Senior Public Relations Officer

2 Roles Available.

Fixed Term Contract

£36,565 - £38,328 pa

City of London E1 8QS and we are a hybrid working organisation

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

Purpose of Role

As a Senior PR Officer, you will play an important role in planning and delivering creative national and regional PR strategies to promote fundraising and partnership activities for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day 2025 campaign, that inspire people to get involved and demonstrate the life changing work donations make possible. 

You will work across a broad and exciting range of projects that creatively combine the worlds of entertainment and charity whilst driving income, awareness, and brand consideration at a time when the charity gets set to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025.

You will need to have a thorough understanding of the UK media landscape, feel confident in approaching journalists with new ideas and have proven success in generating quality print, online and broadcast coverage at both a regional and national level. 

Running Comic Relief’s busy Press Office alongside PR campaigns is a responsibility shared by all team members. You will be required to take an active role in managing media enquiries in a timely and accurate manner, media monitoring and evaluation, and join the on-call rota for out-of-hours and weekend support. 

This role may require occasional UK wide travel to manage media opportunities. 

Key responsibilities:

Develop and deliver creative, national and regional PR strategies that feed into the charity’s strategic objectives by promoting fundraising activities for Red Nose Day 2025 and raising awareness of the positive impact donations have in the UK and around the world

Draft press releases, statements, briefing documents, quotes, and other media materials as required, ensuring editorial excellence and high-quality output 

Help to develop new ideas, content, and stories for all media types – broadcast, print and online

Establish and build strong, collaborative relationships with all relevant internal and external stakeholders. This may include partners, PR agencies, media, and will involve being the PR lead in cross-organisation working groups  

Set up and facilitate media interviews with a range of spokespeople, drafting briefing materials and attending interviews when required (this might require UK wide travel on occasion). This includes Comic Relief colleagues, celebrity supporters, fundraisers, and people supported by organisations funded by Comic Relief

Work closely with internal teams and Comic Relief’s funded partners to tell stories that demonstrate the positive impact donations have in the UK and across the world. This may involve setting up and managing project visits with journalists, influencers, and high-profile supporters, leading briefings, and overseeing logistics and safeguarding protocols

Understand Comic Relief’s safeguarding principles and adhere to guidelines in practice

Take an active role in the day-to-day running of the Press Office - this includes responding to media enquiries, ensuring a smooth process from start to finish, working with teams across the organisation to draft responses, contributing to the morning press update, and producing coverage reports using our media monitoring platform

Join the on-call rota alongside other members of the team for out-of-hours and weekend cover

Monitor the press regularly to identify appropriate opportunities and potential threats to the promotion of the work of Comic Relief. Work to protect and enhance Comic Relief’s reputation and work closely with internal and external stakeholders if issues arise. Draft lines against enquiry and press statements, working with colleagues across the organisation to gather relevant info and ensure sign off 

Be flexible and support the wider PR team during the busy campaign period with ad hoc tasks as required, such as attending shoots to gather media assets, research, attending creative ideas sessions, and pitching ideas to media 

Person specification

Essential criteria

Proven experience of planning, implementing, leading and evaluating successful PR campaigns that get quality coverage 

Strong, collaborative, relationship building skills both internally and externally

An ability to develop and deliver fresh creative ideas that generate media coverage

Strong organisational skills

Good experience managing and prioritising multiple projects to strict deadlines even when faced with challenges

Excellent writing and communication skills

Good negotiator with strong influencing skills 

Strong understanding of PR evaluation methods

Passionate and strong understanding of our business mission

Desirable criteria 

Experience of working with talent/influencers 

Experience of setting up and managing media visits with journalists

Perks and benefits:

• Flexible working hours
• Work from home option
• Life Insurance
• Wellness programs
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Paid emergency leave
• Sabbatical Opportunities
• Professional development Mentoring/coaching
• Paid volunteer days
• Payroll giving
• Salary sacrifice 
• Team social events
• Extracurricular clubs
• Cycle to work scheme
• Free fruit

To apply please visit our website via the link and apply online.

Closing: 12:00pm, 21st Oct 2024 BST

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 and application questions.