Save the Children UK's Media Lead – Scotland is crucial and fulfilling role.
- Are you an experienced news journalist or a background in media handling?
- Do you have excellent verbal
and written communication skills, adapting for different audiences?
- Are you experienced and confident
with developing media and communication strategies?
- Do you have line management experience?
- Are
you motivated by our vision of creating a world where every child doesn't just survive but thrives and can
go on to change the world – and of inspiring and leading others to do the same?
If the answers to these questions are yes, we would love to hear from you!
Please note: This is a 12 month Fixed Term Contract (until end of January 2026). This role is based in Scotland.
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to
give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes,
and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure
children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of
children, including those hardest to reach.
Job Purpose
Save the Children is looking for an ambitious and driven media professional with exceptional project management
skills to develop and lead on Save the Children's media activity in Scotland, as well as line managing and
supporting the senior media managers in N. Ireland and Wales and supporting them to implement their
strategies.
The role will involve developing and driving the media and communications strategy in Scotland to support
fundraising, policy, public affairs and brand objectives. You will also help create materials and social media
content for Scotland's communications channels. The scope will cover Save the Children's Scotland,
UK-wide and international work.
The role will also line manage two senior media managers – one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. You will lead
and support them to deliver effective media and communications plans, while ensuring strategic co-ordination
across the devolved nations and with the Save the Children UK office in England.
You will be highly organised and persuasive, with a good knowledge and understanding of child poverty issues and key
political debates. You will have experience as a news journalist or in media handling, and a strong track record
of success in obtaining media coverage in a variety of outlets. We are looking for someone with excellent
communication and interpersonal skills and a proven ability to manage competing priorities under pressure. You
will have demonstrated the ability to manage or support others to achieve results.
As a rights-based organisation, we are committed to anti-racism and actively opposed systemic oppression of any form.
You will support our commitment to celebrate diversity, challenge inequality, and build an inclusive environment
for every one of our employees so we can better represent the children we protect.
Main Accountabilities
The Media Lead – Scotland's key duties will be to:
- Develop and implement a media and communications plan for Scotland that will deliver proactive and reactive
coverage in support of Save the Children's influencing and fundraising objectives.
- Lead and manage
the Senior Media Managers in Wales and Northern Ireland to develop and implement their own media plans. Provide
them with technical and strategic guidance.
- Map, build and maintain relationships with key journalists,
editors, commentators, opinion formers, bloggers and documentary makers in your media market.
- Write
compelling and hard-hitting media briefings and press releases focussing on Save the Children's work in
Scotland, to influence policy makers and key stakeholders.
- Cultivate and harness the skills and
expertise of colleagues – especially programmes and policy teams in Scotland - in our media and communications
work, including by launching products like reports and coaching media spokespeople.
- Respond quickly to
relevant breaking news to achieve cut through for policy calls.
- Identify and support children and
families to tell their stories in media and communications, ensuring that ethical standards and best practice
are maintained at all times. This includes children and families supported by Save the Children in Scotland and
those fundraising or campaigning for our work.
- Protect Save the Children's reputation, developing
and implementing crisis management media strategies and rebuttal as required.
Person Profile
- Experience as a news journalist or in media handling, and a strong track record of success in obtaining media
coverage in a variety of outlets. Experience should include strong examples of developing strategies and
obtaining significant coverage on own initiative.
- Demonstrated the ability to manage or support others
to create plans and achieve results.
- Excellent working knowledge of the media environment in
Scotland.
- Ability to work fast, effectively and independently – including without immediate media and
communications oversight.
- Ability to work at all levels of a large organisation, including with senior
managers, children, young people and their families, and volunteers.
- Excellent written and verbal
communication skills, with the ability to tailor to a range of audiences.
- Ability to summarise complex
data (scientific, technical, economic) confidently and accessibly.
- A sound grasp of what different media
outlets want and an understanding of where to seek out news-worthy stories.
- Good contacts for generating
news stories with news journalists and wider media.
Aptitude
- A demonstrable commitment to the principles of diversity and inclusion and their practical application and
integration in the work environment
- A commitment to Save the Children UK's aims and core values of
accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity, and integrity.
Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external
and internal. We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from
under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break,
people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning
difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from
less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
Ways of Working:
The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but there are likely to be times when you will be
required to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). This will be
agreed with your Line Manager and team and is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and
relationship building.
Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.
Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the
opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and
supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and
feel that they can be "Free to Be Me". We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to
recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group
think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being
in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with
someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to
hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable
us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.