Communications Officer

Job title:      Communications Officer
Location:     Noah’s Ark Charity, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales, Cardiff
Contract:     18 month fixed term contract with a view to creating a permanent position
Job type:     Part time (21 hours a week) with some flexible working required
Salary:         £16,182 pa

 

Introduction
The Noah’s Ark Charity supports the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales in providing world class care, helping to ensure the best outcome and experience possible for children and their families.

Our aim as a charity is to create brighter todays and better tomorrows for the children of Wales. Having raised more than £22 million to build and equip the hospital, today we continue to work hand in hand with the NHS, providing funding for the most up to date equipment and facilities. We also fund support services for families like the play specialist team, who help children be children, despite the difficulties they are facing.

This is an opportunity for a driven, experienced professional to join a small but highly motivated team. This is a ‘hands on’ role which offers a real opportunity to see the impact that your work and that of the wider charity has on the children and families we support.

 

Scope of role
The communications officer position will sit within the wider communications, events and engagement team, reporting directly to the communications manager. Its primary objective is to increase the visibility of the charity across Wales and beyond.  The post holder will support the management and development of the charity’s brand and demonstrate impact through both dynamic marketing and compelling storytelling. They will also work to engage with both existing supporters and potential new audiences using a range of communications and engagement tools.

 

The post holder will be responsible for formulating and implement promotional plans for the charity’s events and support with the development of campaigns and projects.  Working alongside colleagues as appropriate, the communications officer will also be responsible for developing supporter journeys and engagement comms through email administration and content development. They will support the communications manager in maintaining an engaging and dynamic audience focused content strategy and be responsible for the day to day management of the organisation’s social media accounts.

 

Main duties and responsibilities

  • Support the continual growth of the charity’s social media channels by planning sourcing, generating and publishing engaging content, undertaking basic image editing where necessary.
  • Writing design briefs and managing the production and print process for projects and campaigns.
  • Assisting on editorial decisions in relation to the website, proposing and writing engaging content for the website and e-campaigns
  • Ensure that we have strong digital and print materials, designing marketing material in line with the charity’s brand where requested.
  • Daily monitoring of the organisation’s social media channels, engaging and responding to messages and forwarding information on to other colleagues where applicable.
  • Newsletter production.
  • Work alongside the communications manager to hone and automate meaningful and engaging supporter journey comms to increase engagement.
  • Manage design projects and instruct design agencies and printers as required.
  • Assist and advise both colleagues and supporters with any brand needs or queries.
  • Develop a good understanding of the supporter CRM database (Raiser’s Edge), following best practice procedures for recording data, and input data accurately and efficiently.
  • Help to gather patient stories and case studies that demonstrate the impact of our work.
  • Increase our profile with local media titles, writing press releases, pitching features and responding to media enquiries when appropriate.
  • Produce monthly reports and event/campaign evaluations.
  • Maintain a media coverage database.
  • Support and promote the delivery of engagement activities for families and parents in and around the hospital eg Hub Club, Sparkle Fund.
  • Provide support to all charity colleagues and undertake other administrative duties outside of the remit described when required

 

Personal specifications

Criteria Essential Desirable How/when tested
Qualifications
  • Educated to degree level or equivalent, or experience of performing well in a similar role.
  • Evidence of continued learning and development.
 Application
Experience  

  • Significant experience of working in communications / PR either in-house or with an agency.
  • Experience of engaging with a variety of audiences.
  • Experience of a variety of community engagement techniques and tools.
  •  Proven experience in project-management
  • Experience of organising digital content, good understanding of the principles of developing engaging content, extensive experience of running social media campaigns.
  • Good drafting skills in order to be able to write clear emails, produce notes of meetings and write reports.
  • Experience of and ability to write creative copy i.e. blog posts, campaign copy and supporter engagement emails etc
  • Experience of brand management/acting as a brand ambassador
  • Experience of working with communication suppliers e.g. designers, copywriters and printers
  • Good budget management skills. Ability to record and control expenditure.

 

 Knowledge and experience of the charity sector. Application and interview
Skills
  • Excellent IT skills, particularly Microsoft Office packages
  • Excellent organisational skills, and highly efficient with the ability to manage a busy and demanding workload and ability to meet deadlines.
  • Enjoys working as part of a team.
  • Excellent attention to detail
  • Ability to build and foster excellent working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
  • Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
  • Adopts a proactive approach to their work, finding creative solutions.
  • Ability to manage potential conflict both calmly and confidently. Demonstrate respect for people from different backgrounds.
  • Ability to process complex data. Evaluation and benchmarking skills to inform planning and activity.
  • Ability to work flexibly and proactively and maintain a “can-do” attitude.
  • A keen interest in keeping abreast of developments across the third sector and, where relevant, using that knowledge to suggest new and innovative ways of working within your own role.
  • A strong news sense, being able to spot and write stories exceptionally well.
  • Confident in building relationships with the media, pitching stories, and creating media opportunities.
  • Ability to speak Welsh
  • Design
  • Film production
  • Experience of using CMS and e-campaign tools.
  • Experience of Raiser’s Edge or a similar CRM
 Application and interview
Personal attributes
  • Hold a full driving license.
  • A willingness to model and promote the organisation’s values and behaviours.
  • A flexible working attitude, with a willingness to work out of hours when necessary.
  • Willingness to travel around Wales when necessary.
  • Complete confidentiality and discretion in handling highly sensitive data.
  • An ability to demonstrate empathy for children and their families.
 Application and interview

 

To apply for this role, please send a CV along with a covering letter via email to Bethan@noahsarkcharity.org by no later than midnight on Thursday 19 September. Your covering letter should explain your reasons for applying for the post and provide additional information which demonstrates that you have read the published person specification and how you meet the essential and (where relevant) desirable criteria for this particular position. This can include relevant skills, knowledge, experience, voluntary activities and training. Your cover letter should be no more than two pages of A4 in length.