With more communities than ever contacting Plunkett to access our advice and support services, we are excited to promote the opportunity to join Plunkett as our Head of External Affairs.

Role: Head of External Affairs

Reporting to: Deputy Chief Executive

Line Reports: Membership Managers and Communications Manager

Salary Band: £40,000 – £61,800

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full-time

Location: Woodstock, Oxfordshire

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Plunkett team
and lead and implement our External Affairs strategy.

The role holder will advocate for a supportive policy, legislative and funding environment in which the community-owned business sector can flourish, as well as oversee our growing membership services and communications activities.

They will help strengthen the community business movement as a whole as well as engage a range of stakeholders to help further our strategic objectives and make our vision for resilient, thriving and inclusive rural communities become a reality across the UK.

The principal accountabilities for the role are to:

  • Represent Plunkett and advocate for the community business model at strategic policy focused meetings and events
  • Lead on the production of our research and report publications
  • Champion our members current needs, and create a recognised national movement of rural community businesses
  • Design and lead delivery of Plunkett’s Membership Services
  • Design and lead Plunkett’s Communication activities
  • Be an active member of Plunkett’s Senior Leadership Team
The successful candidate should demonstrate being:

  • Ambitious: you push yourself and those around you to raise your game and go above and beyond. You’re determined and always strive to deliver great work.

  • Knowledge: you’ll have good working knowledge of both national and local government, as well as policy and legislation development within the UK.

  • Creative: you enjoy problem solving and coming up with new ways of looking at a challenge. You’re a great storyteller using your creativity to land messages with impact.

  • Influencer: you have exemplary influencing skills at all levels with the ability to maintain and extend stakeholder relationships

  • Collaborative: you thrive on being part of a team forging great relationships inside and outside of the organisation. You’re open, helpful, considerate and hands-on.

  • Positive: you’re driven and your energy and enthusiasm for the work you do are infectious. You’re persevering and resilient, seeing problems and setbacks as a normal part of everyday life.

  • Accurate: you are a passionate, articulate and compelling communicator. Your attention to detail is razor sharp. You take pride in your work and aim for the highest levels of professionalism in all you do.

  • Organised: you’re a great organiser, both of yourself and others where appropriate. You enjoy the rigour of the planning process and can re-prioritise where required.

  • Proactive: you’re not afraid to take the initiative, in fact you relish it, you’re action oriented. You’ll arrive champing at the bit to take the lead and get stuck in.

We are committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and our approach goes beyond ‘protected characteristics’ to thinking more broadly about inclusion. Every individual will think and feel differently and we believe that these differences should be embraced, and individual needs taken into account. Additionally, the makeup of the rural communities we work with leads to their own particular diversity and exclusion challenges and opportunities compared to urban areas. Our commitment to EDI, both internally and externally, has been tailored to Plunkett and the communities we serve.

We ask that you complete a diversity monitoring form in order to monitor the effectiveness of our policies. The completion of this form is voluntary.

To apply for the role, please firstly read our recruitment pack, which you can download here.

Please submit an up-to-date CV and covering letter, including a supporting statement of no more than 2 sides of A4 outlining your suitability for the role according to the person specification.

Please send your application to: hr@plunkett.co.uk

Closing date for applications: Monday 24 February 2025 at 9am

Interview date: Interviews will be held at our offices in Woodstock during wc 3 March 2025

No agencies please.

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