Responsibilities

• Support the Head of Media Relations in producing outputs and responses as part of our proactive and reactive media strategies.
• Coordinate with colleagues in the organisation and across the RG members to generate proactive news stories that promote our advocacy positions, and produce reactive lines that protect against reputational threats.
• Coordinate media activities relating to campaigns that promote RG positions including to support our Strategic Programmes and help deliver objectives identified as part of our longer-term communications planning.
• Liaise with the Digital Communications & Design Manager to ensure social media engagement is joined up with our wider media strategies and positions.
• Maintain and strengthen relationships with media colleagues at RG members and at other stakeholder organisations to inform and optimise our media strategies and responses.
• Cultivate trusted relationships with a network of journalists, broadcasters, and other professionals in traditional and digital media; and engage with media outlets and platforms that have national, regional and international reach to promote RG messages to our target audiences.
• Participate fully in an integrated External Relations team which covers media, public affairs, partnerships and engagement and includes social media.
• This includes being part of an out-of-hours on-call rota, shared with other members of the External Relations team, to triage and respond to urgent media requests, working directly with senior leadership as appropriate.
• Undertake a number of core tasks which apply to all members of the External Relations team and occasionally carry out other assignments in response to workload and capacity requirements within the organisation.
• Finally, they will be responsible for delivering any additional tasks, at the request of the Head of Media Relations and/or Director of External Relations, in accordance with their experience and the broad purpose of this role.

Requirements

• Previous experience in a busy press office environment, and in coordinating with colleagues on media issues and/or other communications functions and working with a range of external stakeholder organisations.
• Experience and confidence in engaging with journalists, broadcasters, and other media professionals in traditional and in digital/emerging channels.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including a proven ability to produce clear, concise briefing material and content for different audiences.
• Ability to communicate complex policy work in a way which is media-friendly.
• Ability to work under pressure and coordinate with colleagues across the organisation to meet deadlines.
• Competent and imaginative in using new and emerging forms of communication. Experience of writing website copy and of working with social media would be helpful, including to support the Digital Communications and Design Manager in managing our social media channels as needed.
• Ability to manage and prioritise a challenging and varied portfolio of work, meet tight deadlines as well as managing longer term work and work co-operatively as part of a small team.

Preferred

• Experience of working in a public affairs environment involving UK politics and the workings of Parliament would be an advantage but is not essential. However, the candidate will be expected to show good political nous, demonstrate an awareness of the nuances of complex policy positions and understand how to manage the reputation of an organisation responsibly through media work.

Benefits

• Membership of the USS pension scheme
• 25 days of Annual Leave at start, increasing by 1 day annually to a maximum of 30 days
• Discretionary closure days at Easter and Christmas holidays (in addition to Public Holidays)
• Private healthcare insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme