Community Engagement Officer - Play Project (Part-Time Role)

Community Engagement Officer - Play Project (part-time role)
The Organisation
The Royal Parks (TRP) is a charity created in March 2017. We manage over 5,000 acres of diverse parkland, rare habitats and historic buildings and monuments in eight Royal Parks across London. These are Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park, St James’s Park, The Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and Bushy Park.
We also manage other important public spaces including Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens. Our eight Royal Parks and other iconic green spaces are among the most visited attractions in the UK with 77 million visits every year.
Our Play in the Park Project was a pilot initiative that engaged underserved families local to Greenwich Park and The Regent’s Park with outdoor free play, helping activate two new playgrounds in these parks. With funding from the London Marathon Foundation, the project engaged over 6,500 local people through outreach, play sessions, events and mini projects.
We are now looking for a Community Engagement Officer to join our team on a part-time basis, working 28.5 hours per week for a two-year fixed term contract. Here at TRP, we do offer flexibility over the amount of days worked.
Please note, for advertising purposes, this role is called a Community Engagement Officer - Play Project, the actual job title is Play Officer.
The Benefits
- Salary of £30,701 - £35,000 per annum (£24,304.96 to £27,708.33 for 28.5 hours per week, per annum), depending on experience
- 26 days' annual leave (pro rata) plus public holidays
- Pension scheme (3% employee contribution; up to 10% employer contribution)
- Hybrid/agile working options
- Private medical insurance and healthcare cash plan
- Employee assistance programme and access to mental health first aiders
- Learning and development opportunities
- Cycle to work scheme
- Offices in a beautiful location
This is an exciting opportunity for a children, young people and family professional with experience of developing play schemes and activities and engaging London’s underserved communities to join our organisation.
If you want to help shape the future of our access and engagement work in some of the Capital’s most treasured locations, apply today!
The Role
As a Community Engagement Officer, you will continue the work of our Play in the Park Project, identifying, engaging and building relationships with families who are underserved by The Royal Parks.
Reporting to the Access and Engagement Manager, you will help build a thorough understanding of the challenges local families face, identifying gaps in provision and opportunities through outreach work, co-created resources, nature play sessions, and events.
You will create meaningful opportunities for children of all abilities and build a legacy of sustainable play provision in the Parks.
Additionally, you will:
- Build on relationships with grassroots organisations serving local families in the Parks
- Deliver listening workshops with families to better understand their needs and interests
- Contribute to our visitor research programme
- Help recruit and co-ordinate volunteers to support programme delivery
- Promote the Play in the Park Project with Communications and Marketing teams
About You
To be considered as a Community Engagement Officer, you will need:
- Experience developing and delivering outdoor Play Projects and activities for children, young people and families
- Experience engaging London’s underserved communities and delivering play activities to improve access to and participation with the outdoors
- Experience monitoring and evaluating project impact
- An understanding of Health & Safety, safeguarding children, young people and adults
- Excellent communication and listening skills
We want to put everyone in the best possible position to succeed and use Recite-me accessibility software. At the top of the application page, there is an “Accessibility Tools” button which you can use to complete the application form in a way that works for you. If you think that you may need more support to complete our application process, please do get in touch.
Other organisations may call this role Project Officer, Access and Engagement Officer, Partnerships and Community Engagement Officer, Public Engagement Officer, or Project Management Officer.
The Royal Parks is strongly committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and is an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.
So, if you are interested in this unique opportunity as a Community Engagement Officer, please apply via the button shown. Successful candidates will be appointed on merit.