Social Media Manager in Harlow

Salary: £39,000 - £44,000
18 Month Contract, Full time, 37.5 hours per week.
Reports to: Digital Communications Manager
Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site.
Extra Information: We offer blended working within this role – with a minimum of two days a week in the office or at key stakeholder meetings externally required.

About the role
This is an exciting time to be joining Motability Foundation. With our newly launched five-year strategy, our vision is clear - we want to build transport equity for disabled people in the UK so that they can make the journeys they choose. As our Social Media Manager, you will actively monitor trends, conversations, and opportunities across the transport and disability sector to identify moments where Motability Foundation can engage, respond, and lead. You’ll create compelling, original content for our digital channels spotlighting our impact, amplifying our voice and the voices of disabled people. Working within our growing Digital Communications team, you’ll ensure our content is timely, relevant, and aligned with sector developments, supporting our strategic aims and deepening community engagement.

What you will be doing

• Social media management and community building
  • Own day-to-day management of our social media channels (LinkedIn, X, Instagram and Facebook).
  • Foster community engagement - respond to comments, messages, and mentions in a timely, sensitive, and brand-aligned way.
  • Develop and implement community-building initiatives (user-generated content and beneficiary support stories).
  • Follow best practice guidelines to ensure all content is accessible (e.g. alt text, video captions).
• Content creation and storytelling
  • Create original, on-brand social media content that reflects Motability Foundation’s values, mission, and impact. This includes written copy, graphics, short videos, infographics, and carousel posts.
  • Develop content that communicates impact and encourages calls to action, such as grant applications or case study sign-ups.
  • Collaborate with the Content and Stories Executive, and Communications team colleagues (e.g. press, public affairs) to source stories, case studies, and content opportunities.
  • Maintain the digital content calendar in coordination with the Digital Communications team.
• Campaign planning and execution
  • Lead integrated digital awareness-raising campaigns that bring together organic social, paid social, email, and web content.
  • Manage campaign creative, scheduling, and coordination, ensuring timely execution and message alignment.
  • Work with partner organisations and external agencies to deliver high-quality campaign assets.
• Social listening, analytics and reporting
  • Use social listening tools to track sentiment, conversations, and emerging trends in the transport and disability space.
  • Help develop and monitor KPIs (reach, engagement, conversion, sentiment) and produce regular performance reports.
  • Translate insights into actionable recommendations for content, community, and campaign optimisation.
  • Use A/B testing or experimentation (post times, formats, messaging) to improve performance.
• Strategy development and implementation
  • Support the development of a long-term social media strategy aligned with the charity’s five-year strategy.
  • Help define audience segments, tone of voice, content pillars, channel priorities, and metrics for success.
  • Contribute to cross-functional strategy discussions to ensure social media aligns with wider organisational goals.
  • Stay up to date on social media trends, platform changes, emerging tools, and best practices in the charity sector.
• Risk management and brand governance
  • Ensure that all social content aligns with brand guidelines, tone of voice, and organisational values.
  • Escalate any reputational or safeguarding risks (e.g. negative sentiment, sensitive stories) to the Digital Communications Manager and wider Communications team.
  • Support the development and implementation of social media policy, guidelines, and process maps.

Your experience
Proven track record of success in a dedicated social media or digital communications role, ideally within a charity or a public sector organisation. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, compelling narratives for diverse audiences. Experience developing and running social media campaigns (using organic and paid content). Skilled at content creation: writing, graphic design (e.g. Canva or Adobe Express) and basic video production/editing. Used social analytics and listening tools to measure performance, monitor sentiment, and generate insights. Managed or contributed to multi-channel campaigns, combining social media with email and website. Experience managing a content calendar and coordinating with different teams. Proficient with social scheduling and management tools e.g. Sprout Social, Emplifi or similar. Experience in reporting, A/B testing, or using insights to optimise content is a plus. Strong understanding in managing and optimising digital communication channels, including social media strategy and content. Ability to work autonomously, manage multiple projects, and thrive in a fast-paced environment.

Nice to haves
Experience working with or for disabled people's organisations or charities. Experience editing website pages using a CMS e.g. Umbraco, WordPress. Experience partnering with external agencies or consultants. Understanding of SEO, UX and accessibility best practices and have applied them in your work.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience, we’d still encourage you to apply.

Who are we
We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose. We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Why choose us
We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries. We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving. We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff. We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum. A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits.

Some of these include:

• 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/sell up to five days.
• One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
• Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life Assurance of four times your salary.
• Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
• Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
• Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
• Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
• Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and a Dress for Your Day dress code.
• Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you. To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates.