Community Director

London National Park City is looking for a highly collaborative Community Director to join our growing team. You will help us develop and enhance the way all Londoners can participate every day in making our city greener, healthier and wilder.

London National Park City is the long term grassroots movement for everyone making London greener, healthier and wilder. London became the world's first National Park City in 2019 with aim of making our city a place where people and nature are better connected.

This new senior role will be responsible for developing a deeply participatory approach to what it means to be part of the London National Park City community and movement. You will draw upon the wealth of experiments, storytelling, and community programming which has already taken place, and shape the next stage of how we build our movement, and support grassroots communities in every neighbourhood of London.

The core of this role will be the stewardship of our Ranger programme, supporting our community of volunteer Rangers, along with recruiting and managing local Ranger Coordinators in a number of London Boroughs as funding is secured. Key to this will be developing relationships with partner civil society organisations, and working closely with our Partnerships Manager.

You’ll be experienced in building and supporting ‘on’ and ‘offline’ communities, and keen to learn and adopt new and engaging approaches to membership, while sharing what you learn with the wider team and community.

You’ll be disciplined, organised and an excellent verbal and written communicator. You’ll be creative, and willing to chip in, helping out across the organisation, and keeping all our stakeholders and partners informed.

You do not need to have a university degree to apply for this role, and we’ll provide you with additional training and mentoring as you develop your skills.

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for developing our overall approach to community building and participatory membership for individuals, and those from community and civil society groups, and business or corporate members. Your primary responsibility will be evolving and supporting the development of our volunteer Ranger community, enabling each Ranger to be more impactful within their own communities.

Community Membership

• Develop programmes and communications which allow every Londoner to contribute towards delivering the goals and commitments set out in the Charter for London National Park City.
• Detail and implement pathways for everyone to participate and contribute in expanding the reach and impact of London National Park City., and lead and participate in activities within their communities.
• Gather and share activities and contributions from our community, with regular updates on member activities, and collaborations.
• Support ongoing improvements to our email and social media signup journeys on our websites, using ConvertKit, Copper CRM and other tools.
• Contribute membership content to our online Mighty Networks community, websites, email and social media campaigns.

Ranger Community

• Understand and represent the broad needs of our Ranger community and what they need to actively lead greater participation with London National Park City.
• Maintain contacts and working relationships with London National Park City Rangers supporting them to inspire Londoners to make the city greener, healthier and wilder and helping more people to enjoy being outdoors.
• Report on Ranger activities, connections and communities, and where appropriate, work with Rangers to support London National Park City with campaigns and activities.
• Lead on the recruitment and appointment of new Rangers, including evolving and improving our induction and ongoing training offer.
• Share Ranger stories and support the development of media assets to promote the Rangers and their work.
• Manage the Ranger programme budget and allocation of spending.
• As funding allows, and with the support of the Executive Director, recruit and manage local Ranger coordinators.

You will report directly to the Executive Director and work closely with your colleagues in our staff team and with our wider group of volunteers.

Requirements

We’re looking for an experienced, ambitious and dedicated colleague who will be able to appropriately prioritise as we secure additional funding and steadily expand our small staff team.

• Experience in an equivalent community management, membership or partnership, or demonstrable experience of transferable skills.
• Demonstrable experience of movement and community building both on and offline, with strong digital skills and a strong affinity of the role of participatory membership.
• An ability to communicate, present to, and coordinate with a wide range of people at all levels of a variety of organisations.
• Excellent oral and written communication in a clear, concise, accessible and effective manner.
• Fluency in English, both spoken and written, is essential.
• Ability to effectively plan and prioritise workload within deadlines, and to set and meet high standards of delivery.
• Demonstrable experience of managing budgets and careful setting of priorities and making trade offs in a small growing team.
• Willingness to work outside of office hours from time to time as the role requires.
• Commitment to the vision of London as a National Park City and the success of the Ranger Programme.

Not sure you tick all the boxes? Please apply anyway as we want to hear from a wide range of potential candidates.

Salary and benefits

You will be joining and fully participating in a unique and inspirational community of changemakers and storytellers, active across London and increasingly around the world.

This is a permanent role and the salary range is £45,000 to £50,000 dependent on experience. We are open to applications for part-time or other flexible working arrangements.

You will have 25 holiday days allowance per year (pro rata for part-time staff).

Following successful completion of a 3 month probationary period, we will enrol you in our Nest pension scheme, and will make additional payments of 4% as long as you contribute 4% of your salary each month.

This role will predominantly be carried out in person at our Visitors Centre in London and remotely from home, with regular meetings and site visits across London, so you must be based in the UK and be prepared for regular travel.

You must have the right to work in the UK already in place. Unfortunately we cannot sponsor or support any visa applications.

How To Apply

The application deadline is 12 noon Wednesday 25th September 2024.

We will aim to carry out interviews in early October.

To apply visit our website and we'll ask you to send us a copy of your CV, along with a cover letter of no more than two A4 pages outlining your suitability for this role and include answers to the following three questions:

Question 1: How can membership be participatory rather than transactional?

Question 2: Why is urban nature in cities valuable?

Question 3: How would you make your neighbourhood greener, healthier and wilder?

We'll also ask you to fill out our anonymous Diversity Questionnaire along with your application.

Selection process

Initial shortlisting will be carried out by our staff and Trustee panel, who will score candidates’ CVs and responses to the application questions.

Interviews will be conducted by a panel of London National Park City staff and advisors, initially via video conference, and potentially in-person for any final interviews. Unfortunately we will be unable to provide feedback to applicants not initially shortlisted.