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 £2 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 (PACT), Sponsor Refugees, and Refugees for Justice, 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 over 13,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK. 

Living Wage Foundation 

The Living Wage Foundation was launched in 2011 by Citizens UK to tackle in-work poverty and ensure that workers earn enough to live on and participate in family and community life. Citizens UK is the home of community organising with diverse civil society alliances set up to develop leaders to work on the issues that matter to them, such as the Living Wage. Other projects include PACT (Parents and the Community Together) and Sponsor Refugees to add depth to the impact of Citizens UK’s work. 

The Living Wage is a movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The real Living Wage is an independently-calculated hourly rate based on the cost of living and announced each November during Living Wage Week, our annual celebration of a growing network of 13,000 Living Wage Employers. 

The Living Wage Foundation (LWF) celebrates employers that voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage through an accreditation scheme that recognises a long-term commitment to fair pay and has secured pay rises for over 400,000 low paid workers. 

Purpose 

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Media Manager to join our team. We are looking for an exceptionally motivated and organised individual who enjoys working in a fast-paced, high-profile communications environment. The role will support the objectives of the Living Wage Foundation by communicating our work to a wide range of audiences including the media, our network, senior business leaders and politicians.   

The post-holder will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day running of our press office, developing strong relationships with key media and press contacts, creating and maintaining a database of important publications and media contacts. They will be responsible for developing and implementing a pro-active, creative and effective media strategy to support our work, raise awareness and understanding amongst key audiences and support key campaigns e.g. Living Wage week.   

Reporting to the Senior Communications and Media Manager, you’ll be an integral part of our growing communications team, working with us to develop compelling communications to help us achieve our strategic aims.  The post-holder will also line manage a Communications Officer.   

Main Responsibilities 

The role reports into the Senior Communications and Media Manager. You will line manage the Communications Officer. Your main responsibilities will include. 

Media monitoring 

• Monitoring the national and business news agenda closely to proactively spot opportunities for the Living Wage Foundation to maximise media coverage  

• Researching, developing and maintaining an up-to-date press database, mapping key contacts and publications against the Living Wage Foundation’s objectives   

Press and communications materials 

• Writing compelling press releases, blogs and opinion editorials to promote the Living Wage Foundation’s work.   

• Creating media outputs and communications that are consistent with our core values and principles   

• Working with the Senior Media Manager to develop key messages and distribute engaging press releases, statements, opinion pieces, articles and briefings   

 Strategy development 

• Helping to develop and deliver the Living Wage Foundation media relations strategy, developing relationships with journalists, training staff and delivering successful media interventions   

• Working with the media relations team to ensure that our media strategy aligns with our broader business plan objectives 

Reputational and risk management 

• Managing all Living Wage Foundation press queries and provide timely reactions to news stories  

• Participating in the out-of-hours press duty rota   

• Supporting our work to maintain cross-party support for the Living Wage 

• Regularly monitoring and evaluating our press activity, adapting it in line with our key strategic objectives   

Relationship management 

• Developing and maintaining close working relationships with journalists across print, digital and broadcast media  

• Line managing one communications officer and supporting more junior members of the team to develop 

Spokesperson development 

• Organising and manage interview opportunities for case studies, staff and key charity spokespeople  

• Organising and leading our worker and employer media training; ensure that we are supporting those within our network and affected by low pay to authentically tell their story / advocate for a real Living Wage in the media  

• Overseeing our spokesperson development work, building contacts at key Living Wage Employers and developing media training materials  

• Co-ordinating interviews and support spokespeople, including preparing briefings to ensure spokespeople are well prepared and sticking to key messages   

• Developing and delivering training and briefings for the Living Wage team – helping to develop the skillset and confidence of programme staff   

Social Media and Website 

• Working with the wider communications team to ensure all comms activity is aligned across media and digital   

• Ensuring that the news page of the website is up to date   

Person Specification 

EXPERIENCE 

• Experience working in a busy, high-pressure press office, marketing/public relations agency or in-house (E)

• Strong personal contacts with journalists, PR and marketing professionals (D)

• Strong journalistic skills of identifying and shaping key media lines (E)

• Strong ability to pitch stories to key external contacts and senior media professionals (E)

• A track record of success in obtaining media coverage across national, broadcast, regional, trade and consumer media (E)

• Demonstrable experience of seizing reactive press opportunities (E)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE 

• Outstanding ability to pitch stories to key external contacts and senior media professionals (E)

• Ability to grasp new, complex information quickly and distil into news content for a generalist audience (E)

• Excellent writing skills – including writing compelling press releases, features and comment pieces (E)

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

• Strong understanding of integrated campaigning tactics (D)

• A passion for social justice and communities (E)

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

• Inclusive  (E)

• Self-motivated (E)

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND VALUES 

• 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)

• Accountable (E)

• Relational (E)

• Kind (E)

Interviews will take place on 4th October.