Communications Officer

Salary: £20,000 - £26,000 (pro rata for the term of the contract and dependent on experience)

Contract: Fixed Term (11 months)

Responsible to: Communications and Media Manager 

Background

England Hockey’s mission is to “share the love of hockey and work together to make hockey more visible, relevant and accessible to all”.  The current focus for the organisation is delivery of its 5 objectives within the 2023-2028 strategic plan which can be found on the England Hockey Website pages..

England Hockey is the National Governing Body for the sport of Hockey in England and is responsible for the management and development of the sport from grass roots to elite activities. We:

• Have a membership comprising clubs (750+), counties (42), and Areas (8) that affiliate to it. Approximately 160,000 individuals play in the club system, with an estimated 20,000 playing at university/colleges. C.900,000 children play at school. More than 15,000 coaches, umpires and officials are supported / developed.  
• Have an income/expenditure of average £9m p.a. The Chief Executive is directly responsible for the operational budget but the Board, chaired by the Non-Executive Chair, approves the annual plan and budget.
• Employ 78 staff, and contract with approximately 50 part time consultants mostly in the performance and coaching area. Circa 50 volunteers work at national level to run the sport, with thousands more running the great bulk of grass roots hockey.
• Are currently the ‘nominated country’ on behalf of Great Britain Hockey to qualify and prepare the Great Britain squads for the Olympics. The England Hockey Chief Executive, Performance Director and Head Coaches represent Great Britain as well as England Hockey. There is a Great Britain President to chair the Great Britain board which meets three times a year.

NATURE AND SCOPE

England Hockey is on a journey to transform its commercial and business operations following the pandemic to make sure we continue to grow our game with strong foundations and appeal to our existing as well as our future members and audiences.

Audience engagement, strong communications and creative content is a key part of this strategy in engaging with our members and audiences, raising the profile of the game, and increasing commercial interest in the Sport. 

The Communications Officer will support the team to deliver our communications strategy and improve the way we communicate with our audiences. 

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Project manage and deliver creative, exciting, and effective communications plans and campaigns to deliver across all England Hockey’s organisation objectives, working closely with content and marketing team colleagues  
• Support the Communications and Media Manager to manage quarterly cross-organisational communications planning
• Have a working understanding of the media and how to build positive and collaborative relationships with them, with proven experience of driving and selling in coverage through selling in and press releases
• Support the wider Communications team to maximise on coverage and exposure, in the build-up and during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
• Deputise for the Communications and Media Manager when needed including during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
• Experience in conducting interviews, and experience and ability in creating and delivering content through a range of owned communications channels such as websites, social media channels, email broadcast tools
• Manage communication requests from the organisation through the briefing process ensuring the team can deliver on time and on budget
• Make sure communications are planned and targeted in line with cross-organisational strategic priorities and workplans.
• Lead the coordination of communications across the department and act as a key department contact for other teams on projects
• Use our content management system to maintain and publish content on our websites, ensuring that it is user-focussed, accessible and in-line with our tone of voice
• Deliver clear messages and engaging content across a wide range of channels, including updating and building website pages, building newsletters, and drafting social media posts.
• Coordinate communications projects, liaising with stakeholders to gather requirements and understand needs, before working with the wider team to suggest solutions and guide them to completion
• Proactively ensure website copy is current and accurate and manage the web updating process by supporting our network of website editors to deliver clear messages and engaging content
• Work with multiple stakeholders to develop proactive and strategic communications content quickly or under pressure in response to fast-moving or crisis situations.
• Working closely with others across the department, use our dotdigital account to build, review and manage our email campaigns.
• Lead and take part in cross-functional team meetings and ensure key internal and external stakeholders are involved and updated on our work.
• Produce and present results as required and use findings to inform recommendations and best practice
• Research, and gather feedback from our key audiences so we understand their needs and behaviours
• Develop expert evidence-based knowledge and understanding of our audiences and apply this to our content, especially around issues that may be challenging or sensitive.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We are a values-based organisation with a strong ethos to work with integrity and nurture an environment of inclusion. We are looking for enthusiastic, inspirational, and highly skilled individuals who demonstrate through their behaviour the values of England Hockey:

• Collaborate inclusively
• Care for people and places
• Play with spirit, win with grace
• Resilient in everything we do

Qualifications and Experience

• Educated to degree level or equivalent industry experience.
• Strong experience of the full creative process - briefing, planning, developing, execution, and evaluation.
• A proven track record of researching and analysing audience communications needs and implementing effective engagement strategies.
• Previous experience working within communications roles for a sport National Governing Body or similar field
• Excellent IT knowledge - comfortable with Outlook, MS Teams, PowerPoint, Word, Excel.
• Experience working with Kontent Kentico, CMS, CRM and e-marketing systems desirable.

Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Creative and engaging copywriting skills.
• A keen eye for detail, accurate, careful and meticulous in execution.
• Impeccable organisation skills and the ability to manage competing priorities, keep projects moving and ensure deadlines are met.
• Able to build positive and collaborative relationships with diverse stakeholders and people at all levels.
• Resilience in overcoming challenges and ability to anticipate problems and provide solutions.
• Ability to develop and deliver risk management and crisis communications.

This job description is not intended to be regarded as inclusive or exhaustive and will be amended in the light of the changing needs of the organisation.  All employees will be expected to support our major events.