Communications and Public Engagement Lead

Responsibilities

• Helping to shape and implement an effective communications strategy for strengthening the Centre’s vision, championing evidence-led policy and practice in homelessness, and helping build the ‘what works’ movement in homelessness
• Leading interaction with the media, both national press and broadcasters and specialist media, to raise the profile of our work including by pitching CHI content to targeted media outlets in a way most likely to reach priority audiences
• Developing and deploying strategies to reach targeted audiences of leaders, policy-makers and practitioners who work in or influence homelessness policy in national, regional and local government
• Building relationships with journalists, media executives and content creators interested in evidence-led reporting
• Engaging in all the Centre’s internal and external communications channels, to ensure content is relevant, engaging and impactful for current and new audiences
• Understanding policies that impact on homelessness in the UK and engaging with decision-makers at national and local level in all parts of the UK who influence these
• Working closely with colleagues on research, evaluation and implementation projects to get insights to inform our policy and public affairs work
• Writing briefing papers summarising research evidence and our project findings into clear concise prose and write and submit responses to public consultations on relevant policy
• Supporting the development of our events programme as a distinctive brand, whose hallmark is a combination of rigour and authority combined with a person-first lens of lived experience, by planning, delivering and executing varied and impactful online, in-person and hybrid events

Requirements

• Show experience in developing and implementing communications strategies and/or plans
• Simplify the complex and communicate in a clear and inspiring way across a variety of media and demonstrable experience of successfully working on several projects simultaneously, with close attention to detail
• Segment priority audiences and develop and deliver key messages tailored to their priorities and needs
• Create and manage our content pipeline ensuring that we are regularly communicating with our audience on our website, via our newsletters, on social media and through direct engagement about insights from our work
• Design a variety of written summaries and multimedia assets and visuals to support the dissemination of our reports and policy papers and work with freelancers for more complex projects
• Upload content to our organisation’s website, and other internal and external communications channels
• Track the performance of our website, downloadable resources, newsletters and social media channels to gain further insight into our audiences and digital marketing performance
• Be committed to the aims of the Centre, and ensure the voices of people with experiences of homelessness inform all elements of our communications work

Preferred

• Experience of developing or implementing communications and / or public engagement strategies in homelessness or related policy fields
• Proficiency in Google Suite or Mailchimp
• Experience of using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Canva, or willingness to learn
• Experience of working with national, specialist and sector media to secure coverage for activities similar to our research and implementation work

Benefits

• Interest-free loans for travel season ticket, cycle to work, and deposit to secure a tenancy
• Pension scheme with an employer contribution of 8.5%
• 30 days’ annual leave which increases with service to 33 days
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme