The Social Market Foundation is a non-partisan think-tank based at Westminster, working to answer the major political and economic challenges of the day. Our work is consulted by senior politicians and officials and reported in the national media.
We are currently looking to appoint an Impact Officer to join our team. This role will support the Events, External Affairs and Research functions of the SMF. The successful candidate will work directly with both teams to ensure that the SMF’s core messages, policy ideas and events reach their intended audiences, and that the SMF’s work has even greater impact on policymaking and public debate.
About the role
The duties of the Impact Officer will include, but not be limited to:
- Promote SMF publications to media, key government and political stakeholders and public, support with writing and editing press releases, answer press enquires and help to secure opinion pieces.
- Identify key stakeholders (from parliamentarians to business leaders to government departments) for each new piece of SMF work.
- Assist with writing and promoting commentary and other content for the SMF website.
- Manage the production of the SMF monthly newsletter and the weekly Wonk Week email, in conjunction with the Research team.
- Identify opportunities for the Research team to contribute to parliamentary inquiries, government reviews and other parts of the policymaking processes. Support with the production of submissions.
- Monitor developments in policy and politics for the SMF team, and use this to identify potential opportunities for the SMF research team to inform the policy process.
- Manage SMF social media accounts (Twitter and LinkedIn) and produce engaging content promoting SMF work. Live-tweet SMF events.
- Manage the SMF website, ensuring content is updated regularly. Maintain and update SMF brand guidelines where appropriate.
- Monitor and collect data on SMF media coverage, social media engagement and website analytics and use these to produce periodic impact reports.
- Typeset and proofread SMF reports and briefing papers and ensure they are ready for publication. Work with the research team and SMF sponsors to coordinate dates and assets for publication launches.
- Assist the SMF Research team to develop and promote new reports, briefings and other outputs through the production of infographics and other digital content.
- Provide ad hoc support for the SMF Events team with the planning and delivery of events in Westminster and at the political Party Conferences. The latter may require some weekend work and travel, and the candidate must be available to work Autumn Party Conferences.
What we’re looking for
As an ideal candidate you will have:
- Experience working in marketing, digital communications, political campaigns or external affairs. This can be through paid or voluntary work.
- Experience in writing, creating and sharing content for social media channels, ideally through the use of infographics and other visualisations of data and complex subject matter; some experience with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat DC is desirable.
- Excellent IT skills.
- Ability to quickly digest complex research — including academic literature — on a wide range of policy areas.
- Good personal organisation skills, with the ability to take responsibility of your own workload to meet tight and conflicting deadlines.
- Exceptional attention to detail and strong proofreading skills.
- Ability to work quickly and under pressure when necessary.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work well in a team.
- A good understanding of, and keen interest in UK public policy and politics, and a commitment to the aims and objectives of the SMF.
- Appetite for creating new and exciting mediums for disseminating the SMF’s work to policymakers and the public.
Benefits
Salary: In the region of £25,000 – £33,000 per annum, dependent on experience.
The SMF offers a contributory staff pension and generous holiday allowances.
The SMF is based at Westminster and the post-holder will be expected to work in our office there at least two days a week, subject to coronavirus restrictions, with other working time spent at home. The post-holder will also be expected to attend all SMF events.
Working pattern: Standard SMF working hours are 9.30am-6pm, Monday to Friday. This is a full-time role but we actively encourage flexible working and working patterns which are different to these hours. The appointee will be able to design their working week – in discussion with colleagues – to accommodate family commitments and other obligations. If you would like to discuss flexible working patterns or other approaches to help balance work with other commitments, please mention this in your application email.
Application process
Applications should be sent to opportunities@smf.co.uk with the header ‘Impact Officer’.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 23 August 2021.
Applicants should attach two pdf or word documents:
- A CV (please read the notes on this carefully below)
- A one-page covering letter summarising how you fit the person specification and why you are interested in this position.
- Applicants are also asked to download, complete and return an equality and diversity monitoring form. This is voluntary and not a condition of applying. A copy of the form can be found here.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an initial interview – to be held via Zoom and may be required to complete a short pre-interview task.
To discuss this post informally with a member of the team, please email Hannah via hannah@smf.co.uk
Important notes
- Applications will be sifted on a name-blind basis. Please do not include your first or last name on your CV or covering letter. So we can identify you please include your name in the email you send with your application.
- CVs should omit institutions. Please do not include the names of schools or universities attended. Do include courses studied and qualifications obtained.
- Where possible, please remove references that might identify your background, sex or other characteristics. For instance, change references to “University women’s football team” to “university football team.”
Outlook
The SMF is a cross-party think-tank governed by a board of trustees that includes members of all major political parties, and non-partisan figures. This non-partisan outlook informs all of our work, which reflects our status as a charity committed to public education in public policy. We welcome applications from people of all political perspectives who are happy to put the pursuit of good policy ahead of partisanship and ideology.
Additional Notes:
The SMF is an equal opportunities employer and all our jobs are open to anyone, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, race, age, disability, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, or pregnancy and maternity.
We particularly encourage applications from people whose backgrounds are poorly represented in Westminster-based institutions and employers.
