Save the Children UK is looking for a Media and Communications Manager to join our Global Impact Communications team on a temporary basis to provide short term cover in the team unitil February 2027.. This role is focused on generating compelling, news-led content, securing media coverage and ensuring our global work reaches and influences key audiences.

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.

About the Team

The Global Impact Communications team strengthens our influence on UK and global decision-makers and build support of our work by engaging target audiences with stories about our global work. Through traditional, digital and social media, they support advocacy for the breakthroughs of survival, learning and protection, giving platforms to local leaders, partners, communities and children. They highlight the impacts of conflict and inequality on children, boost funds for our work and build support for international co-operation on the issues that threaten the right to experience childhood. 

 About the role

As the Media and Communications Manager (Global Impact) you will produce distinctive, compelling communications and coverage that promote our global campaigns, responses and programmes, and help us achieve our influencing and fundraising goals. 

In this role, you will:

• Work with the Head of Global Impact Communications to ensure our coverage and messages are aligned with SCUK's priorities for advocacy and fundraising 
• Secure original media stories that stimulate debate, drive action by supporters and reach target audiences across all channels 
• Produce a range of coverage from hard news to PR, with powerful human interest content that connects us with supporters and builds consideration to donate 
• Grow media partnerships that help us increase support for our advocacy and fundraising 
• Gather evidence and case studies that add authority and relevance to our output 
• Liaise with the creative content team, the digital and social media team and the artists and influencers team to give your stories visual impact on earned, owned and paid channels whenever possible 
• Contribute to multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) and other workstreams delivering campaigns such as conflict, hunger, health, education, the climate crisis and the future of aid 
• Respond rapidly to emergencies, maximising our fundraising for DEC appeals or unrestricted funding 
• Deploy promptly in emergencies and develop stories and video at pace 
• Give children, families and local and national partners platforms to make themselves heard by large audiences through media and social media 
• Secure interviews that strengthen our advocacy and present us as thought leaders on global issues 
• Adapt the Global Media Unit's most valuable stories for the UK market with prominent messaging consistent with our overall output 

About you

To be successful, it is important that you have:

• Experience as a media/communications professional or journalist with a proven record of securing media coverage in a variety of outlets
• A sharp news sense and the ability to talk to journalists on their terms about our global priorities
• Understanding of different communications disciplines and the role they play in delivering engagement, action and influence.   
• Contacts in traditional and new media and a good understanding of how they work
•  A sound grasp of what different media outlets want and an understanding of where to seek out newsworthy stories
• Good written and verbal skills, including the ability to simplify complex situations for mass media 
• A collaborative mindset for work with colleagues across the global movement with due respect for differences in culture and ways of working 
• An awareness of our key audiences and what content will engage and mobilise them 
• Experience of producing eye-catching, shareable social media posts that extend your stories' reach
• Ideally experience of working in an international NGO, humanitarian organisation, newsroom or communications environment covering international development, humanitarian crises, conflict, displacement or related global issues.
• The ability to react instantly to breaking news and write clearly under pressure to tight deadlines 

Please Note:  This role will require a minimum of 1 day a week working from our Farringdon (London) office.

Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Location & Ways of Working:

The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but at times you will be required to come to your contracted office (usually between 2–4 days per month, depending on the needs of your role, team, or service). For many roles, this is likely to be the minimum required to deliver impact.

This will be discussed and agreed with your manager / team and we encourage candidates to discuss our ways of working in more detail at interview stage.

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. 

To see our full statement please visit this link: https://jobs.savethechildren.org.uk/our-policies/diversity/

Salary Structure: 

Save the Children is committed to paying staff in a fair and equitable way and will benchmark all salary offers in line with the pay of existing staff. To see our full offer please visit this link: Save the Children | Careers

Interview Expenses: 

Candidates should note that unfortunately it is not our policy to reimburse expenses accrued when attending interviews at Save the Children UK unless you are requested to attend an interview in an alternative location to where the role is based.

Pre-employment Checks:

Any Employment with Save the Children UK will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

• a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International Criminal Record Check (If applicable)
• receipt of satisfactory references
• proof of eligibility to work in the national location for this role

If you have any questions, we have an FAQ section here.

For anything else you can email us on: careers@savethechildren.org.uk