Director of Strategy and Brand

Closing date: Tuesday 17th December 2024 at 9am
Please note that the turnaround time between both the first stage and second stage interviews will be short.

We have an exciting opening for someone to join our senior leadership team for a fixed term period during 2025 overseeing our strategy and brand development. We need a strategic expert who understands politics, campaigning and how to get the best out of campaigning organisations - and win credit for that across key stakeholders and with the public.

The Director of Strategy and Brand will guide our strategic direction and public presence to amplify our mission, position 38 Degrees at the forefront of change, and build a resonant brand in the public sphere. They will partner closely with leadership to align 38 Degrees’ strategic goals with real-time social and political landscapes. By shaping organisational strategy, monitoring our progress, and refining public brand positioning, the Director of Strategy and Brand will ensure that 38 Degrees remains agile, cohesive, and impactful, continually driving growth and resilience in service of our mission.

The Director of Strategy and Brand will focus on formulating plans for our strategy, our tactics and how we are set up as an organisation to succeed. 

Your background and experience

We are looking for someone who understands 38 Degrees, our model and our organisational culture already. We want someone who shares our fierce determination to change our country - campaigning to do so without fear or favour whoever is in power. You will have worked at, or with, a similar organisation to us, where our supporters are our purpose, and you’ll be ready to engage in discussions about strategies, tactics and way of working from day one.

You will understand the challenges we may face from a change of government. Our power is the passion, and number, of our supporters. You will have insight and experience on how an organisation like ours should respond to a new environment - and capitalise on the changed landscape. 

You will understand not just the purpose and strategies of organisations like ours, you’ll know that we can only succeed if we have the right people, structure and culture. You’ll have experience of working in productive and positive environments, and you’ll have insight into how teams can be set up for success in a campaigning space.

You’ll be adept and experienced at project management, understand the pressures the team face working in a fast paced reactive environment and be able to get the best of people in this context to help deliver on longer term, strategic goals.

And most of all, you will be a positive, practical person who can work with others, bringing them with you, to solve problems in a collaborative way.

About us
38 Degrees is one of the UK's biggest campaigning communities, involving over a million supporters who campaign to make the UK a better place. We’re united by a shared vision to create a fairer and more respectful UK and a more sustainable world.

In the space of a week, millions of supporters could be campaigning on anything from protecting our NHS and stopping cuts to Universal Credit, to saving local green spaces and protecting our democracy.

38 Degrees is fiercely independent. We are primarily funded by small donations from hundreds of thousands of members of the public from all over the UK. This independence means we never have to hold ourselves back from taking on those with power and can truly listen to our supporters.

Why you’ll want to work here 

The 38 Degrees culture is honest, kind, supportive, courageous, and respectful. We move fast, and frequently change plans to respond to events. We work hard but we also have fun. We regularly enjoy team away days and social hours. 

Benefits include: 

27 days holiday per year (plus bank holidays); Office closure between Christmas and New year; 9-day fortnight (office closed every other Friday); 4pm closure on the alternate Friday; Flexibility to work 90 days per tax year (30 day maximum per travel in any location as per approval process); one month paid sabbatical leave after 5 years of service; Employer pension contribution; 24 hour employee assistance programme; Enhanced family leave policies; Cycle to work scheme; Employer paid annual flu vaccination; Rental deposit loan; Contribution to eye tests/glasses; Learning and development budget

Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

We’re especially keen to hear from people who’ll bring lived experience of the issues we work on and who’ll make our team more diverse as a result.

So if you’re Black, Asian or from any other minority ethnic group, if you’re disabled, LGBTQIA+, or if you’re from a working class home, your application will be especially welcome. 

And thanks to our flexible home working approach and network of offices, we have a staff team that is increasingly based across the UK. We’re keen to continue diversifying geographically, so that we’re rooted in our supporters’ communities.

To make sure that we are able to reach our goal of a diverse team we have equal opportunities monitoring requirements. Your application will not be complete without the equal opportunities monitoring form.

38 Degrees is committed to inclusive working practices, so during the application process we commit to:

• Paying for childcare whilst you’re at 38 Degrees interviews or tasks

• Paying for your travel costs to the office and back – and for overnight accommodation if you’re travelling from a long distance for an interview although at present the majority of interviews are held online using zoom. 

• Making any reasonable adjustments – for example ensuring we have a BSL interpreters organised in advance if you’d need one

• If there anything else you’re concerned about or think we could provide, please let us know. 

To be successful in your application you must meet the essential requirements for this role and answer the questions below which are part of the selection criteria. Without completion of this task your application cannot be considered.

The successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK at the time of appointment.

Application Questions (max. word count: 2000 words across all questions)

1. Our mission is to ‘mobilise a growing and diverse community to collectively campaign for and win change’. What challenges and opportunities are posed by the election of a Labour government to a campaigning community with that mission?

2. Tell us about a time where you have been responsible for implementing an organisational strategy - what were the key challenges and how did you achieve positive results?

3. 38D is a digital first, people-powered campaigning organisation where millions of people do something small to add up to bigger political and corporate change. Tell us about a time you’ve worked with a similar model - and about how it can make a difference in the country. 

4. What is the most interesting campaign or campaigning initiative run by 38 Degrees in the last two years, and why?