• Duration: Permanent

• Salary: Circa £125,000 per annum

• Job Level: Executive

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

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

• Reports to: Executive Director/ Chief Executive

• Location: 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ. Hybrid ways of working.

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we pull 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 of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The purpose and strategy of UNICEF UK depend on a productive engagement with many audiences – the UK public, UK-based institutions, media, government and other opinion-formers and decision-makers. That engagement is most effective when we build the cause of children’s rights and UNICEF’s priorities around the world (including in the UK), deliver growing income (particularly a growing proportion of unrestricted income) for UNICEF’s work, and achieve the policies and systems that promote and support the rights of all children.

The Chief Marketing Officer will lead this engagement for UNICEF UK. They will increase engagement in the UK with child rights around the world. They will position us to achieve all aspects of our strategy, growing income from the UK public for UNICEF’s work. And they will position our brand to build income from all channels, maximising our influence on child rights policy, systems, and structures.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The new Chief Marketing Officer will be a values-led leader, personally committed to a better world for every child, and to inclusive ways of working that promote diversity, wellbeing and sustained performance and growing impact. 

You will be one of the key spokespeople for UNICEF UK, representing the organisation proactively with colleagues within UNICEF, stakeholders, supporters, fundraising regulators, and sector colleagues, and with the media as appropriate. You will contribute to the development of UNICEF’s global individual giving, marketing and brand programmes.

You will be a strategic leader, comfortable well beyond your professional background, able to fully engage in all aspects of our strategy in collaboration with colleagues. This will be shown by your assured manner in building senior stakeholder relationships internationally.

What we will expect you to achieve:

As a member of the Executive team and Extended Leadership Group of UNICEF UK, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will role-model our values. You will have responsibility for ensuring UNICEF UK and UNICEF brands are fully embedded through our work internally and externally. You will play a full and constructive role alongside Executive colleagues and the Board of Trustees in developing and achieving our strategy for 2023–2026 and making the next one even more ambitious for children.  You will take on:

• Overall responsibility for UNICEF UK brand, marketing, and communications activities and strategies, in the context of the UNICEF global brand position and the UK context, maximising the opportunity for the delivery of our strategy and the next across all income channels, our influencing for child rights, our impact in the UK and the development of our own organisation; and clearly aligning our brand to key issues of child rights including the decolonisation of aid.

• Delivery of UNICEF UK individual giving income targets and placing UNICEF UK in the strongest position to deliver ambitious growth in income from the UK public into the long term, including growing the proportion of unrestricted income to support UNICEF’s work globally.

• Working to the current news agenda and responding to the external environment and events to maximise integrated communications and marketing campaigns to reach our audiences.

• Delivery of the Soccer Aid for UNICEF event and associated events and campaigns, alongside our joint venture partners, UNICEF UK partnership and philanthropy teams, delivery, and programming partners. They will champion the delivery of the strategy for the event to continue to deliver growing income and impact.

• Development and execution of a clear strategy for data-driven consumer marketing, as our supporters’ engagement shifts radically to digital platforms and away from legacy donation tools. This strategy will drive our overall approach to optimise subscription income and donor retention, as a route to maximising the lifetime value of any given donor relationship, minimising churn, and therefore maximising the percentage of donations that we can utilise for UNICEF programmes.

• Overall responsibility for safeguarding the reputation of UNICEF UK, protecting the brand, and overseeing crisis communications management.

• Clear, thoughtful, and ambitious approaches to the use of digital and technology assets for UNICEF UK key engagements across all engagement with supporters and potential supporters – including digital assets, dynamic content optimisation and an evolving but always responsible approach to AI implementation.

• Grow share of voice on key child rights and fundraising campaigns with a focused approach to ensure that UNICEF is associated with children and is seen as the leading children’s charity.

• 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 creating a better world for every child.  Ensures that this commitment is at the heart of our fundraising activity and reflected in an engaging way in our communications.

Leadership

• Works effectively across an organisation in a senior capacity, contributing to the wider vision and strategy.

• Employs strategic, analytical, and conceptual thinking skills to provide strong, future focused, strategic leadership for UNICEF UK and for their directorate.

• Empowers and develops others by setting clear outcomes and expectations and areas of responsibility.

• Inspires great team-work and cross organisational collaboration, encouraging positive working relationships and removing barriers to effective collaboration.

• Plans and actively leads change, communicating, listening, and engaging with colleagues at all stages. 

• Able to make and communicate unpopular decisions.

• Promotes confident discussion of failure and constructive challenge to enhance innovation/learning.

Collaboration and Positive relationships

• Works collectively with the other members of the Executive team to lead and inspire UNICEF UK’s ambition, innovation, and creativity, and to champion a positive, empowering culture, which can deliver the best results for children.

• Values and diversity, respecting and drawing on colleagues’ different perspectives, skills, experience, and knowledge. Prioritises knowledge and skills over status to make the best use of talent and promote involvement at all levels.

• Nurtures successful professional relationships with colleagues at all levels and with external contacts and partners to support UNICEF UK’s mission and vision.

• Reflects on own thoughts, feelings and actions and is aware of own impact on relationships.

Communication

• Conveys complex ideas using a variety of methods to engage the audience they have. Adapts their communication style, delivery, and tools to win understanding and support.

• Presents complex and difficult messages clearly because of a clear understanding of the specific audience needs.

Results focused

• Anticipates challenges that could impact UNICEF UK’s work and guides directorate to adapt approach accordingly.

• Promotes a results-focused culture, engaging and guiding and inspiring others to achieve ambitious goals.

• Prioritises and sustains focus on work that will have the greatest impact for children. Empowers teams to looks outside traditional channels to identify new sources of innovation, anticipating, embracing, and managing risk to minimise their impact.

Relevant experience

• A record of leadership and commercial and/or fundraising achievement in a successful marketing and influencing role as a member of an executive team, ideally reporting to a volunteer Board of Trustees.

• Demonstrable experience of success from a brand in a fast-moving sector, and demonstrable leadership in the digital space.

• A record of leading continuous growth and building high performing teams in a strongly purpose-driven environment.

• Proven experience of developing an integrated communication strategy that support the whole organisation’s aims and maximise the share of voice on key issues.

• Demonstrable experience of leading crisis communications and reputational risk management, and effective decision making.

Specific knowledge and skills

• Clear appreciation of and understanding of delivering impact in a UK-based international NGO and within the United Nations / UNICEF or similar ecosystem. They will show ability and willingness to bring best-in-class, market and audience-facing delivery and performance.

• Thoughtful, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic in the technology and digital space where the success of our public engagement, marketing and fundraising will be achieved.

• Evidence of commercial acumen through the understanding of key financial metrics required to support fundraising campaigns and a track record of improving performance against such metrics over time.