Stories Officer

​​This role is offered on a hybrid contract giving you the opportunity to also work from home three days a week.

Purpose of job:​ 

The Story Officer plays a vital role in bringing the stories of the people we support to life, ensuring that their voices are heard across all of Comic Relief’s channels. Working closely with the Stories Assistant Producer (AP) and Story Manager, you will be responsible for producing compelling content that showcases the impact of our work and the experiences of those we support.

In this role, you will be involved in all aspects of story research, writing, and development, with a strong focus on creating high-quality editorial content. Your work will span multiple platforms, including regional and national print, radio, broadcast, online, and social media. Additionally, you will contribute to marketing campaigns, community fundraising efforts, and content for our corporate partners.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to be at the heart of Comic Relief’s narrative, shaping the way we communicate our impact and connect with our supporters. As Story Officer, you will help to amplify the voices of those we support, ensuring their stories are told with authenticity and impact across all our communication channels.

Key responsibilities:

• To work on highly sensitive and targeted casting of contributors for stories

• Carry out initial conversations with projects and possible contributors to gather stories and subsequently logging and transcribing those conversations.

• Researching factual information, alongside colleagues within the organisation

• To work across setting up story gathering project visits with producers and the production manager in the UK and internationally (with strong focus on higher risk countries throughout Africa) including doing project recces.

• To be storytelling/safeguarding point of contact for our storytellers on shoots where story gathering may not be required but safeguarding and relationship management are key.

• Background research on talent ahead of project visits

• Build relationships with the funding team to understand Comic Relief’s impact and find ways to surface the best stories from the work we fund.

• To work closely with the Media, Corporate and Public Fundraising teams to understand story needs across the organisation and to help the Lead Stories Producer deliver on those needs.

• Keep a good record of all conversations with projects and contributors in line with CR’s internal processes

• Gather, log and store contributor release forms

• Writing first drafts of case studies and story synopses including key information for our social team to feed in to posts on social channels

• Keep a good record of where stories have been placed across CR’s output.

• Attend shoots and interview contributors for video content.

  Essential Skills and Competencies:

• Experience working in a charity stories team or media environment

• Experience working to tight deadlines and ability to work under pressure and prioritise

• knowledge of compliance and safeguarding, including experience of working with vulnerable people in challenging locations

• Highly organised with ability to multi task and work across more than one project simultaneously, including outside of the UK in high risk environments

• Experience working with corporate partners to enhance their storytelling offer.

• Excellent writing skills with a strong attention to detail – to produce work which is accurate and brand relevant

• Risk awareness: Be responsible for maintaining a strong work ethic and awareness of the consequences of their work on the team and the wider Comic Relief brand

• Have strong communication and creative skills and be able to judge how to speak and interact with projects and individuals.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience managing or producing content in the non-profit sector

• Active listener and problem-solver with the ability to build trust with peers quickly.

• Experience working on Campaigns

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London, There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work.

Disability Confident employer

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV or application scores.

We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email [email removed - click apply for more details] to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.