Press Officer : Scotland

Scotland - but with occasional trips to London. Because this is a place-based hire you do not have to be in our London office 25% of the time, but you are very welcome to.

12 months contract

Head of Media

Full-time, which for NEON is 28 hours a week - the equivalent of a 4 day standard work week. This can be done over 4 or 5 days, that’s totally up to you. Hours are generally flexible, with some core meetings everyone has to be at.

A 28-hour week, 7.5% employer matched pension, genuinely flexible working, 20 days holiday per year (25 days pro rated for a 4 day week), plus bank holidays and Christmas break, a progressive Parenting Policy, Sabbatical Policy, and a generous staff development budget

This role requires that you are resident and have the right to work in the UK

About the Spokesperson Network

The Spokesperson Network trains and supports people to speak on television and radio. We are substantially boosting the number of progressive, diverse voices in this space to challenge opposition narratives and boost coverage of underrepresented issues.

The programme works by training, coaching and providing PR booking support for spokespeople from civil society working on social, environmental and economic issues. So far we’ve had over 11,000 high‑profile media bookings including Question Time, Newsnight, Good Morning Britain, LBC, Channel 4 News, BBC 5 Live, Today, Sky News and ITV News plus many more.

Purpose of the role

The purpose of this role is to rapidly build up the capacity of NEON’s Spokesperson Network in Scotland. It is initially a 12 month role, but we are actively seeking longer term financing for it. The role will:

• Recruit a cohort of Scotland‑based spokespeople to be trained by NEON and then booked into the media
• Run the Scottish Spokesperson Network - helping NEON position itself as an aide to broadcast journalists and helpful to NGOs, campaign groups and activists on the ground - with a particular focus
• Seek opportunities for long term funding of the role, alongside the co‑director of Comms.

What you will be doing

Here are the key responsibilities of this role:

• Run two Scotland‑based Spokesperson Network Trainings
• Keep on top of the current trends and topics in the Scottish media and political environment
• Seek to book the spokespeople who have been trained into the media - with expectations of providing each person trained with ongoing media opportunities
• Support on the Spokesperson Network more widely - booking people into the UK‑wide media.
• Be a key part of the Comms Hub - helping with other peoples projects, delivering training and bringing insight and ideas to team spaces.
• Play an active part in the whole NEON team, contributing to organisation‑wide plans

Who you are:

• Experience in journalism, communications, media relations or a role that incorporates these skills.
• A great knowledge of the Scottish media and campaigning environment
• Experience delivering media, press or spokesperson training.
• Good writing and editing skills, including an eye for detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communicating appropriately with different stakeholders.
• Project management experience demonstrated through being proactive and well organised, with the ability to meet tight deadlines and manage multiple priorities
• Ability to work well under pressure, meet the demands of a dynamic organisation and accommodate changing circumstances.
• An affinity with NEON’s aims and objectives and organisational values of solidarity, generosity and respect
• Proven understanding of anti‑oppression work and commitment to tackling all institutional forms of oppression, bigotry and exclusion.
• Experience working in the economic and social justice campaigning community in any kind of capacity.
• Willing to continuously learn and grow - with good emotional intelligence and self awareness including around your own power, and an ability to give and receive feedback well, and sit in (and encourage) healthy conflict and disagreement
• Committed to NEON’s purpose of building the strength of movements for social, economic and environmental justice, and to learning how to align your actions with the values of NEON:…