Interim Head of Communications and Brand (Maternity Cover) in London

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Salary: £63,300 - £65,456 per annum (based on experience)

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract – February 2027 to March 2028

Location: 1 St John’s Lane, London, EC1M 4AR

Closing date: 22 November 2026 at 11pm

Interview date: First stage interviews on 1 December 2026 (remote), Second stage interviews on 7 and 8 December 2026 (in person)

About CARE

CARE International is a global humanitarian organisation leading the fight to end poverty in the world’s most challenging situations. Women and girls are at the centre of our work, because we cannot overcome poverty and inequality until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We know that when a crisis erupts, women are often the first to pick up the pieces, so we work alongside women, so they have the power to make change where it’s needed most. Founded in 1945, CARE currently works in over 100 countries and last year alone reached 35.7 million people.

Why work for CARE International UK?

At CARE International UK, we have a fantastic global reputation and a proven track record promoting women’s power to overcome crisis and poverty. But not enough of the UK public know who we are or what we stand for, and we’re determined to change that. Over the past two years, despite significant turmoil facing international causes, we have increased our investment in our communications and brand function. We have developed a new brand narrative and increased staff and discretionary budget, and our leaders have given clear backing for a more strategic communications role across the organisation. In our new strategy, we highlight how important communications are for raising our profile and for meeting our fundraising and influencing goals. We champion CARE’s values and feminist leadership principles, and we work together to build an inclusive, anti-racist culture that makes CIUK a great place to work.

About the role

You will join us at a critical and exciting moment. As Head of Communications and Brand (maternity cover, February 2027 to March 2028), you will lead a talented and committed team of nine and the implementation of a new audience strategy, and you will develop and operationalise a cross-organisational public engagement strategy. This is a strategic and hands-on role. You’ll find the variety and breadth both a challenge and a huge opportunity for impact. You will be accountable for our brand, media, website, social media, ambassadors and digital mobilisation, using audience insight, digital innovation and integrated campaigns to grow engagement and action. You will manage a non-staff budget of c. £300k, act as CARE’s senior comms representative on the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and across the CARE confederation, and lead on crisis communications and reputational risk. You will work collaboratively with senior leaders across the organisation and our global confederation to help your team contribute to different fundraising and advocacy goals, while driving excellence and consistency in communications across the whole organisation. You will have a lot of autonomy to decide how we best deploy our resources creatively, strategically and innovatively, as a key senior leader in our Fundraising and Communications directorate. You will inspire more people to join us in growing women’s power to overcome crisis and poverty, unlocking the attention, influence and income needed for change.

About you

Whether you lead a comms team now or you’re ready to step up, we’d love to hear from you. You’ll bring:

• experience developing or communicating a consistent, compelling brand identity
• a track record of comms that raised a charity’s profile, income or influence
• an excellent understanding of how different comms channels and approaches can be combined for maximum impact
• experience creating innovative digital engagement approaches
• a leadership style that builds an inclusive, collaborative team where everyone can deliver and develop, rooted in CARE’s values and feminist leadership principles

Living our Values and Feminist Leadership Principles (FLPs)

At CARE International UK, living by our values and FLPs is an expectation for all staff and is central to how we achieve our goals and uphold our culture. To help us do this, we have developed a Behaviour Competency Framework. These competencies focus not on what we deliver, but on how we work to achieve impact. They define the behaviours, attitudes and ways of working that enable us to bring our values and FLPs to life every day. It is a shared language for how we make decisions, work inclusively, build trust, support one another, develop people and learn from experience. Our framework is built around seven competencies and applies to all employees. We encourage candidates to review the attached Behaviour Competency Framework (BCF) Summary, which provides further information on the behaviours and expectations associated with each competency.

Right to Work in the UK

All applicants must have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom at the time of appointment. Proof of right to work will be required as part of the recruitment process. For more information, please visit the UK Government's guidance on right to work. If you do not currently have the right to work in the UK, this will be discussed with you during the recruitment process. Please note that not all roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. Further information on sponsorship eligibility can be found here.

Safeguarding

CARE International UK has a zero-tolerance approach to any abuse or sexual harassment or exploitation of people in crisis by any of our staff, representatives or partners. CARE International UK expects all staff to share this commitment through our Safeguarding Policy and our Code of Conduct. They are responsible for ensuring they understand and work within the remit of these policies throughout their time at CARE International UK. Safeguarding the communities we work with is our top priority in everything we do, including recruitment. All offers of employment at CARE International UK are subject to:

• Satisfactory references. CARE International UK participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from successful applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.
• Appropriate criminal record checks (including a Bridger check).

By submitting an application, the applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. We are a Disability Confident Employer and particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities. We guarantee interviews to applicants with disabilities who meet the essential criteria for the role. If you require the candidate brief or need to submit your application in an alternative format, because of a disability, please do get in touch by sending an email to hrteam@careinternational.org. We also encourage people from minoritised communities to apply for roles at CARE International UK.

CARE’s EDI Vision Statement

We are guided by the communities we serve and grounded by our values which are: women-centred, inclusive, collaborative and quality. We share power responsibly and transparently, we earn trust and are accountable to each other, and we create supportive spaces for collaboration so that everyone is empowered to share ideas. Equity, diversity and inclusion are embedded in all we do - creating ways for everyone to be heard, respected and to thrive.