Head of Media and Public Affairs

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Hours
35 hours per week

Length of contract
11 month

About the Organisation

RCPCH has more than 25,000 members and fellows and employs around 200 staff, most of whom work in our London office in Holborn. We have a Devolved Nations team operating from Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Our College values: Include, Influence, Innovate, and Inspire, are important to us. These values ensure we bring out the best in each other, strive forward together to make the College a positive and dynamic place to work.

About the role

 As Head of Media and Public Affairs, you will lead, plan, develop, and implement effective media and public affairs strategies to actively promote the RCPCH and its priorities for maximum influence and impact. The Head of Media and Public Affairs is an important leadership role at the College. You will work closely with journalists and media organisations to champion the College in the media as well as securing political support for our policy messages, through stakeholder relationships within the UK Government, Whitehall, and the Westminster Parliament.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Policy & External Affairs, you will manage, direct, and motivate the team to successfully achieve performance goals. You will play a pivotal role in driving the College’s Westminster public affairs work to secure our advocacy goals, and you will also manage the out-of-hours media rota, being flexible to be on-call to the media as required. You will also take responsibility for preparing and monitoring the Media and Public Affairs team budget, ensuring that all operational expenditure is value for money.

Responsibilities

Key Tasks & Responsibilities:

• Lead, develop, and implement effective media, public affairs, and campaign strategies to advocate on behalf of members and support the College to influence child health in the UK.
• Direct all media relations for the College, building close and trusted relationships with national, specialist, and sector media, securing consistent and positive media coverage for the College’s policy messages, and effectively managing the College’s reputation.
• Determine the most appropriate mix of media to promote and present the College, its services and activities, including radio, television, newspaper, magazines, and digital channels.
• To ensure that senior spokespeople, including the CEO, President, and College Officers, are well briefed and trained ahead of any media interviews and are aware of emerging issues, priority messages, and reputational challenges.
• To plan for and manage crisis communication to mitigate risk and protect the reputation of the organisation.
• Develop and deliver an effective Westminster public affairs strategy to the UK
• Government, Parliament, Whitehall, and other policy makers and shapers in support of the College’s policy priorities.
• Lead on cross-organisational priorities in line with the College Strategy, and as part of the Divisional Management Team for Membership, Policy, and External
• Affairs, working closely with colleagues in communications, events, policy, membership, and devolved nations.
• Manage the out-of-hours media rota, with the flexibility to be on-call to the media as required.
• Manage, direct, and motivate the team to successfully achieve strategic outcomes, in line with organisational values.
• Take responsibility for monitoring the Media and Public Affairs team budget, deferring to the Associate Director of Policy and External Affairs where necessary, and ensuring that all operational expenditure is value for money.

General:

• Lead, motivate, and performance manage a team of staff, ensuring that they collaborate effectively across the College and wider sector, and are focused on achieving excellent outcomes for paediatrics through regular performance discussions and appraisal.
• Adhere to the College’s health and safety policies and associated procedures and to co-operate in maintaining good standards of health and safety.
• Uphold ethical and professional standards and not behave in a manner that is likely to bring the College into disrepute.
• To actively champion diversity and inclusion across the College, ensuring best practice at all times and challenging appropriately where standards or behaviour fall short
• The role holder must be committed to confidentiality and the handling of college information in a secure way. The role holder will also be required to comply with the college’s Information Security Policy and Acceptable Use Policy.
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing registration requirements or any national professional or occupational standards associated with the role.
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing learning and development, and participate in any training relevant to the role.
• The College is committed to encouraging young people to work with the College either through the apprenticeship programme, and as such, the post holder will be expected to support and respect young people, and may be asked to work alongside or supervise a young person as part of their role whilst working at the College. 

Skills, Competencies & Experience

Essential:

• Knowledge of UK health policy and issues related to child health and paediatrics
• Understanding of the UK Government and Westminster Parliament
• Experience in developing and nurturing high-level contacts and influencing senior stakeholders
• Proven project management skills to manage competing demands or conflicts whilst maintaining productive working relationships
• Well-developed analytical and problem-solving skills, demonstrating the ability to address complex issues through media and campaign strategies
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing proactive media and public affairs strategies
• Track record in leading, planning, implementing, and evaluating integrated communications
• Experience of briefing senior staff to act as spokespeople through the media, meetings with politicians, and other key opinion formers
• Managing unsolicited and reactive stories through the media
• Flexible and open to alternative approaches to problem-solving. Makes suggestions for change and puts ideas forward for improvement
• Demonstrates how thinking ahead, managing time, priorities, and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches, delivers work on time and to a high standard
• Proven line management and performance management skills

Desirable:

• Direct experience of working within an organisation that delivers health services
• Experience of working in a membership body or Royal College
• Experience of using social media in influencing activity
• Experience in budgetary management, including budget preparation and forecasting

Required Qualifications

• Suitable Qualification at graduate or master's level, and relevant professional experience

Compensation & Benefits

• Contributory Pension Scheme with an employer’s contribution of up to 10%
• Eye care vouchers
• Employee Discount Scheme
• Comprehensive Learning & Development provision
• Enhanced maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave
• Enhanced redundancy pay
• 21 hours volunteering leave per annum (pro rata for part-time staff)
• SMARTech up to £1000 once the probationary period has been successfully passed
• Cycle2Work up to £1000 once the probationary period has been successfully passed
• Occupational health, including counselling and neurodiversity assessments
• Paid IVF Leave
• Pregnancy and Infant Loss leave and pay

Working locations

• Hybrid model, working in the London office and remotely

How to apply

• Apply for the job online

Policies

The RCPCH champions Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Our workplace is inclusive, offering a supportive environment where staff can thrive. The College is keen to accept applications from people with protected characteristics. We believe that our staff should represent all of the diverse communities we serve. Join us to help realise our vision of a world where every child is well.

The RCPCH is committed to safeguarding the children, young people, and adults it has contact with in the exercise of its functions and responsibilities. The RCPCH expects all staff to share this commitment. We place a high priority on ensuring only those who do so are recruited to work for us.

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