Senior Advancement Communications Manager

About us

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) raises philanthropic funds in support of King’s College London and engages with the university’s worldwide alumni community. We are proud to enable the work of colleagues across the university and its health partners, helping them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare. Our activity includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health and initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

We are entering an exciting period as a team. Our work is identified as a key enabler of the new King’s Strategy 2030, with associated ambitions that include preparing for our next major philanthropic and engagement campaign. This will accelerate and energise our work in support of the University’s mission to be ‘in service to society through academic excellence’ – be that through exceptional, impact-led research; ensuring our students are supported to thrive during their time at King’s and beyond; or by helping the university to invest over the long-term into its people, ideas and infrastructure. We plan to deepen and scale engagement with our global alumni community, donors and other supporters, mobilising them behind these shared priorities. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining a strong and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can realise these ambitions.

More on King’s College London

For almost 200 years, King’s has been a place where ideas turn into action. From revealing the structure of DNA to reimagining nursing, from advances in medicine, law and the study of war and peace to shaping culture and public debate, our work has always been guided by a belief that knowledge should serve society. Over our history, King’s has been home to 14 Nobel Prize winners, and to scholars whose ideas and leadership have shaped thinking, policy and practice around the world. King’s has always been a place where knowledge is put to work for the benefit of others. King’s College London is a world-renowned university that delivers exceptional education and world-leading research. We're committed to creating positive and sustainable change in our local and global communities through outstanding education, impactful research, and genuine service to society.

King’s Strategy 2030 sets out how we take that purpose forward, with four key priorities including student success in and beyond university, investment in research and education excellence that responds to the changing world, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, and delivering sustainable finances for a secure future.

More information on King’s, its purpose and strategy can be found here -https://www.kcl.ac.uk/about

About the role

The Senior Advancement Communications Manager will play a leading role in delivering communications that strengthen alumni engagement, support philanthropic giving and enhance the reputation of the University among its alumni, supporters and wider community.

This vital new role will oversee the day-to-day delivery of our mass philanthropy and alumni communications programme. It will ensure that we are constantly reviewing our content and annual campaigns to improve understanding, drive engagement and respond to the changing communications landscape.

The postholder will work closely with colleagues across the department, including Advancement Writing, Legacy Giving, Mid-Level Giving, Philanthropy and Alumni Relations colleagues to build a comprehensive understanding of King's fundraising priorities, academic strengths and strategic engagement ambitions. They will use this insight to help their team to create and deliver compelling, audience-focused content that supports alumni engagement and advances the University's philanthropic goals.

The role combines strategic planning with hands-on delivery, providing leadership, project management and line management support while ensuring that communications activity is audience-focused, evidence-led and contributes to engagement and fundraising objectives.

This is a full-time post and you will be offered an indefinite contract

P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Experience of managing integrated communications across multiple external channels, including email, digital, social media and print within a complex organisation.

Desirable criteria

1. Strong understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion best practice in communications
2. Significant experience of shaping messaging from across functions/disciplines to create cohesive institutional storytelling.
3. Experience of working with and influencing multiple senior stakeholders in complex organisations.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

In P&A we want to build a diverse team, which represents the communities served by the organisations we support. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented.

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate and in the context of the business needs associated with the role.

We offer the opportunity of an “Ask Us Anything” Teams call on INTERNAL 14 October 12.30pm / EXTERNAL 4 November 3pm. During this call you will be able to ask any questions you might have about the role, the selection process, our department, our core values and work culture, our current hybrid work policy, or simply listen to others’ questions. To join please email [email protected].

This roles with have two interview stages, a standard skills-based interview followed (for up to two appointable candidates) by a Core Values interview.

• First stage interviews for internal redeployment candidates are due to be held on 23 October
• First stage interviews for external candidates (if required) are due to be held on 23 November with Core Values interviews on 26 November.