Breast Cancer UK
Public Relations Officer
Remote, United Kingdom
1. KEY FACTS
Hours: 35 hours per week (excluding lunch breaks)
Working pattern: 5 days/week with option for compressed hours, working 9 days every fortnight
Location: Home-based with some travel required, including to London for team meetings
Responsible to: Head of Digital Content and Communications
Pay band: Band B £27,615-£33,091
Employment contract: 24-month fixed-term contract
Benefits: Refer to the Benefits Guide
2. PURPOSE OF ROLE
The main purpose of this role is to increase public awareness and positive coverage for Breast Cancer UK. You'll wear many hats, from fostering connections with journalists and influencers to collaborating with internal teams to amplify their achievements. Your content creation skills will be key, as you develop engaging content that captures attention and builds brand awareness.
You'll craft compelling narratives that resonate with the public and strategically place them in prominent media outlets, ensuring our breast cancer prevention message reaches a vast audience. You will have an excellent knowledge of the UK media and social media influencer landscape, and the types of content required to drive engagement and trust in our brand.
As a small yet busy organisation, we must work collaboratively, efficiently, and effectively. This is a cross-organisational role with cross-organisational insights and responsibilities. While working closely with the Head of Digital Content and Communications, the role collaborates with the whole team.
You will need to be self-driven, highly creative, and organised. You will need to be self-driven, have a good sense of judgement and an interest in public health and cancer prevention.
This is an exciting time to join Breast Cancer UK to help us engage new audiences and grow our breast cancer prevention community.
This is a remote working role, which means strong autonomy, effective planning, excellent collaboration, internal communications, and a high level of creativity and confidence are a must.
3. SCOPE OF ROLE
There are six main areas of work within the role. The percentages given below are approximate, and the post holder’s work rhythm will vary from week to week and month to month:
| 30% |
| 25% |
| 15% |
| 15% |
| 5% |
4. BREAKDOWN OF RESPONSIBILITIES
This is not necessarily a comprehensive list of tasks; it is intended to give a good feel for the content of the role.
Media Relations
Develop and implement media strategies to raise awareness of our work and campaigns.
Identify and pitch newsworthy stories to journalists across national, regional, and specialist media outlets.
Write compelling press releases, media briefings, and other media materials.
Build and maintain strong relationships with journalists and media influencers.
Respond to media enquiries in a timely and accurate manner.
Manage media briefings and arrange interviews with spokespeople.
Monitor media coverage and provide regular reports to the communications team.
Influencer Engagement
Identify and build relationships with key influencers who can champion our cause.
Develop and implement influencer engagement strategies to amplify our message.
Secure collaborations and partnerships with influencers to raise awareness and support.
Internal Communications
Work with internal teams to develop communication materials that showcase the impact of their work.
Secure internal buy-in for media opportunities and ensure clear messaging across the organisation.
Content creation
Write engaging and informative content for various platforms, including press releases, blog posts, social media content, and website copy.
Highlight the human stories behind our work to connect with audiences emotionally.
Other tasks as appropriate
5. KEY RELATIONSHIPS
The post holder will have contact with a wide range of people, including outside the organisation and will be required to be friendly, professional, helpful, and sensitive. Relationships include:
Staff
Trustees
Media
Consultants
Tech support team and other external service providers
6. OTHER INFORMATION
This job description helps the postholder to understand their main duties. It is not exhaustive, and the role’s duties may change from time to time, in discussion with the post holder and consistent with the level of responsibility of the post.
The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of a three-month probationary period.
Breast Cancer UK are equal opportunities employers, value diversity and are strongly committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and all applicants for employment. We believe that the more inclusive our environments are, the better our work will be.
Breast Cancer UK has no head office, and all staff are expected to be able to work from home with necessary equipment provided.
The post holder will be required to travel within the UK, for example to attend meetings or conferences in other parts of the country. This may occasionally require overnight stays.
The post holder may also be required to undertake occasional evening and weekend work where, for example, we hold events or conferences.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
KNOWLEDGE AND QUALIFICATIONS
Knowledge and interest in breast cancer/cancer health/environmental issues (desirable).
An understanding of the health sector and/or cancer prevention policy (desirable.)
Minimum 2 years of experience working in a PR or communications role, ideally within the charity sector.
Excellent understanding of the components of a corporate news piece, article, feature, op-ed or by-lined comment piece
EXPERIENCE
Proven track record of successfully executing PR campaigns that have generated positive media coverage and increased brand visibility.
Strong understanding of media relations, including experience pitching and securing coverage with top-tier media outlets.
Demonstrable experience building strong relationships with target UK media and influencers
SKILLS
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a strong ability to tailor messaging to different audiences and demonstrable experience writing emails, press releases, features, blogs and promotional materials.
Excellent time management and organisation skills with the ability to prioritize workload effectively.
Strong analytical skills and the ability to measure the impact of PR activities.
Proficient in using MS Office and CRM databases (experience with Beacon desirable).
A proactive and results-oriented approach with a strong work ethic.
Highly analytical and solution-focused - able to understand business needs and help create solutions.
Ability to work independently and within a team.
ATTRIBUTES
Empathy and commitment to our aims, values and objectives.
Act with honesty and integrity.
Strong team and collaborative worker.
Sound judgment and the ability to make effective decisions.
Hard-working, reliable and well-organised, able to manage a workload to specific timescales and prioritise different demands.
Motivated to be successful and achieve targets.
Excellent and consistent attention to detail.
Content to work from home with limited physical contact with team members.
Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion – dealing with people and issues fairly and with respect.
Available and willing to work flexibly with some evenings and weekends, as required.
Willingness to travel to central London periodically for meetings.
Have an affinity with environmental, health or cancer NGOs.
Application Process:
The closing date for applications is Monday 8th July 2024.
To apply for this position please submit your CV, alongside a cover letter and completed equal opportunities form. To download the job description and equal opportunities form, please visit the Work for Us page of our website.
At Breast Cancer UK, we're dedicated to being a caring and welcoming place, where everyone feels supported and employees feel like they belong. Our aim is to create an inclusive culture where our employees can reach their full potential, without prejudice and discrimination. We value respect, understanding, and the richness that diversity brings. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities and abilities.
Interviews:
Interviews for candidates will be held virtually the week commencing 15th July.
If shortlisted for an interview, you will be asked to prepare a presentation for the interview panel and will be given a short written task on the day.
If you are successful, the interview process will consist of one virtual 45 minute long interview with 2 panel members. It will be a relaxed conversation, with aim to get to know you and your experience. If you have any questions about the process, or if you require any specific adjustments to be made to facilitate your attendance at the interview, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
For further information on the charity see our website (https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/), and if you require any further details on the role or the process, drop us an email at recruitment@breastcanceruk.org.uk.
Apply For This Job
If you would like to apply for this position, please fill in the information below and submit it to us for consideration.
(200MB file size limit)
