Salary: £40,127 (+£3,000 London Weighting where applicable)

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, 5 days per week

Contract: Permanent

Based: London / open to other UK locations

Deadline: 9 January 2022 at 23.59

Interview Date: To be confirmed.

CITIZENS UK

Citizens UK is a people power alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good. 

Our mission is to develop leaders, strengthen civic organisations and make change. Our 550 member communities are deeply rooted in their local areas and connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Through the method of community organising we enable people experiencing powerlessness to develop their leadership and come together with the power and strategy to make change. 

This leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to renovated public toilets in cemeteries. And it leads to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as winning over £1.5 billion of wages through the UK Living Wage campaign, securing a legal cap on the cost of credit to control exploitative lending, and ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We enable local campaigns to grow into large-scale social change projects such as the Living Wage Foundation, Parents and Communities Together, and Sponsor Refugees, that form an integral part of our theory of change. The most prominent of these is the rapidly growing Living Wage Foundation with a network of nearly 9,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK. 

PURPOSE

We’re looking for a proactive, courageous and relational Senior Communications Manager to support our communications team in what is set to be an exciting period in our history.

The central communications function is growing as we engage across a range of projects and campaigns engaging with internal and external audiences. We’re looking for someone with a broad range of skills who can support a growing team of communications specialists to deliver on a range of activity including digital engagement, branding, press, marketing and public affairs. The work of the team is fast-paced but committed to the distinctive ethos of Citizens UK – where local leaders and people experiencing injustice are in the lead. For the right candidate, this will be an exciting opportunity to support others through strengthening our ability to tell stories, deliver tactics that support local projects and design strategies that win national campaigns.

Reporting to the Director of Communications, Membership and Campaigns, you will play an integral role in shaping and delivering the communications strategy while ensuring that colleagues develop their capacity and understanding of how communications can support their work. The ideal candidate will be a patient and kind people manager who prioritises supporting the management and personal development of our valued and talented team members. You will also be an outstanding project manager, motivated by changing social injustices with the confidence to test and learn new approaches to how we win campaigns.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Working as the Senior Communications Manager for Citizens UK, your main responsibilities will include:

Situational Awareness and Research:

• Demonstrate ability to influence key audiences.

• Lead the team in identifying research to both better understand relevant audiences and points of leverage, and compelling research capable of influencing audiences.

• Lead the team in conducting regular updates on relevant audiences positions/interests and point of leverage.

Strategy Development:

• Lead on project strategy development in relevant area e.g. digital, campaigns etc. with clear processes for effective evaluation of strategy success.

• Track record of strategy development that achieve comms and business plan objectives.

• Support the development and lead on the implementation of an effective communications strategy, working closely with community organisers, local leaders and project and campaign leads.

• Transform the organisations approach to using our digital communications platforms and digital storytelling capability.

• Support the department director in embedding the renewed identity and messaging across the organisation, helping to tell the story of what CUK does and how it does it

• Lead on internal communications

• Support HR with their recruitment strategy

• Support local leaders and chapters in their communications strategies and tactics

• Build effective relationships across the organisation

• Manage the capacity and workload of the team day-to-day

• Help to shape campaign plans and mobilise the public and our campaign supporters and volunteers

Reputational & Risk Management:

• Supports risk register and provide oversight on risk areas relevant to role, regularly updating as required.

• Communicates risks and processes to mitigate these risks to wider team, incl. expected professional standards.

• Effectively represents the organisation in multiple arenas with senior stakeholders – meetings, media etc.

Materials Development & Dissemination:

• Leads on relevant comms or campaign plan, including resourcing, scheduling and training wider team as appropriate.

• Track record of generating creative ideas and materials to maximise impact and effective supervision and quality control of output.

• A track record of expanding output and impact of materials that meet comms strategy and business plan objectives.

• Take a human-centric approach to designing our content for external audiences and embedding this approach into all communications work

• Support the maintenance of our brand centre and resources for the organisation

• Support colleagues to develop local communications strategies

• Ensure that all materials produced by the team are to a high quality whilst also consulting colleagues on their specific requirements.

• Lead on the co-ordination and production of the Annual Review and Financial Report

• Produce segmentation of key customer/stakeholder groups and identify their needs in order to develop tailored messaging

Digital, social media and website:

• Leads on the development of social plans and op-ed pieces.

• Able to lead the team in the use of SM and website development to increase brand awareness and impact; to maintain a high performing website that facilitates the stakeholder journey and positively reflects the organisation and to conduct training to improve internal capacity among the wider team.

• Grow our capability in new digital tools and approaches to increase our reach and campaign success

• Ensure all content is produced to support accessibility

• Support our fundraising capability through digital platforms

• Oversee our marketing tactics

• Oversee management of our evaluation tools

External Relationships (incl. media and press):

• Develop relationships with senior / influential journalists and editors and senior stakeholders including chapter Leaders, campaigners, and funders

• Proactively provide materials / briefings on key topics to the above audiences.

Campaign and Events Management:

• Identify opportunities, initiate and grows complex campaigns, including planning and organising work effectively, managing and leading work plans, team members and external partners effectively.

• Record and share evidence of significant impact of campaign against KPIs and business plan objectives.

Internal Comms & Knowledge Management:

• Lead on internal knowledge management in specialist area with clear processes and documents to drive best practice amongst wider team.

• Evidence of improved understanding, and use, of comms across the wider team and the organisation.

• Oversee all marketing and communications activity, including brand management, short and long-term marketing plans, online and offline materials, website design, management and content creation, increasing engagement across our social media channels, media opportunities, crisis communications and strategic delivery.

• Analyse all marketing activity (e.g. website visits, bounce rates, email delivery, open and click-through rates, event attendance and feedback) to measure effectiveness and optimise return on investment, delivering against KPIs

• Work with stakeholders to continually test, learn and improve on our communications approaches

• Ensure final output is created in the most appropriate formats

• Maintain a brand centre for photos, video and other digital assets.

• Ensure our work is GDPR-compliant.

• Maintain the Editorial Calendar and forward planning of projects

• Act as a brand ambassador for the whole organisation.

• Work with the Director of CMC to ensure the maintenance of the communications budget.

Internal Relationships:

• Manage and coordinate staff across the organisation, with clear evidence of line report development.

• Develop strong and effective working relationships with colleagues and impact of partnerships in delivering against business plan objectives.

• Line manage team members, ensuring regular 121’s and annual appraisals completed for every team member

• Support the professional development of the team through informal and formal opportunities.

• Support in the recruitment of future team members

• Provide training to key members of staff to upskill colleagues

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION (E=Essential, D=Desirable)

EXPERIENCE:

• Background in communications with at least one specialist discipline in press, digital or campaigns (E)

• Experience working with multiple internal project teams (E)

• Experience leading a team (E)

• Experience of developing creative content campaigns across multiple channels to drive social change (E)

• Experience of working in PR to secure national and local coverage across platforms (E)

• Experience of developing integrated communications campaigns (D)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE:

• A robust understanding of how to build brand recognition through marketing, press and public affairs (E)

• Ability to support others in their influencing strategies (E)

• Ability to manage external agencies and stakeholder engagement (E)

• Strong understanding of integrated campaigning tactics (E)

• Excellent written and communication skills to create compelling, creative and persuasive communications (E)

• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage and take responsibility for own workload, handle multiple priorities and to work independently (E)

• Excellent written and verbal communication and ability to tell stories (E)

• Flexible, adaptable and proactively responsive to change (E)

• Ability to work independently and prioritise effectively (E)

• Excellent time and project management skills (E)

• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines (E)

• A flexible and adaptable approach to work (E)

• A passion for social justice and communities (E)

• Excellent stakeholder management skills (E)

• Comfortable working with diverse people of all backgrounds (E)

• Understanding of digital processes and UX design (D)

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND VALUES:

Self-motivated (E)

Adaptable and innovative (E)

Creative and curious (E)

A willingness to learn about and embed the practice of Community Organising (E)

A strong team player (E)

Relational (E)

Kind (E)

Accountable (E)

Inclusive (E)

The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check.