Start date: As soon as possible
Type: Permanent (4 or 5 days a week )
Salary: £40-45k dependent on experience
Benefits: see https://castfromclay.co.uk/careers/
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2023
Background
We’re a communications firm that helps experts advance policy conversations.
At Cast From Clay, our goal is to get policy, unstuck. We work with foundations, NGOs, and campaigning organisations to help them navigate the complexities of policy narratives, and in doing so to shape the policies of tomorrow. We help our clients figure out what to say, to who, and how – in a way that can move things forward.
The job
No two days at Cast From Clay are the same.
One day you might be working on ocean policy campaigns, helping technical clients adapt their language to make it engaging and influential, and in doing so helping to push the ocean agenda forward. The next you could be working with a non-for-profit creating their brand identity, marketing strategy and overseeing the launch of their new website.
We’re on the hunt for a seasoned communications strategist and a creative campaigner. You’ll be someone who feels at home bringing your knowledge and experience to any communications challenge: from brand strategy to digital marketing.
We’re looking for someone who can think creatively and problem solve for our clients, and run accounts profitably – and grow them. You’ll be able to build relationships quickly with clients, colleagues and interviewees. You’ll spot mistakes, ask difficult questions, and tell us and our clients how to improve things.
Whatever your political convictions (we don’t mind what they are – as long as you have some), you’ll want to change the status quo and have a positive impact in the world. You will want to use your comms skills to bring stakeholders together and advance policy conversations for the benefit of all of us.
Key skills and experience
We aren’t expecting you to have all of these, but you should be ticking a bunch of them off.
Expertise and skills
- At least 4 years in an equivalent agency setting
- Bring a knowledge of how political systems work and how to influence them
- Have communications expertise in shaping narratives and social/policy campaigns
- Experience and expertise in communications and/or brand strategy development
- Experience in coalition building, stakeholder mapping and stakeholder engagement
- Ability to produce creative and engaging communication materials: reports, websites, social media and print.
Project management
- Excellent account and project management skills.
- Finding creative solutions to complex problems.
- Ability to breakdown large strategy and campaign projects into phased deliverables, guiding clients through the process
- Strong timeline and budget management skills
- Able to identify areas of improvement/efficiencies, for the yourself and your team, both in terms of process, training, and any other areas you identify
Team management
- Experience managing a team underneath you, growing their skills and ability (this role will have line management responsibilities)
- Onboarding new team members
- On an ongoing basis, identify future recruits for the company/build lots of shallow relationships around the industry
Thought leadership
- Write thought leadership articles for the CFC website, at least once per quarter, ideally one a month promoting our thinking and best practices
- Participate in CFC training and knowledge sharing (webinars etc)
- Attend events and conferences on behalf of the company
New business & sales
- Identify and respond to appropriate RFPs; participate in pitching as required
- Identify opportunities for future work with existing clients, write proposals to win that work
- Identify and pursue new leads
- Help senior executive team shape new product offerings to take to market
What we offer
We offer a competitive benefits package for all our positions, including enhanced parental leave, sabbaticals, and training budgets.
- Office: we work from our offices in Kennington on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You’re welcome to use the office more frequently than that if you wish.
- Home office allowance: we make a £150 contribution towards kitting out your home workspace.
- Flexible working: tell us how you work best and we’ll do what we can to make it happen – including if you want a four day week, or want to spend time working from abroad.
- Monthly team socials: we like spending time together so every month we come up with ideas to do together. We played board games over pizza, went ice skating, organised movie nights, played a VR game together and went on llama safari at our local city farm.
- Training: you’ll get a generous annual training budget to spend on your professional development.
- Pension: we will pay 5% of your salary, matching the 5% you pay, to make a total of 10% annual contributions.
- Holidays: we offer 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays, and we close the office over Christmas.
Interested?
If this sounds like you, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Application: Consultant”. Please send us:
- A short covering letter in the body of your email that includes the below (we don’t need any more than this):
- 100 words on an idea you’ve heard recently that has stayed with you (it doesn’t have to be anything to do with politics or policy), and;
- 100 words about a public campaign you love and why.
- Your CV (no more than 2 pages)
Things to note
- You need to have permission to work in the U.K. already for this role – we cannot sponsor visas.
- We are an equal opportunities employer and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, class, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.