Press & PR Manager

About FareShare UK

As the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors. We believe that no good food should go to waste. We redistribute surplus food to charities that turn it into meals. We are doers. We are a community. We change lives

We have an excellent opportunity to join FareShare and if you feel that you would like to make a difference this may be the role for you.

The Role

This role is vital in FareShare’s ability to influence and be part of the national news agenda. It is supported by two senior Press and PR Officers who already handle inbound media requests for comment, quotes, statistics and case studies. The person in this role will line manage the two senior Press and PR officers, and pitch hard to tier 1 media outlets with relevant human or environmental interest stories to keep FareShare top of mind as the ‘Go to’ charity for surplus food redistribution in the UK.

The successful candidate will help deepen the understanding of what FareShare do through appropriate channels with tier 1 journalists, broadcasters and also consumers. They will need to get to know and evolve the key messages for external comms for FareShare, own the ‘language and tone’ guide for staff writing external facing comms and manage any crisis communications.

We are looking for a highly proactive, enthusiastic individual who cares about tackling hunger and reducing unnecessary food waste in the UK enough to want to spend their professional time doing something about it. Ideally they will come with experience or knowledge of effective communications in the food/voluntary sector or agency-side, but most importantly they will have a track record of proactive media engagement, a nose for a media worthy story and great judgement on when and when not to provide a comment.

They will need to demonstrate a strong work ethic, an ability to swiftly draft quotes and comment for approval, and an ability and desire to use the media monitoring tools we have available to report on monthly coverage figures. This is a great opportunity for someone to make a real difference in two areas of sustainability, food waste and hunger - both of which are of significant relevance and growing interest to the media, British public, the food industry and government, in some part due to the great work of the FareShare marketing and comms team.

Main areas of responsibility

1. To manage the FareShare PR and press function.

2. To promote FareShare’s work and evidence of impact

3. Copywriting, proof reading and editing

Requirements

Essential Criteria

 Demonstrable experience working in/with a food industry, voluntary sector PR/Comms or relevant PR agency role 

Demonstrable experience of using PR to raise the profile of an organisation or a national programme 

Demonstrable experience of managing a busy press office or a team that do this. 

Demonstrable experience of working in a planned and organised way to deliver a ‘calendar’ of stories based on the cyclical annual news cycle of relevance to FareShare (e.g. Christmas, New year’s resolutions, end of tax year, Easter, summer holidays, harvest season, Halloween etc). 

Professional use of media tracking tools – we currently use Vuelio to monitor press coverage and PA news to stay ahead of relevant press releases. 

Experience of working with, and managing, third party/external agencies

Competencies and behaviours

 Excellent written skills including copywriting and proof reading, along with a similar level of verbal communications skills 

A self-starter with proven ability to work on own initiative, meet objectives and tight deadlines under pressure 

Able to give confidence to department leads of a grasp of the news agenda, how FareShare can and can’t play into it, and to be respected as the ‘owner’ of our external comms with Press. 

Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office

Benefits

Salary £40,000 - £42,000

25 days’ annual leave + 8 bank holidays

Employers pension contribution of 4%

Life assurance - group life scheme

Employee Assistance Program

Interest free bicycle purchase loan scheme

Season ticket loan

Flexible working