League Against Cruel Sports

LEAGUE AGAINST CRUEL SPORTS

Job Description

Position: Director of Public & Media Relations

Responsible to: Chief Executive

Responsible for: Allocated staff and resources, including line management of the Head of Public Relations, Public Relations Officer (Parliament), Public Relations Officers (2) and Supporter Relations (2)

Works with: Trustees, the Chief Executive, senior management and other staff, external organisations and representatives, and other interested parties.

Grade: 6

Location: To be confirmed

Overview: The Director of Public & Media Relations is responsible to the Chief Executive for the strategic direction and effective management of the League’s public and media relations, acting as a corporate ambassador and advocate for the League, liaising with the Chief Executive and Head of Public Relations in promoting and pursuing positive media support for the League and a positive profile with political and business leaders, members and supporters and other opinion formers. Contributing to the corporate management and direction of the League.

Principal Responsibilities

1. As a corporate ambassador and advocate for the League, actively promoting and pursuing positive support for the League with those influential with public and media relations, and promoting positive relations with political and business leaders, members and supporters and other opinion formers.

2. Providing effective strategic leadership of the League’s public and media relations, ensuring timely and effective planning and development of programmes and projects to deliver the League’s objectives and engage with external opinion formers, power brokers and organisational leaders to promote the League’s success.

3. Promoting and developing relations with the League’s membership and supporters, providing clear leadership to optimise active engagement and exploit opportunities to create a positive organisational profile.

4. Providing informed, resourceful and inclusive leadership of the Public & Media Relations team and leading multi-disciplinary teams delivering corporate programmes, projects and campaigns.

5. Providing the Chief Executive and Leadership Team with information, plans, reports, and actions to support the League’s corporate management and its strategic direction, to meet the League’s requirements, ambitions and success generally and specifically in relation to public and media relations plans, objectives and operations.

6. Providing leadership of collaborative initiatives with ‘like minded’ organisations to maximise influence and support for common interests, ensuring integrated approaches, promoting consistent and persuasive contacts and communications and complementary support to secure mutual advantage.

7. Promoting active and creative direction and development of the League's public and media relations, ensuring effective communications and contacts that anticipate and respond to trends, developments and emerging interests to meet the League's requirements, ambitions and success.

8. Initiate, co-ordinate and manage research and investigations to assist in promoting the League’s campaigns and meet the League’s requirements, ambitions and success.

9. With the Chief Executive and Leadership Team, ensuring the League's compliance with statutory and corporate governance standards and requirements, including approval of statutory returns and regulatory documents, as required.

10. With the Chief Executive and Leadership Team, providing the corporate management and direction of the League, and in managing the League's compliance with statutory and corporate governance standards and requirements, including the preparation of statutory returns and documents for approval, as required.

11. Managing projects, allocated resources, budgets, staff and systems, reporting on performance, as required, providing reports and timely information to meet the League’s requirements, ambitions and success.

12. Participating effectively in the League’s core campaigns, as required.

13. Ensuring a productive and resourceful approach, that is considerate and respectful of others and consistent with the statutory and organisational expectations of the League.

Essential knowledge and skills

1. General knowledge and skills equivalent to degree level standard or above 2. A record of successful strategic leadership of public and media relations and communications in a comparable organisational environment 3. A record of success as a corporate ambassador and advocate with high level policy makers, opinion formers and power brokers 4. Evidence of effective resourcing and delivery of corporate and service management plans and programmes 5. Evidence of creative and effective direction and development of public and media relations and communications 6. Evidence of effective planning and management of resources, including finance and staff management 7. Evidence of successful application of well-developed inter-personal skills, collaborative team-working and influencing skills, within and across organisations 8. Evidence of effective project management 9. Intermediate MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook competence 10. Evidence of effective communications with a range of people that demonstrate good written and verbal skills 11. Evidence of resourceful and proactive corporate leadership and management 12. Evidence of effective organisation and delivery of projects, plans and performance requirements

Personal characteristics

1. Supportive of the League’s aims and objectives 2. Leads by example and inspires others 3. Applies well developed interpersonal skills and diplomacy to engage effectively with people and interests at all levels, particularly at most senior levels 4. Demonstrates high standards of integrity and credibility 5. Respects and maintains confidentiality and remains discreet 6. Resourceful and reliable in delivering responsibilities to time and to standard 7. Credible, persuasive and influential as an organisational leader, in achieving high standards of quality and performance and desired outcomes through others 8. Resilient under pressure 9. Committed to continuous improvement 10. Considerate and respectful of others

This job description is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities of this post, which may change over time to meet the needs of the organisation. The postholder will be required to undertake such other duties and responsibilities, as may be required from time to time, and are consistent with this post.