Senior PR Campaigns Manager

At Smart Energy GB, we aim to engage and communicate with our diverse nation about the smart meter rollout across England, Scotland and Wales. We are an independent organisation set up by the government to deliver the national public engagement campaign, raise awareness of smart meters and drive adoption of this technology in everyone’s homes. Smart meters are essential building blocks in the creation of a cleaner, greener energy system for the future.

We are looking for a Senior PR Campaigns Manager, with demonstrable experience of working in a senior mid-level position managing proactive PR planning and delivery for a consumer facing organisation, ideally with a campaigning focus, to join our team in our London office. As part of the wider Communications department, your job is to drive the positive agenda for the vital smart meter technology that cuts through to the British public and opinion formers. You will manage an in-house team and work with a roster of agencies (delivering PR, broadcast, content production and influencers) to design and deliver high-quality, high volume integrated PR campaigns to engage target consumer audiences on the benefits of smart meters and drive conversion to installation.

Responsibilities

• Support the Deputy Director and Director of Communications and the development of SEGB’s strategic PR priorities.
• Deputise for the Deputy Director of Communications as required.
• Provide strategic advice, be a trusted ambassador and contribute to the reputation of the team by building strong relationships and working collaboratively across the organisation and with external stakeholders.
• Line manage the Communications Manager and Senior PR Officer, completing biannual development reviews and providing constructive feedback and mentoring to ensure high performance and engagement.
• Lead the development of a highly creative and multi-layered in-house campaign strategy that reaches SEGB’s diverse range of audiences, including specialist audiences.
• Confident management of our roster of agencies, principally for PR, influencer and content production, and occasionally advertising and media buying as required.
• Foster collaborative, positive relationships and hold agencies to account to ensure excellent performance and results.
• Lead the annual briefing and procurement of a hero PR agency and work collaboratively with them to support the development of fully integrated campaigns, built around priority audiences and informed by data and insights.
• Manage the budgets and contracting for individual campaigns in accordance with SEGB finance procedures, supported by the finance team.
• Take responsibility and ownership for delivering high quality news materials, press releases, Q&As, talent/expert briefings, creative assets and content to promote and protect the smart meter rollout – ensuring excellent quality control and risk mitigation so as to be ready for sign off by the Deputy Director and/or Director.
• Support the evaluation of PR campaigns by the Insight & Analytics team and commission bespoke evaluation after major campaigns as necessary.
• Manage broadcast interview days as required, working with our broadcast media agency and preparing/briefing senior colleagues or talent ahead of transmission.
• Manage production companies and content shoot days, briefing talent, setting up locations, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality assets that support strategic priorities as necessary, whilst ensuring accuracy and mitigating risk.
• Support the development of influencer strategy and content, led by another senior manager, to wrap around hero PR campaigns throughout the year.
• Select appropriate and authentic talent for in-house and hero campaigns, overseeing contracting and negotiation of the right deliverables and usage periods for the channel mix required.
• Collaborate with colleagues across digital and other Marketing functions to ensure close integration, particularly with social media.
• Lead the collation of media evaluation and reporting for proactive PR campaigns for board papers throughout the year.
• Support the Senior Manager who leads on media partnerships when necessary, including contributing to the development of briefs, quality control/proofing and assisting with the sign off process to ensure all content is of the highest standard and adheres to the necessary regulatory standards and is ready for sign off by the Deputy Director.
• Support and provide cover for the Senior Manager who leads the Microbusiness strategy when necessary.
• Take part in the 24/7 duty press office rota (including out of hours), responding quickly and robustly to reactive media requests and opportunities while seeking corrections or clarifications to misleading or inaccurate articles.

Essential – Skills, experience and competencies

• The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience of working in a senior mid-level position, managing proactive PR planning and delivery for a consumer facing organisation, ideally with a campaigning focus.
• You will have a strategic mindset, capable of seeing the bigger picture and working across teams to deliver results that feed into organisational priorities.
• Combined PR and news management experience and thorough knowledge of GB media including national, regional, consumer and digital media.
• Excellent creative and organisational PR skills, with demonstrable experience of managing an ongoing programme of high quality, successful and targeted PR initiatives.
• Ability to work independently and proactively, you’ll be a self-starter experienced in multi-tasking and juggling priorities - taking the initiative and quickly grasping complex issues with confidence.
• Experience of effective news management gained from working in a busy press office, with strong rebuttal and crisis management skills and a highly developed sense of risk – and knowledge of how to mitigate.
• Accustomed to collaborative team working and an ability to act as external ambassador for Smart Energy GB.
• Excellent communication skills (verbal/writing) and the ability to hone written materials to a high standard with little or no need for amendments.
• Understanding of the objectives and activities of Smart Energy GB.
• Appreciation of the diversity of the people and communities of Great Britain and embrace this diversity in your approach to work.

Desirable

• Demonstrable experience of working to a campaign budget and of finance/procurement/contracting processes to ensure value for money.
• Ability to act as a media spokesperson for SEGB.
• Experience of working with marketing or advertising teams and/or incorporating digital and other integrated channels within campaigns. Ideally, some knowledge of media partnerships.
• Good knowledge of PR evaluation techniques.

To apply

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Diversity

Smart Energy GB is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We use data to measure the effectiveness of our attraction and selection methods to ensure that they are fair and equitable and that opportunities at Smart Energy GB are accessible to people from all backgrounds. We actively encourage applications from currently under-represented groups. We have identified ethnic minority, lower socioeconomic backgrounds, disability and gender as the key areas we would like to focus our recruitment efforts.

Every person who applies for a role at Smart Energy GB is asked to complete a diversity questionnaire and they are asked whether or not they consent to their diversity data being taken into consideration at the shortlisting stage. We are building a team that is able to understand the needs of and effectively communicate with the whole of our diverse nation. We want our team to reflect the diversity of the wider population, in terms of the representation of people from ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. If consent is given, of the candidates who meet the essential selection criteria for the role and who are from ethnic minority or lower socioeconomic backgrounds, at least one will be shortlisted for the next stage in the recruitment process, which is usually an interview. All disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements of the job as set out in the job description will be guaranteed an interview if consent is given for this data to be considered at the shortlisting stage. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make our interview process or working environment more inclusive and to meet your particular needs. Our offices have full wheelchair access.