The British Academy is now looking to reshape their communications team.
The British Academy is a voice that champions humanities and social sciences. As a national body they support the study of people, cultures and societies, past, present and future.
Their purpose is: to be an independent Fellowship of world-leading scholars and researchers; a Funding Body that supports new research (nationally and internationally); and a Forum for debate and engagement.
The opportunity:
This is a pivotal role in the organisation as they are currently reshaping their communications offering to place content, storytelling and digital at the heart of everything they do. You will lead the Academy’s media relations and stakeholder engagement strategy to secure greater visibility of the Academy’s role and value across on and offline media. This role will lead the Academy’s strategic communications planning and as part of the Communications Management Team, you will work closely with the Head of Digital to ensure a fully integrated approach to communications. This will also include working to deepen engagement with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to strengthen the profile with opinion formers.
Main responsibilities include:
News and Media Relations
- Run the Academy’s Press Office, ensuring that the right systems, processes and skills are in place to respond quickly and effectively to the news agenda
- Develop and deliver a proactive news-lead media relations strategy to promote the relevance and value of the Academy’s Fellowship, funded research and policy initiatives
- Position the Academy as a thought-leader, securing comment and opinion pieces for the Chief Executive, President and other members of the organisation
- Provide strategic counsel on media issues to the Chief Executive and President, and anticipate and handle reputational issues, developing a framework for crisis communications
- Manage the organisation’s strategic communications grid to identify opportunities to promote the Academy
Stakeholder Engagement
- Develop and lead the organisation’s Stakeholder Engagement Strategy to ensure the Academy’s purpose is well understood among a range of individuals and organisations
- Support and co-ordinate engagement undertaken by other departments
- Create a suite of communications to target audiences with timely and incisive content
- Deliver an engagement programme to increase advocacy and support from the Fellows, previous fund recipients and staff members
Leadership and management
- Line manage two staff members: Media Relations Officer and News and Communications Assistant to ensure high performance and the development of skills and experience
- Deputise for the Director of Communications in her absence
- Play an active role in the Communications Directorate Management Team, contributing to cross-team development including priority setting and ways of working
- Oversee a budget, ensuring value for money and quality where work is commissioned from suppliers
Required skills and experience include:
- Experience at a senior level in a news-driven organisation
- Demonstrable experience of managing an editorial operation, working with in-house and external content producers to produce effective and brand-aligned content
- Experience working in a complex organisation, with varied stakeholders
- Proven experience of developing a successful stakeholder engagement strategy
- Experience of managing staff, budgets and other resources including third party suppliers
- Demonstrable experience of having successfully led, motivated and developed a team of professionals
- Experience of significantly raising an organisation’s profile through effective media relations and stakeholder engagement