Communications Associate
The Opportunity
Working closely with, and reporting to, the Head, you will bring our communications strategy to life through high-quality content, channel management and event support.
You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation to build our profile, communicate our impact and ensure our story is told in a clear, compelling and consistent way.
This is a mid-level role, suited to someone with significant experience rather than someone at the very start of their communications career.
You will be confident working on complex, nuanced subject matter and with high-profile partners in government and the charity sector, ensuring that all communications align with both our own values and those of our partners.
You will also play a key role in supporting events and other profile-raising activities that help us build and strengthen relationships.
Key Responsibilities
Web & content
- Implement the web strategy set by the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement by creating, uploading and updating content in CRAFT CMS, ensuring information architecture and user journeys remain clear and user-centred.
- Apply Social Finance’s tone of voice and style guide to all web content, escalating strategic questions on positioning or messaging to the Head as needed.
- Support the commissioning and creation of thought leadership and impact stories by drafting briefs, conducting interviews and working with the team to prepare first-draft copy for review.
Brand & visual identity
- Use Social Finance’s brand, style and messaging guidelines to produce on-brand graphics and layouts (e.g. in Canva and Photoshop), and flag any issues or gaps to the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement.
- Support colleagues to apply brand templates correctly across presentations, reports and event materials, referring complex or new use-cases to the Head for approval.
LinkedIn & digital channels
- Act as the day-to-day owner of the Social Finance LinkedIn account, maintaining a consistent flow of original content that drives traffic to our website, monitoring stakeholder activity and engaging appropriately.
- Monitor performance of the website and LinkedIn channel, providing regular reports and insight to the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement to inform strategy.
Publications & campaigns
- Develop and deliver communications and PR campaigns for key publications and initiatives implementing dissemination strategies developed with the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement.
- Draft media materials, pitch complex stories to journalists and sector media, and manage day-to-day relationships with external partners, escalating reputational or strategic issues to the Head.
- Proactively identify and draft impact-led stories and case studies from across Social Finance’s work, to be refined and prioritised with the Head.
Events
- Support the planning and delivery of online and in-person events in line with agreed objectives, formats and brand guidelines, working to the frameworks established by the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement.
- Coordinate event communications (invites, web pages, social posts, follow-up content), ensuring outputs are captured and repurposed across channels.
General
- Review, sense-check and copy-edit reports, briefing notes and presentation slides before publication to ensure accuracy, clarity and alignment with core messaging and brand standards.
- Work with external designers, photographers and other suppliers within frameworks and budgets agreed by the Head, providing day-to-day coordination and ensuring work meets brand and quality standards.
Person Specification
Experience
- Strong, demonstrable track record in journalism and/or communications, with a focus on high-quality written and visual content.
- Experience developing and delivering profile-raising communications and engagement campaigns, including earned media.
- Experience managing websites using a content management system (ideally CRAFT CMS or similar).
- Experience managing or leading organisational social media channels, particularly LinkedIn.
- Experience reviewing, editing and preparing materials for publication or dissemination to external audiences.
- Experience working with or commissioning designers, photographers and other creative suppliers.
- Experience supporting the planning and delivery of events or profile-raising activities.
Skills & knowledge
- Outstanding writing skills, with the ability to explain complex and technical topics clearly and accessibly for different audiences and channels.
- Strong editorial judgement, including excellent copy-editing, proofreading and attention to detail.
- Ability to carry out independent journalistic research, including interviewing stakeholders and service users, and turn this into compelling stories and case studies.
- Good understanding of digital communications and social media best practice, especially LinkedIn, including scheduling, engagement and simple analytics.
- Confident user of design tools such as Canva and open to using AI tools for content and imagery within ethical and brand parameters.
- Strong organisational and project-management skills, able to juggle multiple priorities and deadlines while maintaining high standards.
Personal attributes
- A proactive self-starter who can hit the ground running and take ownership of key communications channels and projects.
- A collaborative team player who acts as a trusted peer, collaborator and sounding board for senior colleagues, including the Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement.
- Confident working with senior stakeholders, including the Chief Executive and Directors, and with external partners across government, charities and communities.
- Creative, curious and motivated to produce excellent work that supports Social Finance’s mission and enhances its reputation.
- Committed to upholding Social Finance’s values and to working sensitively with people whose lives have been impacted by the issues we work on.
Working at Social Finance
The fixed salary for this position is £40,000 per annum. Working for a mission driven organisation is more than just what we pay though, it’s about our culture, our approach and what else we offer. Read more about working at Social Finance here.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
We actively encourage applications from under-represented and minoritised groups, including those with lived experience of the social issues we are working to address. We are an equal opportunities employer.
We support a range of flexible working options and welcome UK based applications from outside of London/the Southeast so far as they can meet the in-person meeting requirements for the role. We can also accommodate secondments and part-time working.
We work on some projects where our clients may require different levels of DBS checking for our employees. Candidates deemed suitable for a role after interview will be asked to declare any unspent convictions to ensure that we are able to resource them to projects appropriately.
We use Applied, an application platform developed by the Behavioural Insights Team, to record your application. Applied uses behavioural and data science to improve hiring decisions and minimise unconscious bias in the recruitment process.
You will be asked to respond to situational based questions which will allow you to express your ability. Your answer to each question will be viewed in isolation. Please therefore ensure there is enough detail in that single response, without any references to your other responses.
NB: While we are asking for your CV, please note that we will not be viewing your CV during the initial sift process. The selection panel will not have access to your CV, so it is therefore essential that you respond to each question fully.