Senior Communications Officer (Development and Engagement)

Brighton College is seeking to appoint a Senior Communications Officer (Development and Engagement) on a permanent basis.

Job Title: Senior Communications Officer (Development and Engagement)

Reporting to: Deputy Director of Development and Engagement

Main Purpose of the Role: Working in the dynamic and successful Development and Engagement team, you will lead on all communications activity supporting our parent, alumni and donor engagement programmes. Responsible for developing and managing communications strategies and campaigns, you will also undertake a varied range of projects across our communication platforms.

An experienced copywriter and enthusiastic digital marketeer, you will work to ensure all communications are of the highest quality, on brand and align with our core values and strategic ambitions. The successful candidate will possess a strong understanding of marketing principles and have experience in using a range of marketing software packages and tools.

You will be encouraged and supported to take ownership and initiative, bringing your own expertise to support the objectives of the team and the wider school. Integral to our communications strategy is the development of a new alumni website due to launch in 2025.

You will work to increase community cohesion and engagement, deepening relationships within our global school community.

General Duties and Responsibilities:

Copywriting and Content Creation

• Leading on copywriting for all development and engagement collateral e.g. event invitations, programmes, brochures, website content and supporter engagement communications.
• Collating and managing the department’s digital assets for the purposes of content creation.
• Leading on the creation of our annual alumni magazine, The Pelican.
• Liaising with parent and alumni volunteers to create engaging content.

Digital

• Leading on management and content creation for the alumni website oldbrightonians com
• Working closely with the Archivist to ensure relevant historic content is migrated to our digital archive site.
• Developing and executing the department’s social media strategy, creating exciting content for the alumni social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook).
• Responding to comments and messages through all social media channels.
• Creating email campaigns and communications sent to our alumni, parent and supporter communities.
• Leading on the use and development of Brighton College Connect, our alumni networking platform.
• Taking an innovative approach to current and emergent technologies and trends to increase engagement.
• Reporting on engagement and communications activity.

Design

• Generating digital imagery and design to support social media and email marketing campaigns.
• Managing external relationships with key designers, publishers, mailing houses and digital providers.

Data and Process Management

• Planning and overseeing the scheduling of engagement communications.
• Working closely with the Senior Development Officer to manage communications preferences for the community and ensuring all data processing is compliant.
• Exporting data sets for all communication campaigns.
• Supporting colleagues to execute annual data projects e.g. data collection and cleansing.

Other

• Working to budget constraints for communications resource, providing regular financial updates to the Deputy Director.
• Maintaining a close working relationship with the College marketing department, sharing content, best practice, planning and strategies.
• Responding to relevant emails and phone calls from the community in friendly, timely and approachable manner.
• Supporting the Senior Events and Engagement Officer in reaching event attendance targets.
• Managing the alumni Shopify account, ensuring this is successfully embedded across website and CRM, and effectively promoted to the community.
• Any other reasonable tasks to support the team and at the request of the Director or Deputy Director of Development and Engagement.

Person Specification:

The successful candidate will have experience in the following areas:

Essential Criteria

• At least two years’ experience of working in a busy marketing/ communications role
• Strong copy writing skills, with excellent grammar and proofreading skills
• Track record of increasing community engagement
• Experience of using CMS, CRM systems plus digital marketing and social media platforms
• Experience of managing multiple projects simultaneously and to competing deadlines
• Excellent time management skills and a demonstrable ability to multitask
• Good level of IT competency and experience of Microsoft Office packages
• Ability to work autonomously and take initiative
• Builds strong internal and external stakeholder relationships and works well with others
• Approachable and professional communication style
• Excellent attention to detail and an analytical and interpretative mindset
• An enthusiasm for education and the independent school system

Desirable

• Experience of using Google Analytics
• Experience of design work such as use of Canva and Adobe
• Understanding of GDPR legislation
• Good financial acumen with strong numeracy
• Previous experience of working at a charitable organisation and/ or an understanding of fundraising

Hours of Work: 

Monday to Friday inclusive, 8.30am to 5.00pm with a 60 minute unpaid lunch break (37.5 hours per week). In addition to this, the post-holder will be required to work some evenings and weekend events for which time in lieu will be given.

Remuneration: 

The salary for this role will be £30,000 per annum.

Holidays:

23 days, plus bank holidays increasing to 28 days plus bank holidays after 2 years of service (of which 3 days need to be taken between Christmas and New Year when the College is closed)

Benefits:

• Contributory pension scheme with matching contributions from the employer up to 9%, which all eligible employees will be automatically enrolled into within three months of commencement of employment.
• Life Cover is provided whilst working at Brighton College after successfully passing probation period.
• Complimentary lunch is provided.
• Free tickets to the College’s music, dance and drama performances.
• Job specific learning and development programme available to all employees.
• Access to books, magazines and DVDs from the College Library

Wellbeing:

• Subsidised gym membership for the School of Science and Sport is available, which includes access to yoga and Pilates classes, meditation sessions and use of the gym and swimming pool.
• Personalised health and wellbeing consultations.
• Generous sickness policy.
• Access to books, magazines and DVDs from the College Library.
• Comprehensive wellbeing package.

For full details of the role, please see the Job Profile Document on our website.