all strategic communications activities including, but not limited to public relations, marketing, events, digital content, and internal and external communications. 

The objective of the role is to ensure that we are communicating the best message, through the most appropriate channels, to the right people, at the right time, using clear organisational objectives and feedback to stay focused on company goals. 

Our strategic communications function is critical for driving our brand recognition and supporting our business development in the UK and globally. It also plays an important role in amplifying the social impact of our work through thought leadership and policy influencing and, in some cases, is an important component of client projects. 

In this role, you will work closely with colleagues across Social Finance, building successful and effective relationships to ensure that communications are appropriately informed and aligned with organisational priorities, team and project needs.  

Key Responsibilities 

• Work with the Director responsible for Strategic Communications, and other members of the senior team, to develop and manage a strategic communications plan to promote the Social Finance brand, support business development and amplify the social impact of our work to UK and global audiences. 

• Support colleagues across Social Finance, as required, to develop and deliver team, impact strategy and project-level communications strategies, aligned with the strategic communications plan. To include advising on the development and promotion of publications, digital content, events, press releases, PR, recruitment materials, and other internal and external communications materials, and approvals to ensure alignment with our organisational priorities and brand identity. 

• Support and manage more junior staff to develop, manage, and monitor engagement with our corporate website, newsletters, social and earned media, ensuring that our brand identity is creatively and consistently applied, content is accessible and informed by user needs, search engine optimisation is considered, and a range of content formats is supported. 

• Support and manage more junior staff to promote and deliver online, hybrid and in person events in support of our strategic communications objectives, including sourcing and booking venues, managing third party relationships, ensuring appropriate catering and facilities, and the delivery of events to time and to budget. To include partnership working with the business support team to deliver internal events where required. 

• Support teams to secure opportunities for media coverage and event participation. 

• Maintain and improve our branded templates, maintain and monitor our communications risk register, and support the Director responsible for Strategic Communications and senior team around crisis communications as required. 

• Work with and manage third party suppliers, including agencies for digital design and build, CMS, freelance content production, publication design, public relations, and media monitoring as required.  

• Monitor the impact of our strategic communications activities against organisation, team and project-level objectives. 

• Monitor and manage the Strategic Communications budget including communications team time and third party costs. 

Skills & Experience 

Essential 

• Commitment to Social Finance’s vision and values. 

• Experience of developing communication strategies, including social, web and print, and managing related projects from planning, through to delivery and evaluation, including with external partners.  

• Strong media contacts and experience of establishing and managing effective relationships with external and internal stakeholders, including at senior levels. 

• Excellent organisational skills with a proven ability to handle multiple simultaneous projects in a demanding work environment. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to support colleagues across the business to tell stories about our work in a clear and compelling way, tailored to the audience, using a range of formats (e.g. articles, social media posts, webpages, etc.), and to secure and support earned media coverage as required.  

• Track record of delivering high quality communications outputs and events through peers, junior team members and third party contractors. 

• Experience of designing metrics for monitoring and evaluating communications activity and delivering insights from them. 

• Strong teamwork ethos and a willingness to be hands on, working in a small communications team and with colleagues across our business teams. 

• Excellent standards of accuracy, consistency and attention to detail. 

• Good IT literacy (particularly Outlook, Word, Excel & PowerPoint). 

• Good quantitative analytics and budget management skills. 

Desirable 

• Excellent knowledge of social media and web presence management. 

• Experience of commissioning and / or producing content in a range of media and formats, including infographics, blogs, videos and podcasts, in addition to longer written content. 

• Experience with MailChimp, digital publishing and asset management systems (e.g. CMS). 

Working at Social Finance

Working for a mission driven organisation is more than just what we pay though, it’s about our culture, our approach and what else we offer. Read more about working at Social Finance here.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We actively encourage applications from under-represented and minoritised groups, including those with lived experience of the social issues we are working to address. We are an equal opportunities employer.

We support a range of flexible working options and welcome UK based applications from outside of London/the Southeast so far as they can meet the in-person meeting requirements for the role. We can also accommodate secondments and part-time working. Read more about our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion here.

We work on some projects where our clients may require different levels of DBS checking for our employees. Candidates deemed suitable for a role after interview will be asked to declare any unspent convictions to ensure that we are able to resource them to projects appropriately.

We will be aiming to conduct initial telephone interviews week commencing 25 March 2024, with case study interviews for shortlisted candidates week commencing 8 April 2024.