Community Manager (Comms) - 3 Months Contract

Job description

Welsh Water is the sixth largest of the ten regulated water and sewerage companies in England and Wales. Responsible for providing over three million people with a continuous, high quality supply of drinking water and for taking away, treating and properly disposing of the wastewater that is produced, we are fully committed to delivering best quality service at least possible cost.We're different from other water and energy companies. We don't have shareholders. This means that we're able to keep bills down; help more customers who are struggling to pay their bills; and also put every single penny we make straight back into maintaining and improving our services and protecting our environment - now, and for years to come.

Who we are

Welsh Water keep 3 million people healthy each day with safe, reliable water, and take away wastewater to clean, before returning it safely to our beautiful rivers and seas.
To be able to deliver high quality, essential services which help to protect the health of our customers, colleagues and our environment, we need the right people to deliver on our vision. This is achieved by living our core values and demonstrating the core behaviours that underpin them. The security of our people, assets and information is key to us, so we are looking for people who understand and comply with the company's required security objectives.
We know that the most successful teams are the most diverse teams. Equality, diversity and inclusion provide the very foundation to our culture at Welsh Water. We want every individual to feel confident, proud and able to bring their whole selves to work.
To ensure an improved representation in our workforce, applications are particularly welcome from minority groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, Females, LGBT+, Non-binary and people with disabilities. Together we continue to build a workplace that not only celebrates the diverse voices of our colleagues but also represents each customer we serve.
In essence, ours is a company based on trust, openness, respect, commitment and honesty. A company that our colleagues are proud to work for.What you'll be responsible for

- To engage with communities and all external stakeholders in relation to company activity with specific emphasis on the investment projects, identifying opportunities to share messaging from wider company campaigns.
- Identify customer queries in relation to capital schemes escalating as appropriate
- Develop, deliver and report on agreed investment communication campaigns that inform stakeholders and wider community about the benefits of the schemes, projects and the impact on the relevant community and our customers.
- Create and deliver multi-media communication with agreed demographic groups affected by investment schemes through relevant communication channels.
- Build and maintain relationships with the Capital Alliance, the Network Alliance partners and Welsh Water colleagues from the Capital Team
- Provide input to the external handling strategy for each campaign.
- Provide advice and support to Welsh Water's operational managers on reputational and other communications issues.
- Build and maintain a strong network of contacts and relationships, and a significant public profile, among key influencers in the communities in their region.
- Work closely with the Stakeholder and Public Relations Team over issues arising from schemes.
- Work closely with the Education Team to maximise opportunities for community engagement in schools.
- To work closely with other teams, departments and capital partners/suppliers to ensure they are maximising opportunities to promote Welsh Water's brand.
About you

Experience
- A good level of education, ideally qualified to degree level or with a professional communication or equivalent qualification
- Experience of working in a communications environment in a customer focused organisation/industry
- A proven track record in communication campaign management
- Experience in the measurement and evaluation of communication campaigns
- Credibility and experience to advise senior managers effectively about communications issues
- Experience of digital communication and advertising techniques and a throughout understanding how digital and social media channels can help communicate messages
- Experience of creative and accurate copywriting in different styles and communicating information to people in a simple and engaging way

Knowledge & Skills
- Strong change communications experience and the ability to work with and influence senior leaders in the company
- Ability to work at senior level to achieve long-term strategic goals through creating, developing and implementing the communications strategy
- Appreciation of the political, regulator, business and consumer arenas affecting Wales
- First class network-building skills and excellent record in building rapport and credibility with senior managers, journalists, commentators and others who influence the public perception of Welsh Water
- Ability to motivate and influence others and manage resistance to change
- Excellent presentation skills
- Confidence in utilising new communication technologies
- Proven ability to project manage including change management and benefits realisation
- A clear understanding of budgets and financial management within a large organisation
- Proven ability to achieve results both autonomously and as part of a team
- Ability to manage complex activities and events
- Ability to use a variety of systems to manage communications activity e.g. media/social media management systems, websites, campaign management tools, social media
Good to know

Contract: This vacancy is for a duration of 3 months only - until the end of February 2022.

We request that you kindly submit your application ASAP as we will offer immediately after we have achieved an interview shortlist
Location: the contractual base for this role will be Glascoed in Abergele, however if COVID-19 restrictions are still in place by Feb 2021, the position will be working from home until we are advised otherwise. From this time, you will need to attend meetings and visit sites across North Wales and parts of Cheshire when required.

For an informal chat about the role, please get in touch with:
Benefits

As well as a market competitive salary, 33 days annual leave (pro rata, including public holidays), we offer a range of employee benefits and rewards including:
- Variable pay schemes (your salary will always stay the same, but depending on the performance of the company you could receive a yearly bonus)
- Enhanced employer pension contributions - Up to 11%
- Enhanced family friendly policies
- Progression opportunities, including the ability to apply for funded training and coaching and mentoring programmes
- Reduction on gym memberships and high street shopping
- Cycle to work scheme
- Car-leasing scheme
- Health CashBack scheme
- An employee assistance programme for employees and their immediate family

INDHP