Media Manager 

Hours: Full-time, flexible 

Salary: £33, 935 (+ £3,000 per annum London Weighting) 

Contract: Permanent

Based: London / open to home-based from other locations with some travel to London   

Deadline: 5 Septebmer 2022, 9am

Interview Date; 12 Septeber 2022 (Provisional) 

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 over 10,000 Living Wage Employers.     
  
The Living Wage Foundation 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 340,000 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 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 manage, support and develop a Communications Officer.  

The successful candidate will have: 

• Excellent written and communication skills, with experience in drafting press releases, blogs, op-eds and formulating powerful key messages  

• Experience in developing and leading media campaigns to drive social change 

• Have a passion for developing more junior members of the team and embody our values of kindness and integrity  

• Demonstrable experience in pitching news and feature stories to editors and collaborating with the media to tell stories  

• The ability to work within a team and manage others 

• Strong analytical and evaluation skills  

• Excellent organisational skills; the ability to work under pressure and manage a busy workload  

• Experience working in PR to secure national and local coverage  

• Ability to write strategic media plans  

• Excellent stakeholder mapping skills  

• Experience in using contact/journalist databases e.g. Vuelio, Kantar or Roxhill 

• A commitment to the Living Wage campaign and the values of Citizens UK  

Main Responsibilities 

Working as the Media Manager at the Living Wage Foundation, your main responsibilities will include:  

Situational Awareness and Research  

• Research, develop and maintain a press database, mapping key contacts and publications against the Living Wage Foundation’s objectives  

• Work with the Research Manager and Senior Media Manager to commission or shape research that helps us reach our target audiences  

Strategy Development  

• Support the development and lead the implementation of effective media strategies, working closely with the Senior Media Manager and Communications Officers  

• Lead on all outputs for key announcements, campaign moments and report launches, ensuring we reach desired audiences  

• Build effective relationships across the organisations, supporting the Living Wage team to better understand how the media works   

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

• Monitor and evaluate media campaigns  

  Media  

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

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

• Ensure that media and communications messages are consistent with our core values and principles  

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

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

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

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

• Set up media interviews and support spokespeople, including preparing briefings to ensure spokespeople are well prepared and sticking to key messages   

External Relationships 

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

• Develop and maintain close working relationships with journalists across print, digital and broadcast media 

• Work with external agencies to host worker media training and develop our Leadership Academy network  

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

Campaigns and Events Management  

• Manage and deliver proactive media coverage on key strategic campaigns and initiatives, including Living Wage Week  

• Work closely with colleagues across the organisation to provide media support for relevant Living Wage campaigns and actions 

Internal Communications and Management  

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

• Support the accreditation team and scheme leads with their press outreach  

• Regularly monitor and evaluate our press activity, adapting it in line with our key strategic objectives   

Internal Relationships  

• Build relationships with key spokespeople across the Living Wage Network 

• Organise and deliver media briefings to spokespeople in the Living Wage team and wider network  

• Ensure the work produced by the Living Wage Foundation communications team is high quality 

• Effectively line manage a Communications Officer