Communications Manager

Background to the Centre

The Centre for Disaster Protection works to prevent disasters devastating lives, by helping people, countries, and organisations change how they plan and pay for disasters. We focus on disaster risk financing to help ensure that money and plans are in place before a disaster strikes, so that the poorest and most vulnerable people are better protected. We are committed to working in partnerships across sectors and geographies to drive more impactful and more equitable disaster risk finance that leaves no one behind. Specifically, through a focus on: 

·      Delivering excellent client outcomes and promoting lasting disaster risk financing expertise. We provide clients with impartial and evidence-based advice, quality assurance and training that meets their needs and drives more effective disaster risk finance. 

·      Quality evidence and learning. We work to strengthen the evidence base for prearranged financing and document and share what shows the greatest potential to achieve system change. 

·      Impactful communications and global policy engagement. We seek to engage and influence through evidence-led policy and inclusive policy dialogue that bridges the humanitarian development climate nexus, targeting the bottlenecks key to effect transformative change of the international crisis financing architecture. 

Additionally, we are focused on building effective systems and processes for people and operations that support the Centre to rapidly, yet strategically, scale and grow in a way that supports our people to do their best work through safe challenge, promoting and integrating diversity, equity and inclusion. 

The Centre is funded with UK aid through the UK government. Read more about us in our strategy (2022-2025) and find out more at www.disasterprotection.org.

About the role

We are seeking a Communications Manager to manage and deliver all aspects of our communications efforts, including content management, digital presence, branding, and stakeholder engagement.

You will play a crucial role in shaping and implementing our communications strategy and ensuring high standards of excellence in all external communications through oversight of the Centre for Disaster Protection’s publications, website, blog, newsletters, events, podcasts, social media, and other content formats. Your primary focus will be translating complex research into compelling content, using your outstanding communications, interpersonal, and project management skills.

You will serve as the linchpin between the Engagement & Communications, Evidence, Policy & Learning and Advisory & Training teams.

You will specifically be supporting the Head of Communications in:

Publication standards and quality control by:

·      Overseeing high publication standards across the team, providing guidance, mentorship, training and support to all colleagues on best practices, templates, tools, systems and processes.

·      Ensuring finished outputs meet the Centre’s quality standards.

Commissioning and management by:

·      Managing the content production pipeline.

·      Commissioning the end-to-end production of outputs in the Evidence & Learning workplan from the completed research or thought leadership project to the launch of the output.

·      Overseeing and managing the performance of freelancers.

Content curation and dissemination by:

·      In collaboration with the Head of Communications and the Evidence team, curating and leading the development of compelling content in innovative and creative formats – from podcasts, publications, data visualisations to blog series – across linked channels and platforms to reach relevant target audiences.

·      Keeping our evidence and insights pages on the Centre’s website vibrant and content-rich.

·      Providing editorial support to authors and briefing freelancers.

·      Developing and leading the implementation of ambitious content dissemination plans, amplifying the reach and impact of our evidence and thought leadership.

·      Overseeing the development and maintenance of target stakeholder contact lists by contributing to the Centre’s Client Relationship Management system and collaborating with the Engagement & Communications team and the wider Centre team.

Learning by:

·      Fostering a culture of results, and upholding our values of challenge, quality, impartiality and creativity. 

·      Leading on strategies to monitor evidence uptake and making recommendations for increasing engagement and impact.

·      Reporting relevant metrics on our evidence communication for monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Digital presence and branding by:

·      Managing the Centre’s digital presence, including website and social media channels.

·      Strengthening our brand identity and ensuring consistent messaging across all channels.

·      Developing and implementing digital strategies to enhance online engagement and visibility.

Daily communications management by:

• Managing the day-to-day communications activities, including work planning and administration using tools such as Monday.com.
• Maintaining and updating guidance documents, improving and keeping processes current.

There may be opportunities to support other related projects and initiatives based on your interests and skills and the Centre’s pipeline. You will also deputise for the Head of Communications when needed.

In return, you will find yourself in a supportive and encouraging setting, where you can be propositional and shape your role to leverage your strengths. You will be part of a culture that values kindness, honesty, and growth. With a strong mission focus, you will have the opportunity to engage in meaningful and intellectually stimulating work.

Skills and experience 

We are looking for a candidate with a record of professional experience, ideally spanning a significant period, to be able to hit the ground running. Successful candidates will possess extensive hands-on experience in content management and research communication and able to demonstrate the following:

·      Exemplary written and verbal communication abilities with a keen eye for detail.

·      Excellent interpersonal skills including demonstrated ability to liaise and communicate with colleagues and external partners at all levels of seniority and from different cultures.

·      Ability to distil key messages and convey complex information in a clear, jargon-free and engaging manner with experience gained in a similar research or academic environment.

·      Strong organisational, prioritisation, project management with emphasis on delivery of results. Ability to independently set up, coordinate and oversee end-to-end production processes. A project management qualification is an advantage.

·      Use of own initiative and ability to work in a self-directed manner.

·      Experience in managing external suppliers, including agencies. Demonstrated understanding of how freelancers and creative professionals work to effectively manage project scope, resources and expectations having coordinated freelancers and creatives in previous roles, or maybe you have previously worked as a creative.

·      Proven ability to draw on your professional expertise and confidence in your skills to effectively engage, persuade, inspire and challenge senior stakeholders and colleagues in a multi-disciplinary team, particularly those with technical backgrounds and limited experience in research communication.

·      Proven track record in developing and implementing multi-channel dissemination and communications strategies and overseeing strategic planning of content and/or publications pipelines in a complex organisational setting.

·      Experience commissioning creative material such as multimedia content, data visualisations, and infographics. Familiarity with digital platforms, including website management, and proficiency in leveraging social media tools and analytics.

·      Creativity and perceptiveness—You are able to make judgements about design and pinpoint and articulate specific elements or details that contribute to or detract from impact.

·      Examples from similar environments where you have identified challenges, devised solutions and translated these into actionable tasks.

Above all, you thrive on delving into technical research and turning it into creative, engaging, quality outputs. You can envision the final product and use your leadership skills to bring others with you. Your approach to work is detail-oriented and process-focused and you can keep projects to deadlines, but you are also unfazed by changing priorities and timelines. You excel in navigating ambiguity and are happy working in a young, evolving mission-led organisation.

The offer

The contracts will be fixed term until the 30th of June 2029. Contract extensions will be offered subject to project funding being extended. The role will be contracted by DAI Global UK, who are the Centre’s managing agent.

A competitive salary and benefits package is available, which includes 25 days annual leave (plus public holidays) and a contributory pension scheme. The salary offer will be based on the level of experience, this will be in the region of £45,000 to £55,000. An increased salary may be considered for candidates who offer substantially more experience. This is an indicative salary range based on employment in the UK, employment in other locations may impact the salary range.

We have an office in the City of London, and we expect our staff to work from the office twice per week. We are open to considering part-time and flexible working arrangements.

For contracting purposes, candidates must have the right to live and work in the UK. Other locations of employment may be considered, subject to feasibility. Candidates based elsewhere who fulfil the required skills and experience may contact the Centre on the inquiry e-mail below to verify if the role can be offered in their location. 

The Centre is committed to building a diverse workplace and so we particularly encourage applications from diverse backgrounds that are typically under-represented in this sector.

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the USA, the UK, the EU, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Palestine, and project operations worldwide. DAI tackles fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability; it works on the frontlines of global development, transforming ideas into action—action into impact. DAI is committed to shaping a more liveable world.

Application Process 

Interested applicants should apply via DAI’s recruitment portal before Monday 9h of September midday (12:00 pm, UK time). Applications must include a cover letter (no more than one page) and a CV to be considered.

Any questions about the role or the recruitment process should be sent to: [email removed - click apply for more details] (please do not send applications to this email address). 

We are assessing applications for this position as they are received, interested applicants are therefore encouraged to complete their applications before the deadline.

Please note that your data will be stored confidentially on DAI’s corporate database, which has restricted access for necessary DAI corporate staff only. DAI takes your privacy seriously. If you choose to, you may opt out of inclusion in our database at any point in time by sending an email [email removed - click apply for more details]. See our Privacy Policy for details. Your data may be held outside of the EU and/or UK by one of the other DAI group companies with sufficient safeguards in place regarding security and use.