Head of Global Communications

About Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

EJF exists to protect the natural world and defend our fundamental human right to a secure environment.

We believe in equity and justice and a need to respect, defend, and empower communities most at risk from habitat loss, biodiversity collapse and global heating. We campaign for environmental justice.

EJF is an informed risk-taker, working on complex issues in challenging places. EJF investigates, films and exposes destruction to our natural world and supports, trains and equips environmental defenders, Indigenous peoples, communities, and independent journalists who speak truth to power and hold to account those responsible for nature crimes.

EJF drives policy and changes to the very ‘architecture’ of environmental governance, securing permanent solutions through our determined, efficient, and effective approach to the protection of the natural world.

Our campaigns focus on five priority, interlinked areas: ocean, climate, wetlands and forests, sustainable fashion, and environmental defenders.

About the role

As the Head of Global Communications for the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), you will play a lead role in building EJF’s visibility and global brand and maximising our impact on environmental security and the associated human rights. Working within an international team of campaigners, researchers, filmmakers in Europe, Africa and Asia, you will lead a growing team of seven talented communication specialists and coordinate our global communications work. The role will report directly to the CEO.

If you are an ambitious, talented professional with outstanding communications skills, superb people and project management and a passion for driving real change for environmental justice this is the role for you.

You will be working with senior management and the international campaign team to deliver our wide range of ambitious objectives. You will be a highly organised, creative and collaborative manager willing and able to refine and deliver an ambitious communications strategy that will help us to achieve our campaign goals and vision.

You will develop and implement the communications strategies for EJF’s global campaigns, building support across a range of targeted audiences. You will maximise the use and reach of EJF’s investigative films and campaign reports, securing high-profile coverage for them that targets key audiences. You will manage a close-knit international communications team based in the UK, Germany, Ghana, Liberia and South-East Asia. You will also work closely with EJF’s campaigners, investigators, researchers, filmmakers and graphic designer in offices across Europe, Africa and Asia.

You will have the intellectual rigour to understand the issues and present them in a compelling way, putting your excellent writing and storytelling skills and experience to great effect. Knowing how important it is to get the story right, you will have great attention to detail and factual accuracy. You have the creative flair to present EJF’s campaigns and investigations to the strongest effect and identify the best ways to engage, inspire and mobilise diverse target audiences.

Key responsibilities:

• With direction from the CEO and in close collaboration lead campaigners and the campaigns team, plan, develop and oversee the implementation of communications strategies for individual campaigns and EJF as a whole to ensure the greatest possible impact and desired outcomes for this global change-making organisation.
• Ensure strong outreach to our target audiences in the public and private sector and to policymakers and world leaders. You will identify and secure coverage in the most influential media platforms that will bring our campaigns to the attention of leading changemakers.
• Lead the comms team to develop sector-leading communications that engage and inspire audiences about our campaigns across traditional and digital media platforms, ensuring appropriate, inspirational and effective messaging.
• Ensure that our internal communications are effective to bring the campaigns, comms and other team members together to share information and updates as needed. You will work with colleagues to ensure that opportunities for coverage are not missed and that our planning is smooth and effective.
• Work with our digital and media staff to maximise all campaign opportunities to drive impact for our campaigns, including to:
• Write, edit and place compelling op-eds, press releases and briefings, ensuring they are tailored to the target audience and strongest media platforms and channels.
• Coordinate and produce high-quality impact reports, updates, briefings, blogs and speeches/presentations to engage new audiences including celebrity and high-profile supporters.
• Devise and coordinate media, press and special events such as film screenings, patron and celebrity events and like-minded business partnerships.
• Ensure effective use of social media to grow EJF’s exposure and support the delivery of communications strategies and campaign objectives.

Experience/Skills/Competencies

Essential:

• Demonstrable experience leading communications teams. You are a strong people manager, with excellent interpersonal skills, able to motivate, inspire and collaborate with EJF’s communications professionals and campaigners in the UK and overseas
• Track record securing high-profile media coverage that advanced campaign objectives.
• Ability to design, prioritise and deliver media strategies and multiple comms activities that drive up the quality and quantity of media coverage
• Excellent skills in creative storytelling: producing engaging and inspiring content that delivers real-world impact
• An excellent writer/editor – including press releases, features, opinion pieces, letters to editor and blogs – particularly to meet tight deadlines
• Superb attention to detail and factual accuracy and an ability to ensure your colleagues meet the same high standards
• Ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines and changing priorities
• Experience in managing strategic relationships with external partners (corporate, high-profile individuals), you are entrepreneurial and a creative problem solver
• You are committed to changing our world for good

Desirable:

• Good understanding of environmental justice issues and policies, in particular within the fields of climate change and ocean conservation
• A wide network of relevant media
• Foreign language skills

APPOINTMENT TERMS

Location: London or Bath. Candidates must have the legal right to work in the UK.

Contract type: Full-time / Permanent. EJF is happy to consider flexible working arrangements.

Salary: Dependent on experience and location