Duration - 12-month contract (with possibility of extension), 3+ days per week considered
Start date - asap
Salary - circa £30k (pro-rated for part time)
Contact for applications (CV) – rhayward@brake.org.uk
The role
Want to work in communications and at the heart of a campaigning, humanitarian charity, tackling needless deaths and the climate emergency? Want to work in a research-driven team that finds the evidence that will drive change, and use your communication skills to inspire, inform, and mobilise people to campaign with us for that change?
Who we are
Brake is a national, acclaimed charity tackling one of the biggest issues of our time - the daily horrific carnage of deaths, injuries, and air pollution on roads. Traffic is the biggest killer of young people worldwide, poisoning our lungs and contributing hugely to the climate emergency. Brake’s vision is that people get around in safe and healthy ways. Our values require us to be evidence-based, aim high, and work collaboratively. We have a 25-year reputation for campaigning for positive change, advising government, encouraging action in communities, delivering the UK’s National Road Victim Service, and fundraising so we can campaign more and support victims more.
Our hard-hitting ‘did you know?’ and human-interest stories, and our innovative campaigns and fundraising drives, have seen us consistently in the news. We have a strong supporter base and range of digital supporter communications.
Who you are
You’re a values-driven, effective and creative communicator, passionate about making a difference and with experience using different communication methods and channels to engage with a range of stakeholders, in clear, resonant and impactful ways that bring issues to life and motivate people to take action and give funds. You’re also an analytical thinker who enjoys the challenge of investigating, evidencing and weighing up complex multi-faceted issues, getting to the heart of them and seeking out news stories. You have a reputation for rigorous fact checking and conveying evidenced and interesting perspectives accurately, articulately and persuasively. You thrive on non-hierarchical team-working, relationship building and networking, and you’re comfortable working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. You’re innovative, flexible and outcome focussed, equally happy undertaking hands-on delivery in a fast-moving environment and thinking strategically.
Key tasks
- Supporting the development, coordination and delivery of our communication plans and activities, including PR, marketing communications and supporter communications, to enable us to communicate Brake’s cause, work, impact, campaigns and participation opportunities across all audiences and communication channels.
- Working with internal and external expertise to produce a broad range of evidence-based accessible content including content that is headline-grabbing news.
- Writing press releases, managing Brake’s relationships with the media, responding to media requests and briefing Brake’s media spokespeople for TV and radio appearances.
- Drafting communications for our strategic partners, supporters and the wider public, ranging from Government consultation responses, to newsletters to fact sheets.
- Building our stakeholder contact base and supporting the accurate updating and maintenance of contacts on our customer relationship management system.
- Reporting our communication activity and outcomes against KPIs, so we can evaluate our communication impact.
You bring
- Campaigning zeal and understanding of what it means to campaign. You care about people and the planet and believe in campaigning. You have political astuteness and a keen interest in Government policymaking and stakeholder advising and influencing and the power of people to make a difference through taking action and funding charities to do more. Experience of campaigning or active support for a campaigning charity at any level would be advantageous.
- Communication skills. You have excellent written and verbal communication skills. You have a track record of producing clean, well-structured, succinct, evidence-based written content, tailored to different audiences and channels. Every word you write carries additional meaning and is concise, compelling and impactful, helping people understand, care and take action.
- Research skills. You have analytical expertise and attention to detail, demonstrated through previous academic or practitioner experience investigating complex issues and translating these correctly. You fact check, retain information integrity, and risk manage to prevent libel or slander.
- People skills. You are a great relationship builder at all levels; you will be managing media relationships with national, regional and sector journalists as well as partner stakeholder relationships, including road victims and leaders of national organisations.
- System skills. You have a willingness to learn and carefully use IT systems that help us log and share our contacts and analyse our communications impact, as well as proficiency in all standard Office IT systems including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- An organised and team-centred approach, combined with flexibility. You have an ability to plan, work in teams and across teams and flexibly, responding to emerging events and acting on initiative as required. You pragmatically balance multiple priorities to deadlines.
- It will be advantageous to live within two hours of central London.
About the team and how we work
- You will be joining a skilled, dedicated and friendly team, with a visionary, dynamic and expert Chief Executive committed to growing the charity’s impact, and a knowledgeable and engaged Board of Trustees.
- Our team works remotely and encourages use of sustainable transport.
- We are open to secondments and candidates wanting to work flexibly or part time.
- Brake actively promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. We employ based on skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.
- Employees are subject to driver licence checks. If you drive, please note we do not accept applications from serious traffic offenders due to the nature of our work.