Water Witness is seeking a Senior Communications Lead

We are seeking an energetic and enthusiastic individual to lead our communications function in our small but mighty team.

We need an experienced, innovative and proactive comms all-rounder with a passion for our mission, and the ability to reach audiences with the right information, in the right way, in the right place and at the right time to activate public demand and political action- for a fair water future for all.

This senior role will lead our press, social media, content and digital approaches to grow awareness in key audiences, build our brand, land our policy asks, collaborate with our partners and networks, and deliver measurable public and political engagement.

You’ll bring your talent for identifying and landing press stories, your experience of creating great content that cuts through, and your expertise in purposeful storytelling that informs, inspires and engages target audiences. We’ll support you with development opportunities, trust in your authority, and a brilliant working culture with a bundle of staff benefits. We live our core values: Justice, Tenacity, Truth and play to our strengths: Strategic, Resilient, Influential &Trusted.

If you’re an experienced NGO comms professional or journalist who can demonstrate a track record of comms that influence real world change, we want to hear from you. Even if you don’t match every single one of the items on the person spec, please tell us about your relevant experience and transferrable skills.

Children in Scotland are proud to have been delivering our Scottish Government funded Enquire service for over 25 years now. This national service continues to be a highly trusted and respected source of quality and accessible information and advice on additional support for learning.

The opportunity has arisen to take on the role of Service Manager for a period of 12 months on a maternity cover basis. Sitting within Children in Scotland’s Services, Policy and Participation department, this role will involve effective management of all areas of Enquire service delivery.

We are looking for a brilliant and experienced manager with excellent skills in communication, organisation, people management and budget management. The right candidate will also have a solid understanding of the additional support for learning landscape in Scotland to ensure that we maintain our high standards of delivery across all work streams.

If you feel like this role is for you, and that you have the ability to manage an outstandingly knowledgeable and committed team to provide a high quality service for our nation’s children, families and professionals relating to additional support for learning, then please read on.

About Children in Scotland

Giving all children in Scotland an equal chance to flourish is at the heart of everything we do.

By bringing together a network of people working with and for children, alongside children and young people themselves, we offer a broad, balanced and independent voice. We create solutions, provide support and develop positive change across all areas affecting children in Scotland. We do this by listening, gathering evidence, and applying and sharing our learning, while always working to uphold children’s rights.

Our range of knowledge and expertise means we can provide trusted support on issues as diverse as the people we work with and the varied lives of children and families in Scotland.

Diversity

Children in Scotland values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open processes, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone.

Further Information

For an informal chat about the job, please contact Billy Anderson, Head of Services, Participation and Policy by email on banderson@childreninscotland.org.uk

The Yard is an award-winning charity that runs adventure play services for children with disabilities and/or additional support needs and their families across Scotland.

We are seeking an experienced HR Manager who is passionate about driving positive change at The Yard. You will bring the expertise and gravitas to influence and support senior leadership on HR and cultural initiatives.

About the role:

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Ensuring The Yard maintains the roles, skills and experience to deliver on its strategic priorities

• Measure employee engagement and agree action plans to develop and improve organisational culture

• Ensuring our recruitment policies and processes embody our values and enable us to recruit people with the skills and qualities to meet our goals

• Developing and managing our renumeration policy

About you:

This job is for you if you have:

• Proven experience of HR management

• Can lead by example, fostering a culture of trust and respect

• Excellent communication and relationship building skills

• Ability to develop HR strategies aligning with our strategic plan

If our ethos inspires you and you are eager to bring your knowledge and experience to a team that is deeply committed to our purpose, we would love to have you on board.

If you would like to discuss the role with our Director of Resources, please let us know and we can arrange a call.

Who We Are

We are Scotland’s leading youth homelessness charity. We believe that no young person should ever face homelessness. That’s why we deliver bold, youth-specific solutions, built around young people’s experiences and what evidence tells us works.

We support young people to avoid and move on from homelessness, helping them build the confidence, skills and stability they need to thrive in adulthood. We also influence policy and practice to create a Scotland where no young person is left behind.

We don’t follow the system, we change it, continually championing the voices and experiences of all young people.

Context

Rock Trust delivers the Upstream prevention project in schools and the post holder will work with the Upstream Team, pilot schools and education departments to create a toolkit for the implementation of Upstream. This will involve working with current pilot schools to document the changes required in school systems, the challenges and how to overcome them and an assessment of the resources required to deliver Upstream. The Ask & Act Education Manager will use this learning to create a toolkit and implementation plan to be used for national implementation.

This role is responsible for:

• Coordinating work with multiple local authority Education departments, senior leaders and cross-sector partners (Housing, Social Work, Health, third sector)
• Designing and documenting processes, guidance and training materials that enable schools to embed early identification of housing risk
• Capturing learning, gathering data and producing a national implementation framework
• Ensuring all activity aligns with statutory duties, local contexts and Rock Trust’s prevention approach

The Ask & Act Education Manager will need to be methodical, have strong report writing skills and interpersonal skills to co-ordinate the information gathering and documenting. They will be responsible for delivering the toolkit to a high standard, making a lasting contribution to Scotland’s homelessness prevention system.