We’re hiring: Communications Lead
**applications for this role are now closed**
About the Role
We’re looking for a creative, collaborative and articulate communicator to help us grow the impact of our journalism and make the case for community-owned media in Bristol and beyond.
The Cable is not your average newspaper. We’re a pioneering community-led cooperative newspaper, and our award-winning newsroom is owned and supported by more than 2,700 local people. Founded in 2014 as an alternative to local media owned by big corporations and influenced by advertising interests, our mission is to produce truly independent journalism that serves Bristol’s communities. Together, we hold power to account through groundbreaking investigations, we campaign for change, and we amplify marginalised voices.
You will drive our communications strategy so we can reach and engage a wider and more diverse audience within the city, and craft compelling digital and print promotional content to grow Cable membership and amplify our impact. You will work closely with colleagues across editorial and membership to make both our journalism and our membership offer reach and resonate with people across Bristol.
You will play a key role in our values-driven and purposeful team, with freedom to shape your work, evolve your role, and develop our communication strategy and organisational strategy, with support and input from the wider team. You will be able to learn, share, and be supported by team members who you’ll be collaborating with.
Aside from the comms work, you will be part of the Cable cooperative staff team. We all have a shared stake in the work we do and how we work together, so all team members contribute to key decisions and the overall direction of the Cable, including our priorities, strategy and general operations.
We offer a generous holiday allowance, including extra paid leave over the winter festive period, a yearly training budget and peer mentoring to help you progress in your career and develop your skills.
Key Information
Contract: Permanent, subject to funding.
Hours: 4-5 days per week (7.5 hours per working day). Please indicate your preference in your application, and feel free to contact us in advance to discuss if you have any queries.
Salary: £23,649 pro rata (Note: The Cable is has an equitable pay structure where the pay differential between the lowest and highest paid is no more than 20%. This is band 3 out of 5 – 10% above base. See below for more info)
Location: Bristol Cable office, The Station, Silver Street, Bristol, BS1 2AG (with work from home flexibility, but you will need to be able to attend the office several days a week)
Applications closing date: 11.59pm Sunday 5 June 2022
Interviews: Within week commencing 13 June 2022.
Any questions?
We have office hours for this role, where you can book a slot to chat to the Cable’s Membership Lead Lucas Batt about any questions you have relating to this role. You can book a chat here: https://calendly.com/lucasbatt/bristol-cable-hiring-office-hours
You can also email applications@thebristolcable.org. Remember to tell us which role you are applying for (we’re hiring 3 roles at the moment)
We particularly encourage applications from women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people from working class backgrounds.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage the Cable’s social media presence across existing channels (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) using our content management system (Sprout)
- Copy-writing and creative content production to increase engagement with Cable journalism and support editorial campaigns and callouts
- Digital mobilisation to grow and activate Cable membership through targeted campaigns, organic seeding and paid-for social media advertising
- Audience analysis to more effectively target our content
- Support the development of our YouTube channel, working closely with our in-house Video Journalist to optimise and share our social-first video content
- Goal setting & reflection on metrics and feedback
- Create, manage, and implement the Bristol Cable’s Communications Strategy, including:
- Collaborate with others on the team to develop the Cable’s brand: from brand assets and style guide, to our voice, and telling our story.
- Collaborate with others on the team to develop and implement our audience funnel, converting people in the city into readers, members, and advocates for the Cable
- Coordinate with our freelance print designer and freelance illustrators to produce compelling print adverts to convert Cable readers into members
- Copywriting relating to Cable activities, updates and our quarterly letter to members
- Coordinating the production of occasional promotional posters and leaflets
- Creating communication plans for events and engagement activities
- Managing our communications budget
- Work closely with the Cable’s Media Team to:
- Identify effective hooks for Cable journalism, to improve its relevancy and reach
- Respond quickly and effectively to high-impact news moments
- Create communication plans to generate wider interest in Cable journalism by other print, radio and broadcast media
- Use tools for impact planning and power mapping to help us achieve positive social change through journalism
- Promote our multimedia journalism using podcast and video
- Regularly evaluate social and web analytics and use learnings to help us better shape headlines, publishing schedules, story packaging, and SEO, to grow our reach, impact, and membership
- Coordinate the Cable’s fortnightly member newsletter and support production of our weekly editorial newsletter
- Copywriting, coordination, design, schedule and list management
- Grow our non-member newsletter subscription list using social media, website pop-ups and promotional web furniture
- Develop newsletter design and content to better engage and retain Cable members
- Contribute to work within our Fundraising Team to build the Cable’s profile and impact within the wider media sector by:
- Proactively promoting the Cable’s work through relevant networks
- Document our work and narrate our story through regular articles, published in the Cable or with relevant 3rd parties
- Attend conferences as an advocate for the Cable
- Support the Fundraising Lead with writing and producing reports to funders and with grant applications
- Contribute to the continual development of the Cable’s organisational and communications strategy
Person Specification
We would like you to have at least some skills, experience or aptitude that demonstrate how you meet each of the essential criteria below, and where possible, the desirable criteria as well. Please refer closely to this person specification in your application.
We welcome examples drawn from your personal or voluntary experience, as well as paid employment.
Essential
- Experience
- 1+ years experience managing social media channels, comfortable with digital tools and eager to learn and improve
- Experience developing and implementing strategic communications plans
- Skills
- You’re a skilled story-teller, and understand how to connect with people in a range of visual and written formats. You can tell the story of the Cable and our work, connecting it with a bigger picture that matters to people.
- You’re an excellent communicator and writer. You can design and deliver key messaging that achieves specific goals, tailored to different audiences, with a good sense for what resonates with different people.
- You’re insightful, able to draw out highlights from articles for social media or newsletters, and able to analyse what messaging is working and what’s not.
- You’re responsive and able to work quickly, without compromising on the quality of our written communications
- You are confident in taking the initiative to reach out to individuals and groups, and be a recognisable and approachable representative of the Cable, including speaking at events and public forums.
- Knowledge & Motivation
- An understanding of the democratic and community needs relating to a new model for local media
- You are passionate about the Cable’s mission to centre communities in local media, and transform our city through in-depth, investigative local journalism.
- You are passionate about helping to create an inclusive, anti-oppressive organisation and consider accessibility in the ways you work, such as in communication design.
- You would feel comfortable in an environment without traditional management and hierarchy, which relies on initiative, willingness to think strategically about your own work (with support from colleagues), and an enthusiasm to develop your skills around interpersonal communication, meeting facilitation and collaboration.
Desirable
- Knowledge of communities and networks in Bristol
- Experience leading campaigns with calls to action, in particular ones focused on people contributing money for a cause
- Understanding of the business and sustainability challenges of local media in the UK
- Experience in journalism or in a media organisation
- Experience working in a small mission-driven organisation or team
- Contacts and knowledge of wider media landscape (in Bristol, UK, and internationally)
- Familiarity with G-suite/Google workspace products, WordPress, Mailchimp, and Social Sprout (or similar social media content management tools)
- Experience writing funding applications or grant reports.
What we offer
- A permanent position in our staff team, subject to a 3 month probationary period and funding.
- A salary of £23,649 (pro rata), with opportunities for increases.
- 36 days annual leave pro rata, including bank holidays, plus up to 5 days extra paid time off at Christmas, and up to 15 days unpaid holiday allowance, both pro rata.
- A pension scheme with a 3% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution.
- Flexible working based on team hours, and a period policy, to help you work when works best for you
- A personal training and professional development allowance to help support you in your work
- You will play a key role in a values-driven and purposeful team, with freedom to shape your work, evolve your role, and contribute to our strategy.
- Opportunities to take on cooperative management responsibilities
About the Cable
The Bristol Cable is a community-owned media cooperative, owned and supported by thousands of people across the city. We’re recognised internationally as a pioneer in the movement for a new media, our mission is to redefine local journalism as a community asset, which is accountable to our readers. Together, we hold power to account through groundbreaking investigations, campaigning for change, and amplifying marginalised voices.
We produce award-winning local journalism, in print and online, made free to access for all by members. We don’t chase breaking news, but instead dig deeper into key issues with original angles, including the local impacts of national and international issues.
Cooperative working
The Cable is a co-operative, and we collectively share responsibility for managing the organisation, following the principles of Sociocracy. So, as well as the responsibilities listed above, being part of the Cable team also involves some participation in helping to run the co-op, after an initial settling in period. We don’t expect you to have any particular skills in organisational management – just enthusiasm for taking part.
Equitable pay structure
As a grassroots organisation with a big mission and brilliant people working here, salaries in the Cable are lower than we would like to pay our colleagues. We’ve come a long way since being founded by dedicated volunteers eight years ago, and are continually working to grow our income and raise salaries as we do that.
In 2021 the Cable team developed a new pay structure which aims to be transparent, objective, and equitable in how we decide salaries. The system involves an annual self-allocation to meeting criteria such as levels of responsibility, with peer support and team review. We have 5 salary bands staff can be allocated to, depending on the number of criteria they meet, with £21,499 currently being the lowest salary, and £25,799 the highest (a 20% differential).
New roles are allocated a banding based on our expectation for the criteria they meet, with the possibility to go up a band after the 3 month probation period, depending on whether more criteria are expected to be met.
As a member of the Cable team, you will be able to be involved in helping shape our pay structure as we continue to evolve it, and we aim to continue to raise staff salaries as we grow our income.
Anti-oppression
We recognise that our society contains many overlapping systems of oppression and that these injustices may be reproduced in how we work. We are learning more about our part in these systems and thinking strategically about how to change working practices, policies and systems so that we can challenge these unjust systems, as well as supporting colleagues who face particular oppressions in their daily lives.
This is a work in progress, and happening at individual and collective level. We expect all staff to educate ourselves on oppressions that we may not have experienced directly and to contribute to our work to make our organisational structures, practices and culture more inclusive and liberatory.
How to apply
Apply by using the link below. The deadline to apply is Sunday 5 June at 11:59 p.m.
We particularly encourage applications from women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people from working class backgrounds.
Interviews of shortlisted applicants will be held in person at our office on Silver Street in Bristol, the week commencing 13th June
If you have any enquiries about the role or application process not answered above please email applications@thebristolcable.org.
This application form is a space for you to tell us about your experience, skills and approach to working which make you suitable for the Communications Lead role.
Please refer closely to relevant parts of the person specification in your responses, providing concrete examples of where you demonstrate meeting the criteria where possible, and what you specifically achieved in those cases if relevant.
You may want to draft your responses to this application form in a different document. You can find all the questions listed below in this document: Bristol Cable Communications Lead application questions. Download or make a copy of it to draft your responses before pasting them in to the form here.
