Campaign Manager & Strategic Lead

ABOUT THE INLAND WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION

The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is the only independent, national charity supporting and
regenerating Britain’s rivers and canals for leisure, living and business.

We campaign both locally and nationally for the waterways; lobbying parliament, championing
regeneration, promoting sustainability and raising waterways users’ concerns. We also love to
roll up our sleeves and give the waterways a bit of direct TLC, both through local branch
activities and through the hands-on activities of IWA’s Waterways Recovery Group.

At its heart, IWA is a membership organisation, with many thousands of individual and corporate
members. Having celebrated the 75th anniversary of our founding in 2021, we are now building a
legacy of campaigning, action and delivery for the future. At the forefront of our campaign now
is the need to address severe funding challenges faced by all the major navigation authorities.
IWA is leading the multi-organisation Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign.

Working for the IWA provides a great opportunity to contribute to the preservation and
enhancement of the UK’s inland waterways, taking forward IWA’s mission to ensure the
sustainability and enjoyment of these vital resources.

THE OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE JOB

This is an exciting new role as a Campaign Manager and Strategic Lead at IWA where you will
play a vital part in delivering our campaigns and leading a small team. You will have line
manager responsibility for the small team at our Chesham office. You will have a significant
impact on shaping our policy at the national, local and devolved levels.

As the Campaign Manager and Strategic Lead, you will be instrumental in developing and
executing IWA’s efforts to influence policy and strategy at various levels. This will involve
working with trustees and leading the strategy, planning, and implementation of our major
influencing campaigns.

The ideal candidate for this role will bring experience working in policy, campaigns, and
public affairs. Knowledge of digital campaign techniques and experience in evaluating
campaigning activities will be crucial for success in this position.

The role will have responsibility for the strategic development and implementation of marketing
and campaign initiatives for IWA members and key stakeholders to drive awareness, engagement
and growth.

The role is office-based at Chesham but may involve some out of office hours work such as
attendance at Board meetings.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• To support the Board in planning and implementation of IWA’s campaigns.
• Drive awareness and engagement of our campaigns amongst IWA members and key stakeholders.
• Monitoring and evaluating the success of campaigns through data analysis.
• Day to day co-ordination of the Association’s activities with particular emphasis on
  communications and marketing.
• Day to day management of the Head Office of the Association and staff (some are remote
  workers) including expenditure in line with budgets.
• Setting staff objectives from the Board’s strategic objectives and ensuring staff are
  meeting their objectives.
• Ensuring the website and social media, both organic and paid-for, is in line with marketing
  and campaign objectives.
• Ensuring prompt support to volunteers, members, committees and groups.
• Attend Board meetings to provide the Trustees with accurate, concise, timely and
  appropriate reports that will allow them to govern effectively and develop strategy.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We are seeking an enthusiastic individual with excellent organisational skills and demonstrable
success in developing campaigns. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in
successfully delivering policy influencing initiatives and campaigns, along with expertise in
driving effective supporter management and engagement strategies.

ESSENTIAL:

• Experience of planning and developing effective campaigns.
• Knowledge of digital communications, social media and producing cross-platform campaigns.
• Experience in identifying target audiences and leading campaigns across channels that
  educate, convert and engage.
• A self-starter, able to work on their own initiative, as well as collaboratively with other
  staff and volunteers.
• Skilled at forming strong and positive relationships with key stakeholders at all levels of
  seniority.
• Strong management skills and the ability to prioritise a complex workload.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and social media.
• Excellent written communication skills and the ability to convey information in an
  authoritative and accurate manner.

DESIRABLE:

• Knowledge of WordPress or similar website content management systems.
• Knowledge of CiviCRM or similar membership databases.
• Knowledge of Google Analytics.
• Experience in using Adobe software (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop).
• Experience of working for a charitable organisation.
• Experience of working with volunteers.
• A sound knowledge of the inland waterways of Great Britain.
• A passion for the waterways.