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Marketing and Communications Officer - External Relations

Employer
University of Birmingham
Location
United Kingdom
Salary
£27,924 to £30,497
Closing date
Dec 10, 2021
Position Details

External Relations

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,924 to £30,497, with potential progression once in post to £34,304

Grade 6

Full time

Fixed-term contract until 1st January 2023

Closing date - 10th December 2021

Job Summary

This role supports external and internal marketing and communications activities delivered by the Communications and Reputation team within External Relations and with a remit across the University.

The successful candidate will proactively devise and deliver content and events for a variety of internal and external audiences and support colleagues to deliver activity in relation to a range of key and emerging priority areas that support the University's new Strategic Framework.

The post holder will work across a number of areas including digital communications, internal communications, events, campaign planning and evaluation. Work will include supporting planning and day-to-day delivery of social media activity across the corporate channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn). This includes scheduling, copywriting and creative content development and curation. Good time management skills and sound judgment to assess content opportunities and know when to escalate topics of concern is essential. The post holder will also lead on the planning, delivery and promotion of staff events, including the Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum as well as staff events linked to key priority areas, for example in relation to the University's involvement with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Working alongside senior managers with the Communications and Reputation team, the post-holder will also support across a number of strategic projects including; reviewing and developing a new social media strategy for the institution, the implementation of a new Internal Communications Strategy and Framework.

The post holder will also support communities of practice and working groups that bring together staff from across the University to work on joint activity such as the internal communications network and content creators network.

The post holder will provide advice and support to colleagues on a number of key institutional priority areas, writing copy and producing content for a range of internal and external audiences as needed. They will need to work flexibly, often responding to emerging issues quickly and balancing this with planned activity. They will also coordinate activity with communications colleagues across the institution, acting as the main contact within the internal communications team.

The successful candidate will be an outstanding communicator, well organised and proactive and will split their time across internal communications and digital marketing activities. The post-holder may also be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or across the University as part of a broader approach to flexibly using resource to meet priorities.

Main Duties
  • Leading the planning and organisation of a number of all staff events, including responsibility for all aspects of event administration, ranging from devising promotional materials and copy, organising invitations and monitoring responses to identifying and booking suitable venues. You will need to co-ordinate with colleagues in order to ensure smooth and successful delivery of events. You will lead on the production of event briefings for internal attendees including University Senior Management.
  • Lead on developing content and events for staff on a range of projects including the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
  • Play an active role in responding to emerging issues affecting staff, such as industrial action and pensions.
  • Drafting a range of all staff communications, often at short notice and for a range of online and print publications.
  • Advising colleagues on the best channels to use when communicating priority areas to staff.
  • Supporting the implementation of a new Internal Communications Framework and involvement with a range of project groups, advising on internal communications as part of an ongoing programme of activity.
  • Lead on the development of content for key parts of the staff intranet and co-ordinate communications briefings, web pages, newsletters and social media campaigns, as appropriate.
  • Work with external suppliers to build upon e-newsletter services already provided.
  • Dealing with a wide range of more complex enquiries and correspondence independently, or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
  • Helping to source, create, curate, coordinate and evaluate engaging content for the University's central social channels
  • Working with colleagues from across the University to facilitate the creation of quality, accessible content which supports University projects such as Graduation, Welcome, Sustainability, awareness days, Open Days, Student Recruitment activity,
  • Coordinating and updating the content planner to ensure all areas of the University are aware and able to contribute and maintain a rolling 3 months forward plan.
  • Monitoring channels to identify opportunities and topics of concern - escalating where appropriate
  • Supporting with the development and implementation of a Social Media Strategy
  • Answering and triaging social media enquiries across all platforms.
  • Creation of social media content for projects as required e.g. B2022 Commonwealth Games, research stories, Stakeholder Engagement events and policy communications, Discover Birmingham - city, campus, people -
  • Collating, proofing and checking of selected content (i.e. text, graphics, imagery, audio and video) created by other stakeholders for use on University-owned channels
  • Providing technical and analytics support to colleagues on a project-basis
  • Providing support to the Stakeholder Engagement team to advise and support the requests for promotion and management of online events on the University channels
  • Day-to-day liaison with the wider Communications and Reputation team and communications officers from across the University, to ensure appropriate co-ordination of content and activities.

Person specification

Specialist Knowledge and Skills
  • Experience of working in communications or digital marketing role
  • Educated to degree level or equivalent
  • Experience of working on complex projects with senior stakeholders
  • Experience running events, both in-person and online
  • Experience of managing an organisations' social channels and knowledge of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok is desirable
  • Experience of using a content management system to update web pages
  • Experience of using analytics to measure success

Leading People
  • The ability to work effectively both in a team and independently and to remain cheerful in times of pressure
  • Ability to work collaboratively and bring people together from across the University to deliver activity
  • To constantly exhibit the Values and Behaviours of the University and External Relations

Strategic thinking & perspective
  • Knowledge of the higher education sector and a strong belief in the importance of universities in society, coupled with an awareness of the issues that they face.
  • Communication
    • Superb verbal and written communication skills including the ability to write for multiple audiences such as the public and senior management
    • The ability to demonstrate a high level of accuracy and attention to detail in all aspects of work and deliver on time
    • Excellent interpersonal skills. You must inspire confidence with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
    • A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues


Performance / Resource Management
  • Ability to prioritise own work under pressure
  • The ability to work with initiative, to take decisions and think creatively and laterally
  • A flexible approach to work, with the ability to multi-task to meet changing priorities
  • Excellent time management
  • Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
  • Knowledge and understanding of, and empathy for the UK HE sector
  • A commitment to actively promoting equality, diversity and inclusion across all communications and engagement activity


GeneralInformal enquiries can be made to Dominic Benson - d.benson.1@bham.ac.uk

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.

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