Closing date: 9am on Monday 16 August 2021

We are looking for an experienced communications professional for a new senior role within our growing marketing team. You’ll have the skills and experience to create and deliver creative and effective marketing strategies and action plans for our diverse projects, as well as supporting our wider communications. You’ll have hands-on marketing skills, from writing press releases and producing flyers through to digital marketing, and you’ll also be skilled at coordinating the work of others to ensure action plans are delivered on time and within budget. As part of a team of four marketing professionals, you’ll play a critical part in the success of our projects and in enabling us to achieve our vision of a zero carbon Cumbria.

Application & Interview Process

To apply, please send a CV along with a covering letter outlining the skills and abilities you can bring to this job. Please include in your letter any special qualities that you feel might differentiate you from other candidates, and identify how your experience and abilities relate to the essential/desirable qualities listed in the person specification.

In your letter, please also answer the following questions:

• Do you have a driving licence and access to a car for work? If no, please outline (in under 50 words) how you plan to travel independently throughout rural Cumbria.
• How much notice do you need to give your current employer?
• How did you hear about this job?

Please indicate the title of the job you are applying for. Please submit no more than 2 x A4 pages of text in font size 11.

Please send your CV and covering letter to: [email protected].

INTERVIEWS: Online interviews via Zoom will be held on Tuesday 24 August 2021. (Applicants will be informed by Wednesday 18 August 2021 if they are invited for interview.)

If you are selected for interview, you will be asked to prepare a short presentation, to be delivered during the interview. The interview process will also involve one or more marketing related tasks.

Job description

If you prefer to download the job description and person specification, please use the link below:

Senior Marketing Officer – Job Description

BENEFITS: CAfS offers an excellent working environment, with benefits ranging from flexible working to a pension contribution. Find out more about the benefits of working at CAfS >

THE EMPLOYER: Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS)

LOCATION: Contractually based at our office, Eden Rural Foyer, Old London Road, Penrith, CA11 8ET, however, homeworking can be agreed.

REPORTS TO: Marketing & Communications Manager

HOURS:  30 hours (4 days) a week

SALARY RANGE: £23,000 to £28,000 full-time equivalent, (£18,400 to £22,400 for the 4-day week), depending on skills and experience

DURATION: Fixed-term contract for 24 months (with potential to extend subject to additional funding)

START DATE: As soon as possible

ABOUT CAfS

Our vision is a zero-carbon Cumbria and we strive to bring about a better way of life, in balance with our environment.

Our mission is to empower and enable people, communities and businesses to live and work more sustainably by sharing our knowledge, practice, skills, networks and practical experience. We manage and deliver events, advice, training and practical projects across the county as well as providing specialist consultancy services to enable individuals, communities, businesses and local authorities to drive a shift towards a zero-carbon Cumbria.

Formed in 1998, CAfS is an award-winning charity with a team of 25 highly skilled staff, working with specialist contractors and volunteers to deliver a range of transformational low-carbon projects each year. CAfS is the leading organisation in Cumbria driving action on climate change and serving as the first point of reference on sustainability co-chairing the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership of nearly 80 organisations working to reduce our county’s emissions.

MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE: 

Motivating and empowering individuals and organisations to take action on climate change is what CAfS is all about, and marketing plays a critical role. As a senior member of our growing marketing team, your work will be crucial in making our many exciting projects a success – from the high-profile Zero Carbon Cumbria programme through to our Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria service.

You’ll use your marketing skills and experience to engage people from different walks of life in our projects, whether that’s attracting attendees for our events and training courses, bringing in new customers for our paid and free services, and encouraging people to use the resources we provide to enable them to live and work more sustainably. Your work will help to broaden our reach, deepen our engagement and continue building our strong reputation and profile.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:

You’ll develop marketing strategies and action plans for individual CAfS’ projects, working in conjunction with the marketing & communications manager for more complex strategies. You’ll ensure delivery of action plans, coordinating the work of marketing colleagues, contractors and suppliers.

You’ll also support the marketing & communications manager with the development and delivery of CAfS’ organisational marketing and communications strategy and elements of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership’s communications strategy.

MAIN TASKS:

  • Develop marketing strategies and action plans for individual projects and core work including recruitment and fundraising
  • Plan and carry out audience (and other) research to inform our strategies and refine our messaging
  • Plan, write and publish/distribute content such as newsletter articles, website pages and news posts, press releases, case studies, fact sheets
  • Contribute to building effective media relations, supporting our proactive and reactive media work
  • Plan and oversee delivery of digital marketing components of action plans, in conjunction with project managers, marketing officers and contractors
  • Oversee production of newsletters
  • Plan, create, schedule and monitor social media content
  • Plan, write and oversee production of publicity materials such as leaflets, posters and exhibition materials, working with designers and other suppliers
  • Oversee the use of partner channels to share content in support of action plans, such as their websites, newsletters and social media channels, and reciprocal sharing of partner content via CAfS’ channels
  • Source images and video footage, overseeing cataloguing media in CAfS’ digital libraries
  • Plan and oversee print advertising including design
  • Lead the expansion of our marketing lists for key audience groups
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of our action plans and identify opportunities for improvement, overseeing the collation of data and team members’ insights, and put forward recommendations for ongoing improvement of our communications
  • Attend internal (and occasionally external) project meetings to provide advice and coordinate delivery of action plans
  • Contribute to producing corporate documents such as our annual report
  • Manage the marketing budget for individual projects, logging and reporting expenditure
  • Support colleagues and partners to build their communications skills by giving advice, briefings and informal training sessions on aspects of marketing
  • Ensure adherence to CAfS’ brand, relevant best practice and regulations including data protection, accessibility, and media law such as libel and copyright
  • Assist in the management and improvement of the CAfS website
  • Support the marketing manager in developing, delivering and reviewing the CAfS’ organisational marketing strategy, and in delivering elements of more complex, strategic projects
  • Work with the whole staff team to carry out any other task or project required from time to time, as directed by the manager or trustees

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential skills and attributes:

  • An understanding of and interest in the objectives that CAfS seeks to deliver
  • Around five years’ experience of developing and delivering successful communications and marketing strategies
  • Experience of digital marketing, including social media, websites, email marketing and online advertising
  • Experience of coordinating the work of others to deliver marketing action plans
  • Excellent writing and editing skills for a range of communications purposes, from web content and social media posts to flyers and corporate documents
  • Experience of audience research and segmentation for marketing purposes
  • Excellent verbal communication and influencing skills
  • Experience of writing press releases and responding to media approaches
  • Ability to coordinate photography and film making
  • Driven to keep up to date with developments in marketing and apply new knowledge, tools and trends to improve communications outcomes
  • Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, managing workload and competing priorities
  • Working knowledge of regulations and standards relevant to communications, such as GDPR and accessibility

The following are desirable but not essential:

  • Experience of developing and managing project branding.
  • Experience of managing communications assets such as imagery and video footage.
  • Experience of helping others to build their communications skills and comply with quality standards and brand guidelines.
  • Experience of working in the environmental sector.
  • An existing network of contacts across Cumbria.
  • Understanding of the characteristics of the voluntary sector.
  • Experience of recruitment marketing.
  • Experience of fundraising marketing.

For more information about the role, please email Jaki Bell, marketing & communications manager: [email protected].