Head of Strategic Communications (1 year fixed term contract)

Are you a Strategic Communications professional with expert understanding of how organisational strategy translates into a whole organisational approach to communications planning? Are you a planner in an agency thinking about working in the charity sector? 

We are looking for a Head of Strategic Communications to work with senior leadership to translate organisational strategy and objectives into a clear and consistent narrative, underpinned by a rolling, integrated communications plan, to support the growth of our brand, income and impact, primarily by leveraging our earned and owned channels.

About this role:

As Head of Strategic Communications, you’ll:

• Lead the Communications and Digital Directorates planning processes to ensure the team is telling a coherent story and has the right processes systems and resources in place, to focus our messaging by working collaboratively with the team and directorates stakeholders.
• Launch a framework for a rolling annual communications plan for 2024/2025 that can drive growth in brand, income and impact through collaborative working.
• Produce quarterly, and monthly reports (as appropriate) that bring together multiple metrics to help optimise our communications campaigns, drawn from our project retros.
• Inspire and motivate a high performing team of Strategic Communications Managers (4 direct line reports) to oversee the planning, execution and evaluation of priority communications campaigns to support our portfolio of work.

About you:

To be successful in this role you’ll have experience as a senior leader in a communications role or as a planner in an agency setting. You will have experience of leading a high performing team, and you’ll have expert knowledge of planning, delivering and evaluating complex communications campaigns through collaborative working that brings together owned, and earned channels, working collaboratively within a matrix structure to drive performance. You’ll be a highly experienced project manager with a real understanding of the role of data and audience insight in developing and evaluating communications plans.

About Dogs Trust:

We love dogs. That’s why we do whatever we can to make sure every four-legged friend gets the love they deserve. We’ll never put a healthy dog down, so our work is focused on helping dogs in need, supporting owners every step of the walk, and creating a better world for dogs in the future. It’s what we’ve been doing since 1891 and how we’ve grown to become the UK’s leading dog charity, helping 12,000 loyal friends find their forever homes every year.

About the team:

The Strategic Comms team sits within the Comms and Digital directorate, it translates our organisational strategy into a clear, rolling communications plan that can drive growth and oversees the workflow within the directorate.

A dedicated team of Strategic Communications Managers working through a business partnering model develops and coordinates the development, delivery and evaluation of integrated communications plans drawing from expertise across Dogs Trust to support our income generation and impact work.

This is a 1 year fixed term contract position, which offers hybrid working (usually 2 days per week in the London office).

To apply for this position please click the APPLY NOW button. Our application process requires you complete an application form and a covering letter explaining your interest and suitability for the role. Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive enough suitable interest, so to avoid disappointment early application is encouraged.

Dogs are incredibly diverse, much like the humans that love them! At Dogs Trust we value diversity and we’re committed to fostering an inclusive culture.  We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, abilities, and cultures and believe that a diverse workforce helps us to achieve our mission. Our colleague networks give our people a voice acting as vehicles for real and meaningful change within Dogs Trust.  We truly want to see every candidate shine throughout the entire job application process, interview stages, and during their time with us. If there’s anything on your mind or any adjustments you may need, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Feel free to send us an email at [email protected]. We’re here to support you every step of the way.