Communications Manager - Energy Futures

Communications Manager – Energy Futures
Starting salary from £41,000.00
Up to a 10% bonus
Fixed term 24 month contract
Located at our offices in Thorpe Park, Leeds

We have an exciting opportunity for an Energy FuturesCommunications Manager to join our small but fast-paced in-house Communications team, on a two-year fixed term contract.

You will be leading the strategic planning and delivery of external and internal campaigns aligned to our pioneering Energy Futures projects, focused on securing the future role of gas in a low carbon UK. In addition you’ll also play a vital role supporting for the wider Communications team across all areas of the business, including working with the External Communications Manager to manage the reactive and proactive press office.

Reporting to the Energy Futures Communications Lead and working as part of the wider NGN Comms team, you’ll be a strong leader; a creative and highly motivated professional who can hit the ground running and develop impactful, engaging campaigns which challenge pre-conceptions and enthuse the audience.

Key accountabilities and responsibilities
•    Understand the organisation's brand and communications strategy, approach and objectives and ensure it is reflected in all planning and delivery
•    Lead on the development and implementation of effective media handling and integrated external communications plans and campaigns to raise brand awareness and recognition around Energy Futures strategic priority areas
•    Oversee media relations work and build strong relationships with national, regional and local media to raise positive profile of NGN
•    Working with in-house design team and external design agencies on the production of new assets and literature
•    Support with the planning and delivery of strategic events and meetings
•    Copywriting including press releases, articles, social media content and case studies
•    Managing NGN’s proactive and reactive press office – responding promptly to media enquiries, identifying opportunities and manging risks effectively.
•    Tracking and reporting the impact and value of comms activity and benchmarking where possible

What we are looking for in our Communications Manager
•    You will be an experienced PR professional with a track record of campaign planning, media relations and event management, and strong understanding of reputation and crisis management
•    Excellent writing, editing and proof-reading skills
•    Clear understanding of national, regional, and local government, national energy policy, and the energy regulator
•    Strong stakeholder relations skills and working with project partners
•    Highly motivated, flexible, enthusiastic, innovative and creative with required determination to achieve results
•    The ability to condense new and complex information into a clear and readable form; and to think strategically
•    The personal skills to work effectively both with NGNs leadership team, with colleagues and with stakeholders in Government, industry and other organisations
•    Political intelligence and keen interest and sufficient knowledge of energy issues
•    A successful team player who can demonstrate initiative and the ability to be proactive when appropriate, also being able to follow instructions and support the team as appropriate
•    Highly organised in order to successfully coordinate and prioritise a varied and demanding workload
•    Excellent attention to detail with a methodical approach to work and a strong focus on accuracy, understanding the need for documentation and well-defined procedures
•    Polite and confident in manner and ability to exercise tact and diplomacy in an organisational setting
•    Shows resilience to overcome obstacles to deliver what is required

What we offer you
•    Starting salary of £41,000 per annum
•    Up to a 10% bonus 
•    Fixed term contract for 24 months
•    40 hours per week
•    25 days annual leave (plus recognised bank holidays and 2 half days over the Christmas period)
•    SSP for first 7 calendar days then occupational sick pay
•    A generous stakeholder 5/10 pension scheme
•    Flexible benefits and salary sacrifice options... from discounts on a variety of UK attractions, gym membership, restaurant discounts, experience days...and much more!
•    An array of fantastic family- friendly policies such as 6 weeks’ paternity leave (for eligible employees) and 6 months’ full pay for employees on maternity leave (for eligible employees), as well as shared parental leave and many more!

We are ... Northern Gas Networks.  We deliver gas to 2.7 million homes and businesses in the North East, Northern Cumbria and much of Yorkshire. That’s around 6.7million individual customers.  We don’t generate or sell the gas, but we transport it to homes and businesses in our region through a vast network of underground pipes.  In fact, we own and maintain more than 37,000km of gas pipes - enough to stretch from Leeds to Sydney and back again.  

Our Values are at the heart of what we do. In addition to your key responsibilities, you will incorporate these into the daily life of your role.  We are … Trailblazing, Empowered, Heartfelt, Community Focused, Intellectually Curious and most of all we are Happy!

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion culture at NGN is embedded in everything that we do. We will be delighted to hear from a diverse range of applicants, so we can continue to grow our great team of people.  We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant, helping ex-services personnel back into employment, as well as being members of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) and we are committed to delivering our ‘Opportunity Action Plan’ having signed the Social Mobility Pledge campaign, whereby we will establish our business as a ‘force for good’ in the communities that we serve. 

Next Steps.  It would be great to receive your application by clicking apply and uploading your CV. We love to see how your experience and skills are transferable to this role so please ensure these are all included in your application. Once the advert has closed, we will be contact as soon as possible to let you know if you have progressed to the next stage. We are looking to hold interviews for this role throughout June and July.  We look forward to receiving your application.

If you require adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process, we want to hear about how we can help. Any applicant that requires reasonable adjustments from initial application through to interview are asked to contact the Recruitment Team at NGNCareers@northerngas.co.uk