Engagement and Communications Manager

University of Southampton; Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in Southampton seeks an Engagement and Communications Manager to enhance relationships with key stakeholders. The role involves developing communication strategies, monitoring engagement, and coordinating events. Ideal candidates will have communication expertise and a collaborative spirit, contributing to important projects that affect public health and development. Flexible working arrangements and various benefits are offered.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

30 days of holiday

University Pension Scheme access

Subsidised health and fitness facilities

Employee discounts

Qualifications

• Significant experience in communication-related roles.
• Ability to develop and implement a communications strategy.

Responsibilities

• Identify and nurture partnerships for collaboration and funding.
• Monitor engagement metrics for WorldPop communications activities.
• Coordinate in-person events to strengthen community ties.
• Draft impactful content for stakeholders and the public.
• Maintain internal relationships with leadership and project leads.
• Enhance the research group's reputation through effective storytelling.

Skills

Communication skills

Relationship building

Collaborative approach

Job description

Be part of the world-renowned WorldPop Research Programme at the University of Southampton (UoS), a global top 100 university (QS World Rankings 2021). WorldPop is a global, award winning, multi-sectoral team of researchers, technicians and project specialists working on producing data on population distributions and characteristics at high spatial resolution. Our mission is to improve the spatial evidence base on where people live, how populations change, and how these patterns affect health, development, and humanitarian outcomes. Combining census, survey, satellite, and mobile data with advanced geospatial and statistical modelling, WorldPop supports governments, UN agencies, and NGOs with accurate, timely data for policy and planning. Our work underpins efforts in public health, disaster response, migration, and sustainable development by delivering detailed insights into human populations at local to global scales.

Role

We are seeking to recruit an Engagement and Communications Manager to serve as a first point of contact between the WorldPop Research Group and its key stakeholders. The role will support the implementation of WorldPop’s engagement strategy through its relationships with the media, users of the WorldPop data and the general public. The successful candidate will bring considerable experience in communication related roles and be able to demonstrate a dynamic and independent approach to developing a communications approach that aligns with wider WorldPop strategies.

Responsibilities

• Identify and nurture relationships with potential partners to facilitate collaborations and funding, enabling the widest possible reach of WorldPop data and methods.
• Monitor and report on engagement with WorldPop communications activities.
• Coordinate in‑person events to strengthen the WorldPop community of practice.
• Draft content that communicates WorldPop’s impact to UN agencies, governments, researchers and the public.
• Maintain key internal relationships with the WorldPop leadership team, project leads and University media and communications contacts, taking a holistic view of the WorldPop offer.
• Identify narratives and mechanisms to enhance the research group’s reputation.

Eligibility and Inclusion

The School of Geography and Environmental Science is committed to fostering a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from suitably qualified candidates, and particularly encourage applications from candidates belonging to groups who are under‑represented within academic posts at the University, including, but not limited to: people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, people who identify as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and from poorer and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Benefits

• Flexible working arrangements
• 30 days of holiday, 6 additional university closure days plus public holidays
• Access to the University Pension Scheme (USS)
• Subsidised health and fitness facilities
• Range of employee discounts

How to Apply

For a full list of the role tasks and responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description & Person Specification.