Are you passionate about the changing news landscape and the power of earned media to drive attention, understanding and action?

We have an exciting opportunity for a Media and Communications Executive to join Save the Children UK's Strategic Communications department on a 12-month fixed-term contract.

Working across our Global Impact Communications and UK Impact Communications teams, you'll help support and deliver media and communications activity that brings children's experiences, rights and needs to wider public attention. From helping ensure team processes run efficiently and effectively to researching stories and compiling messaging, you'll contribute to communications that secure meaningful coverage, amplify children's voices and help inspire change for children in the UK and around the world.

 This is a varied and hands-on role for someone looking to build their experience in media and communications within a fast-paced, purpose-led organisation, working with colleagues across advocacy, policy, digital, social and fundraising to help shape stories that matter.

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

Strategic Communications plans, orchestrates, and delivers highly compelling and distinctive external communications across the whole organisation to position SCUK as a modern children's cause and drive mass consideration, participation, influence and action to create lasting change with and for children.   

The Global and UK Impact Communications teams help strengthen our influence on decision-makers and build support for our work by engaging target audiences with powerful stories from both the UK and around the world. Through traditional, digital and social media, they amplify the voices of children, families, communities and local partners, highlighting the impacts of conflict, inequality and child poverty. They support advocacy for change in policy, practice and systems, promote international cooperation, and help grow public engagement and funding—driving action to protect every child's right to experience a safe, healthy and happy childhood.

About the role

As the Media and Communications Executive you will support advocacy, public engagement and fundraising by helping to secure media coverage, amplify the voices of children and families, and share stories from across Global and UK Impact with UK audiences.

You will provide day-to-day support to the Global and UK Impact Communications teams, helping deliver timely and engaging communications that raise awareness and inspire action for children. The role also offers flexible support across different projects and priorities as needed.

In this role, you will:

• Support the development and adaptation of press materials, case studies and messaging that are clear, accurate and aligned with brand and safeguarding standards.
• Help ensure the smooth and effective running of the Global Impact and UK Impact Communications functions through team support including media list management, invoicing, liaison with media monitoring service, information and web content management, administration and other tasks as needed.
• Work as part of multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) to support on the delivery of integrated campaigns across UK and global issues 
• Help identify and respond quickly to reactive opportunities, supporting the team to deliver timely communications.
• Support the delivery of press releases, statements, briefing materials and Q&As. 
• Support media monitoring and tracking of coverage, helping to assess reach, tone and impact, and contributes to clear, well-structured presentations and updates to report on performance and insights. 
• Contribute to communications activity linked to Save the Children UK corporate partnerships when needed, supporting the development and delivery of content and opportunities that align with Public Impact priorities and help maximise reach and impact. 
• Support the development of briefing materials for leaders including the CEO to support them in public communications.
• Support story gathering, research and messaging to develop impactful UK and Global media and communications materials
• Work collaboratively with creative, digital, social and influencer teams to deliver joined-up campaigns 

About you

To be successful, you will bring:

• Some experience in media, journalism or communications (e.g. agency, in-house or newsroom) 
• An understanding of the UK media landscape 
• Expertise in or eagerness to build knowledge of Save the Children's global and UK priorities 
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and accurately 
• The ability to turn complex information into clear, engaging content 
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail 
• The ability to build relationships and work collaboratively with others 
• A willingness to learn and develop in a fast-paced environment 
• The ability to manage competing priorities and respond to deadlines 

 Additional Requirements 

• Willingness to work flexibly, including occasional out-of-hours activity 
• Ability to travel if required 

What we offer you 

We promote flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, and wellbeing both at work and beyond, and offer a wide range of benefits designed to reward your hard work and inspire you to help improve the lives of children every day. 

Some of the benefits you can expect include: 

• Generous Annual Leave – Starting at 27 days per year (pro rata for part-time employees) increasing with service up to 32 days, plus public holidays and our annual 'Save the Children Day'. 
• Family Leave – Up to 39 weeks of maternity/adoption pay (including up to 21 weeks full pay) and paternity/adoption leave of 10 weeks full pay (plus statutory entitlement).  
• Special Leave – Up to 10 days paid leave per year (pro rata) for urgent or exceptional personal circumstances, without using annual leave.  
• Volunteer Leave – Up to 3 days paid leave per year to support volunteering and give back. 
• Pension & Life Assurance – Helping you plan for the future with up to 7% employer pension contributions. 
• Employee Discounts – Access thousands of deals across groceries, retail, tech, travel, fitness, and more.  
• Health & Wellbeing Support – Including access to a 24/7 Virtual GP and Employee Assistance Programme and Counselling, eye care support, and seasonal flu vaccinations. 

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 structural inequality is actively addressed, and all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can thrive. 

We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and are especially interested in hearing from people with diverse and intersecting identities such as lived experience of poverty, people of faith, people of colour, people with disabilities, with experience of migration and/or refugee status, care-experienced people, the LGBTQIA+ community and individuals with experience living in diverse families.  

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 know that different voices working together will enable us to do our work better, improving the lives of children around the world. 

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 - As a committed member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, as part of our onboarding process, Save the Children UK will undertake a minimum of 2 references, and any additional references required to collectively cover the last 5 years of your employment history.
• 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