Communications and Engagement Manager

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is looking for an energetic, experienced communications professional to help us reach and engage more people than before. You’ll provide communications expertise on various projects and support the planning and delivery of campaigns that enable us to drive change and influence others. As someone who isn’t afraid to try something new, you’ll encourage colleagues to think outside the box and take our engagement activities to new heights. The LSB welcomes applications from candidates seeking to work flexibly.

About the LSB

The LSB is an oversight regulator. Our jurisdiction covers England and Wales, and we are independent of both the legal profession and government. Our vision is for legal services that everyone can access and trust. In pursuit of this vision, we monitor the performance of the nine approved legal regulators (including the regulators for solicitors and barristers) to ensure that they meet our expected standards, and we ask them to take steps to change when they don’t meet these standards. We assess applications for changes to a regulator’s rules to ensure that any new rules align with the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act, such as protecting consumers. We ensure that our work is well‑informed by doing regular research to determine what legal consumers need and how the market responds. Our position as an oversight regulator gives us a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the legal sector in England and Wales. We, therefore, also act as agents of change, highlighting issues and pushing for improvements to promote the public interest. It is an exciting time to join the Legal Services Board as we collaborate with the legal services sector to deliver our strategy. The strategy’s golden thread is the need to reshape legal services to better meet society’s needs. We have identified some significant challenges facing the legal services sector that we must tackle to ensure fairer outcomes, stronger confidence, and better services for the public. We would love to hear from you if you share our excitement about creative communications and effective engagement in driving positive changes for society.

Responsibilities

• You will report to the Head of Communications and Engagement but will need to work closely with all colleagues and, as required, directly to the Chief Executive and Chair.
• You will be responsible for planning, coordinating, delivering, and evaluating the LSB’s communications activity, including in the following key areas:

• Lead the development and delivery of external and internal communications campaigns that support the delivery of our strategy for the sector, for example, disseminating research, promoting policy interventions, and launching public consultations.
• Evaluate communications activities and report on outputs and outcomes.
• Lead the management and development of the LSB’s social media channels, including sourcing, generating and posting engaging content that supports our communications and engagement strategy.
• Ensure the LSB’s website is up‑to‑date, accessible and an effective tool for communication with stakeholders and the wider public.
• Write blogs, newsletters, speeches, presentations and briefings as required.
• Commission and brief designers, agencies and other partners to support the delivery of our work.
• Support delivery of events (online, in‑person, and hybrid).
• Mentor and support junior colleagues.
• Play an active role in the wider activities of the Communications and Engagement team and the Enabling Services Team.

• Identify opportunities for the LSB to tell its story in the press and media, demonstrate its impact, and galvanise stakeholder support and understanding of our role.
• Support the Head of Communications and Engagement in building relationships with key stakeholders, including the Media, MPs, civil servants, approved regulators, consumer and citizen groups, lawyer groups, NGOs and think tanks, and monitoring their perceptions of the LSB.
• Represent the LSB at external meetings and contribute to industry‑related working groups.
• Draft reports, invitations, briefings and correspondence as required.
• Support Board members and colleagues in their dealings with external stakeholders.

• Demonstrable experience and skills in communications and engagement.
• Familiar with developing, improving and evaluating communications strategies and using new approaches to maximise impact.
• Excellent oral and written skills, including the ability to translate complex legalistic and regulatory concepts into meaningful ‘everyday’ language.
• An understanding of the range of methods and tools that can be used to engage audiences.
• Strong writing, editing and proofreading skills.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of current trends in digital media/social media.
• Ability to forge effective working relationships with colleagues at all levels in the organisation – a team player, able to work in a collaborative way.
• Excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills with a positive and supportive attitude.
• Confident and experienced in managing multiple external and internal stakeholders.
• Experience in managing multiple projects and events.
• An appreciation of the workings of the legal services sector and an understanding of consumer concerns would be an advantage but is not essential.
• Experience in press and media management.
• Experience of using social listening tools is desirable.

Further information

The LSB has a flexible working policy that enables colleagues to choose whether they want to work from home, the office or a hybrid of both. You can be based anywhere in the UK but will be required to attend the London office when there is a business need. The LSB is committed to reducing inequality, valuing diversity and enabling inclusion. We welcome applications from people from all parts of the community.

How to apply

Please write a cover letter outlining why you want the job and the skills and experience you will bring (based on the person specification) and with your CV send it to recruitment@legalservicesboard.org.uk. You are welcome to include links to one or two examples of your publicly available work that you feel are relevant to this role. Please send your covering letter and CV as one word document (not a separate cover letter and CV) as we anonymise the applications before they go to the shortlisting panel. Please note that applications that do not have a cover letter or CV will not be considered.