RSPB England Communications Officer - South/South East England

Job Description

Do you fancy using your communication skills to tell the stories of the inspiring projects, reserves and teams helping nature recover across England? We are looking for a new Communications Officer to join RSPB England’s Communications Team.

You’ll be part of a fun, busy and dynamic team working across England to find and tell great stories that inspire key audiences about the RSPB’s phenomenal nature conservation work. You’ll be working on the roll out of RSPB-wide campaigns such as Big Garden Birdwatch in England, managing and creating content for RSPB England communications channels, and working closely with teams based in southern England (Sussex, Surrey, London, Kent & Essex), to raise the profile of our work regionally.

The role will include exciting opportunities to travel across your dedicated region and England, including some overnight trips and occasional out-of-hours work with TOIL provided. It is highly desirable that the successful candidate is based in the south east of England (Sussex, Surrey, London, Kent or Essex).

What is the role about??

• Building relationships with two of RSPB England’s area teams, and developing a deep understanding of their work, their stories, and communications priorities.
• Working with the rest of the RSPB England Communications team to bring area communications and marketing priorities into our overall communications planning process.
• Building relationships with regional press and media outlets within the geography you cover, to enable local coverage of our priority communications.
• Producing clear, succinct, targeted and on brand content to support the delivery of key objectives.
• Developing communications plans to support projects or initiatives.
• Monitoring agreed outcomes from communications activities so that the effectiveness of work can be assessed.
• Identifying potential reputational risks to the RSPB and working with the rest of the team to agree action required to minimise the impact.
• In conjunction with relevant national teams, contributing to the planning and delivery of communications related initiatives so that key national messages are delivered to target audiences in regions/countries.
• Delivering communications support and guidance to staff and volunteers to help them deliver effective and efficient communication in support of RSPB objectives

What we need from you

• An interest in or passion for nature in England.
• An understanding of how to achieve objectives through communications campaigns and PR techniques.
• Ability to communicate in a clear manner at all levels (written and verbally) to develop shared understanding.
• Ability to summarise complex information and provide impactful copy e.g. through press releases, blogs.
• Relevant content creation skills eg video/audio editing, design.
• An ability to persuade others and negotiate to reach agreement.
• Demonstrable experience of identifying and developing stories and messages from briefings or background information on a wide variety of topics.
• Working in or with the media to sell and/or tell stories.
• Experience of working on, monitoring and creating content for organisational social media account.
• Ability to write to tight deadlines, and work in a fast-paced, often changing environment.
• Experience of balancing reactive work alongside planned proactive work.
• It would be desirable to hold a full driving licence which is valid for use in the UK.
• It would be desirable to hold a PR/marketing/journalism qualification.

This is a Permanent Full-Time role for 37.5 hours per week.

We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 22nd May 2024. For further information please contact Tony Whitehead (Communications Manager) tony.whitehead@rspb.org.uk

As part of this application process you will be asked to complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

Before applying for this role, we recommend reading through the candidate guidance notes attached to the top of this advert.