communications associate Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Job description
Salary: £28,929 to £29,762 with progression to £32,411 per annum
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits . We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 18 August 2023
The Role
This is an excellent opportunity to join the UK’s National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) at Newcastle University, to help support the communication strategy and position the Centre's offer to a range of audiences, using a variety of media channels and platforms. The postholder will also spend a day per week working at the broader Faculty level, supporting communications across the Faculty and its five academic units.
NICD has been established to address the data skills gap in the UK that will enable organisations to innovate through data. It delivers a flexible rolling programme of collaborative projects that focus on a specific business challenge or opportunity and transfers practical data skills into the workforce. Using these new skills, organisations can make better, data driven decisions, optimising existing operations or launching new products and services.
You will be responsible for taking a lead role in planning, organising and delivering NICD communications - including activities, events and social media strategies that create a regular, consistent, and positive professional profile for NICD. This will include the development of content for blogs, news articles, social media copy and digital collateral.
You will be educated to degree level, preferably in a related discipline, and should have a background in developing narratives for marketing, publicity and event campaigns. You will be highly motivated, enthusiastic and creative. You will possess excellent organisational, IT and communications skills, have a keen eye for details and be able to prioritise your own workload, to ensure deadlines are met. You will have excellent communication skills, be willing to challenge yourself and contribute new ideas and insights. Energy, empathy, and a positive ‘can-do’ attitude are essential.
This position is available as open-ended contracts and offer the opportunity for blended working.
To apply, please complete an online application and upload a plain text copy of your CV and cover letter only. In your cover letter, you should evidence how you meet or exceed the essential requirements for the role. Please note, any other ‘Additional Document’ you upload may not be received by the reviewing panel.
Any specific questions relating to the job advert, please get in touch:
Georgia Carr – [email protected]
Barry Hodgson – [email protected]
More about NICD here.
Twitter: @NICDATA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nationalinnovationcentrefordata
Or watch this short animation: https://youtu.be/ETMLrLOdo4w
Key Accountabilities
- Develop, coordinate, and implement the Centre’s communications strategy
- Contribute to and support the delivery of the Faculty communicators strategy
- Coordinate and deliver campaigns to support the Centre’s activities and events programmes
- Create, coordinate, and manage content creation (social copy, case studies, blog posts, articles, video clips, email)
- Proofread, re-structure and edit articles or academic publications written by content writers
- Update and manage the Centre’s social media channels to ensure timely publication
- Maintain a consistent two-way communication across the Centre’s social media channels
- Update the website to ensure relevant content using Web Content Management systems
- Communicate and collaborate with key marketing delivery teams across the university (Web Design, Media, Creative Assets, Press etc)
- Manage content projects with external agencies
- Support and coordinate the development of narratives for the Centre’s events and exhibitions campaigns
- Act as the key point of contact to external and internal audiences for the Centre’s marketing related activity
- Monitor and measure social and web user engagement analytics
- Act as an evangelist for promoting the importance of good story telling amongst the NICD team
- Communicate with both partner and NICD team members to gather briefing information for content projects
- Generate new ideas to aid the promotion of the Centre’s offers and activities
- Follow guidelines on copyright, privacy, and web accessibility
- Support with general administrative tasks where required – tasks can vary in nature, from transactional such as input into University systems, to strategic such as supporting senior management with strategic plans
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Experience of developing, coordinating, and implementing communications campaigns
- Experience generating quality content for digital, social, web and email
- Excellent writing skills (including a high level of accuracy) and an ability to write for a range of different audiences across a range of channels
- Experience of managing social media channels including the use of scheduling tools such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social
- Excellent proof-reading skills in the context of updating information
- Excellent time management and organisational skills
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and a good team player with an enthusiastic and positive outlook
- Ability to work independently on communications activities, whilst also collaborating with the wider NICD and central comms teams
- Ability to communicate ideas effectively to stakeholders to gain buy in
- Ability to manage and work within budget constraints
- Knowledge of EDI and the ability to create both inclusive and accessible content
- Experience of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop/Illustrator/PremierPro) or equivalent packages
- Experience with monitoring and measuring social and web analytics platforms
- Creativity with skills in, and experience of, creating visual digital content (using video editing skills) or the ability to manage digital creation via agency support – training could be made available
- Ability to translate evidence-based content into engaging content and communications for digital channels.
- Photography skills
- Knowledge and understanding of issues relating to marketing, publicity and promotion
- Knowledge and understanding of GDPR, data privacy and data ethics
- Energy, enthusiasm, empathy, and a positive ‘can-do’
- Acts in a collaborative, inclusive, transparent and open manner, acting with integrity and able to build high levels of trust
- Understands and makes sense of complex or conflicting data and different perspectives of stakeholders and University areas/faculties/etc
- Uses clear, concise and accurate communication, tailoring the approach accordingly and encouraging a two-way communication process
- Uses systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date
- Works continually towards achieving success through understanding and meeting or exceeding the expectations of the area, the University, students, colleagues, and other stakeholders
- Takes responsibility for achieving targets
- Has an eye for detail, spotting errors and ensuring accurate information
- Degree or equivalent level qualification or significant vocational experience
- Degree in media production, marketing or similar.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 25880
