Communications Manager

Location: UK Based, Bristol, London or within 2 hours of London

Salary: £42,750 (Grade 5) per year (plus Inner London Weighting of £3,483.94, if eligible)

Length of contract: 14 months

Hours per week: 37

Interviews: TBC

Who is Women’s Aid?  

Women’s Aid is the national charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children. We are a federation of over 170 organisations which provide just under 300 local lifesaving services to women and children across England. For almost 50 years we have campaigned on behalf of our members and survivors to shape policy and practice, and to raise awareness of domestic abuse.   

Purpose of the Communications Manager role:                 

As Communications Manager, the successful candidate will play an integral role in line management and coordination of the work of the Women’s Aid Communications function, supporting the Head of Media, Brand and Relationships in leading the team to deliver operational plans in support of the organisational strategy. 

Key duties and responsibilities of the Communications Manager:

• Providing exceptional team management across the communications function, including supervision, sign off, forward planning and development.
• Motivate the team to perform to a high standard, monitoring capacity and ensuring projects and campaigns are delivered on time to a high standard.
• Effective departmental financial management of project budgets.
• Monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate the impact of team members’ work.
• Managing media relations to ensure Women’s Aid is the leading voice for the sector and can effectively quantify and evaluate our reach.
• Ensuring public awareness campaigns and messaging is on brand and delivering for the organisation.
• Overseeing our social media output and policies to amplify our voice online and be part of the national conversation on violence against women and girls.
• Support member services to communicate their work.
• Take part in an out of hours on call rota for media enquiries.

What we are looking for in our Communications Manager:

• Experience of working in a busy media relations and communications environment.
• A brilliant line manager who is confident in leading and supporting a team of talented communicators to achieve powerful results and make an impact.
• Demonstrated PR success.
• Someone with a basic understanding of the domestic abuse sector and Women’s Aid – including the sensitivities and potential issues that might arise, as well as alignment with our feminist approach.
• An understanding of the principles of lobbying and campaigning at Government level for charities and demonstrated experience and results in delivering campaigns.
• A brand guardian who is adept at managing messaging and visual identity to tell a consistent brand story for the organisation.
• Someone who feels at home working in a proactive and reactive communications landscape to leverage coverage and exposure.

Benefits of joining us as our Communications Manager include:

• Generous Annual Leave: 25 days + 2 Company Holidays + 8 UK Bank Holidays, with an extra 1 day per year after 1 year of service, up to a maximum of 5 additional days.
• Valuable Pension Benefits: a generous 7% employer contribution.
• Flexible Working: remote working, a generous TOIL scheme, and family-friendly policies
• Wellness and Support: including a cycle to work scheme, free optician check-ups, annual flu vaccines, access to a 24-hour employee assistance counselling helpline, a ‘Headspace’ app for mindfulness, and ‘Reflective Practice’ sessions.
• Making a Genuine Difference: in a rewarding role where your work will directly result in helping Women’s Aid to be able to provide lifesaving services for women and children across England.

How to apply?   

• Please submit your CV and a Cover Letter. Your Cover Letter should be no more than 2 pages long and should include a summary of your reasons for applying for the position. You should also include details of how your skills, behaviours and experience meet those necessary for the role, as listed in the Job Description and Person Specification.   
• Please ensure that you also complete the EDI form and send all completed paperwork to the recruitment email addredss. (Please clearly mark your name and the role title in the subject line of your email). 

NB:

• Women only need apply under schedule 9 (Part 1) of the Equality Act 2010
• If you have been shortlisted for interview, you will be informed by email. Regrettably, we are normally unable to acknowledge unsuccessful applicants.   
• All posts, including remote posts, must be based in the UK.
• Women’s Aid is committed to quality, equality, and valuing diversity. Applications are particularly welcome from Black and minoritised women.   
• Please read our Single Sex Statement on our website.
• Please note that applications will be reviewed, and interviews arranged, on a rolling basis, so for the best chance of success, please apply ASAP.