Communications Manager in London

The Santander UK Foundation is a newly relaunched independent charitable foundation with a single, clear purpose: to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged 16-19-year-olds in Further Education. FE is the most neglected part of the education system - chronically underfunded, under-researched and largely invisible to those with the power to change it. We want to help change that.

We have three interconnected aims:

• to transform the lives of young people facing the most severe disadvantages in FE;
• to help the sector tell its story and create more change;
• to be a best-in-class funder.

Our funding will focus on three programme areas: attainment of gateway qualifications, enrichment, and transition into and out of FE - the points at which young people facing disadvantages are most likely to fall behind or fall through the gaps entirely. We will initially fund in England, focusing on general FE colleges where the concentration of disadvantage is greatest, with ambitions to grow our reach across the UK over the course of the strategy.

We aim to fund long-term, without restriction wherever possible, across a mixture of direct service provision and systemic work. We will fund concentrated cohorts at any one time so we can invest deeply in learning and improvement alongside the organisations we support. We will put young people at the table when decisions are made. This is a five-year strategy, running to 2030, and these roles sit at the heart of delivering it.

The role of storytelling is central to how we achieve change. The FE sector has long struggled to make its case to the people with the power to fund and influence it. One of our most important contributions is to change that: helping to amplify the sector’s voice, amplifying the stories of the young people within it, and ensuring that the evidence we generate through our funding does not sit in reports but reaches the people who need to hear it.

This is a focused part-time role spanning communications, storytelling and brand - varied and substantive in equal measure. You will be the Foundation's primary storyteller, brand steward, and media presence, converting research findings, evaluation learnings, and the experiences of young people into compelling communications, whether through writing, film, events, or other media. The ability to make complex or unfamiliar material digestible, human, and impossible to ignore is at the heart of this role.

What you will do:

• Build and own the Foundation's communications strategy - establishing the channels, tone, cadence and priorities that will define how the Foundation is seen and heard.
• Lead day-to-day external communications across the website, social channels, press, sector-facing content and core annual outputs such as funding calls and the annual report.
• Support the team to help grantees to build storytelling into their funded programmes from the start.
• Work with the team to build streamlined content production and review processes that maintain high quality across everything the Foundation puts out.
• Support the Foundation's events and convenings - from practitioner roundtables to showcases of grantee work.
• Elevate the voices of young people with lived experience of FE.

Who we are looking for:

• Someone who believes that the right story at the right moment can change things.
• You will have strong writing skills and a confident editorial judgment.
• You will have experience in marketing, communications, content or media.
• Experience of working within or alongside a corporate or institutional brand relationship is an advantage.
• A genuine commitment to elevating the voices of young people.

Essential skills, qualities and experience:

• Demonstrable experience in communications, content or media.
• Exceptional writing skills and a confident editorial judgment.
• Proven ability to convert complex or technical material into accessible, engaging communications.
• Experience of building and managing external communications channels.
• A genuine commitment to elevating the voices of young people or communities.

Desirable:

• Experience in the charity, social policy, education or public sector.
• Familiarity with or connection to the Further Education sector.
• Experience of commissioning or producing multimedia content.

Encouraging diversity: We recognise that job descriptions can read as a wish list rather than a genuine guide to what matters. If you are excited about this role and share our values, we want to hear from you.

How to apply: With the subject line ‘Communications Manager Application’, please send your CV and a covering letter or video/audio telling us why this role interests you, how your experience and skills relate to the Foundation and the strategy, and what you would bring to the Foundation. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Key dates: Application deadline: 10am, 20th May. First round interviews: 3rd June. Second round interviews: 11th June.