External Communications Officer

Job Description

The National Trusts media profile has probably never been higher. Were rarely out of the headlines, generating over 15,000 pieces of coverage in print, broadcast and online every year. The media play a vital role in raising awareness and support for the work of our charity.The External Communications Officer is part of the South West Consultancy Marketing and Communications team and will work on major infrastructure projects within the region. This hugely exciting and key role will focus on stories and media campaigns surrounding three high profile projects: the A303 (Stonehenge) Road Scheme, the Crickley Hill A417 Missing Link Road Scheme and Bonds Meadow Development Land.You will be required to work collaboratively with the various project managers and their teams, the local properties and their teams plus external and internal communications colleagues both at a regional and national level to communicate the Trusts strategic objectives. In this pivotal role focussing on these projects, you will be required to manage extensive media enquiries, prepare reactive media plans and material, and research, produce and place content for multiple channels and audiences, including print and broadcast media, website and social media. With over five million members, its vital we also communicate directly with our audiences in a clear, effective and efficient way using our own channels.The location of this role is flexible and could be based at Killerton Hub (Exeter), Tisbury Hub (Wiltshire) or Bristol Hub.What its like to work here: The National Trust Consultancy is the home to specialists in every field of our work. A national consultancy, where resources are shared across disciplines and boundaries, its proving to be a great repository of skills, talent and experience. The diversity and quality of expertise within the Consultancy will enable our properties and places to benefit from an extraordinary range of creative and innovative thinking, as well as deep expertise in all matters relating to our twin purpose of caring for the nations heritage and landscapes, and making these accessible to all.What youll be doing: Responsible for providing qualified communications advice and reputational management expertise to colleagues whilst liaising with stakeholders and external partners to support the projects as they develop. Producing communications strategies, plans and content, you will monitor and evaluate external communication campaigns, media coverage and social media to ensure all media requests are responded to accurately and positively to reflect and protect the reputation of our organisation.You will be required to produce both proactive and reactive communications content that is inclusive and accessible for a variety of channels. You will ensure they are packaged for print, broadcast and online media, as well as for our own channels. As well as proactive newsgathering for these projects, you will also be responsible for ensuring the Trust effectively identifies, prepares and responds to potentially contentious issues across the organisation.You will ensure our communications are clear, consistent and well-targeted, aligning strategic messaging across our channels, and bringing our charitable cause to life with smart, engaging and audience-focused content. The role will be highly collaborative, working across the Trust to build close working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders both internally and externally, especially communications colleagues in other organisations which have interest in these projects.Youll be plugged into the wider political and media debate and ideally have a good network of contacts. The role requires the successful applicant to conduct site visits across the three project areas. These sites are situated in the counties of Wiltshire, Devon & Gloucester and travel will therefore at times be requiredWho were looking for:To be successful in this role you will be:• Experienced in journalism or media relations, both nationally and locally• Experienced in managing contentious issues • A sharp writer who can get to the heart of an issue quickly, knows how to tell a tale and can predict the questions that might be asked• A planner, a problem solver and a pragmatist who is good at building close working relationships across a wide range of teams, locations and levels• An excellent communicator, with the ability to advise and negotiate and handle tricky reputational issues.• Knowledgeable in multi-platforms, with ability to produce content for web, social and print