Communications and Events Officer

Communications and Events Officer

ECL – Association of European Cancer Leagues

Brussels, Belgium

Reports to: Director
Type of Contract: Full-time, permanent CDI
Deadline for applications: 24 March 2024 (for priority consideration, we may continue to accept applications past this date)
Starting date: ASAP

About ECL

The Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) is one of the most prominent civil society organisations active in cancer policy at European level.

ECL is the umbrella organisation of cancer leagues across the WHO European region and a driving force to advance cancer prevention, access to medicines and patient empowerment, as well as to influence EU health policies. ECL was founded in 1980 and is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation with a secretariat based in Brussels.

ECL currently unites, supports and represents 32 members across 27 European countries, which are national and regional cancer societies, who together employ more than 8,000 people and over 300,000 volunteers. They spend more than €750 million every year to fight cancer and represent over 570 million citizens. ECL engages in advocacy and lobbying and participates in EU-funded projects. We also organise educational and policy events, and capacity-building initiatives. We invite you to visit cancer.eu and follow @CancerLeagues on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIN.

About the position

ECL is seeking to hire an experienced, proactive, creative and detail-oriented professional to join our tight-knit team in Brussels to coordinate our wide-ranging communication activities.

The purpose of this role is to provide expert input to strategise, implement and monitor all ECL communications in alignment with our vision, mission and strategy.

You will lead on ECL’s day-to-day communications activities, including developing and implementing effective communication strategies, creating digital content, populating social media accounts and the ECL website, preparing publications, maintaining our database of contacts, and monitoring European and international news.

The Communications and Events Officer is a pivotal position, providing horizontal support to the ECL secretariat, contributing to the strategic alignment of ECL’s communications with ECL’s advocacy activities for enhanced impact. The position reports directly to the Director and works in close collaboration with the entire ECL Secretariat.

What will you do?

You will be leading ECL’s communications and public relations efforts during an exciting period for EU cancer policy in the context of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and Horizon Europe’s Mission on Cancer. You will be responsible for the following tasks:

Communications strategy and narrative development:

• Develop and implement ECL’s internal and external communication plans in collaboration with Policy Officers and ECL members;
• Implement ECL’s branding; maintain and implement a coherent editorial style and tone to strengthen the public image of ECL;
• Increase ECL’s visibility and profile, and promote key messages towards our external stakeholders (e.g. EU institutions, media and journalists, partners and allies);
• Develop and manage ECL’s online presence; prepare and/or supervise all communication outputs (including newsletters, social media updates, press releases, news articles, and campaigns);
• Coordinate the development of publications, including the Annual Report;
• Coordinate the production of other print and digital materials and communication tools; and
• Monitor the impact of ECL’s communications actions and campaigns.

Content creation:

• Create high-quality written and visual content for ECL’s online communication channels (i.e. website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and for the MEPs Against Cancer (MAC) Interest Group’s channels (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, webpage);
• Support the preparation of advocacy communication outputs (e.g. position papers, statements, op-eds, consultation responses etc.) in collaboration with Policy Officers;
• Review and edit digital content, papers and reports created by the ECL team and/or partners effectively translating technical and scientific evidence into accessible policy and public messages;
• Support public speaking engagements of the Director, Board members and Policy Officers.

Event management:

• Take the lead in planning, implementing and evaluating ECL’s flagship campaign, the European Week Against Cancer (every year on 25-31 May), as well as engagement in other organisations’ campaigns, awareness days and observances (e.g. World Cancer Day);
• Take the lead in planning, implementing and evaluating internal meetings and events (e.g. Annual Conference, General Assembly);
• Support preparations, presentation drafting and report-writing for the ECL Annual Meetings, the ECL Executive Board meetings and other internal and external events;
• Support the organisation of meetings and conferences in collaboration with other ECL staff, members and partners and provide logistical assistance as assigned;
• Attend relevant events and meetings and produce brief reports as necessary.

Press and media outreach:

• Identify opportunities for the promotion of ECL’s work to a wide range of audiences;
• Lead in obtaining ambitious coverage of ECL’s activities by identifying opportunities for media visibility, responding to media enquiries, pitching stories, and soliciting interviews with the ECL team and Board members;
• Monitor, record and report on ECL’s media coverage;
• Develop and maintain a robust network of media contacts;
• Cross-Organisational activities – contribute to the communication, implementation and awarness of the ECL’s overall organisational strategy;
• Help promote and raise awareness ofa continuous learning environment at ECL;
• Develop yearly communications actions plans and contribute to the development of the grant applications.

Who are we looking for?

The successful candidate will understand and be committed to ECL’s vision and goals. You will contribute to our ambition to pursue a transformational agenda at the EU level.

Required education and experience:

• University degree (Master’s level) preferably in a relevant field, such as Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Journalism;
• At least 3 years of professional work experience in communications and event management;
• Proven ability to successfully deliver communications strategies and publication plans targeting a range of audiences’;
• Proven ability to deliver creative content (publication, design, text, image and video);
• Proven ability to plan workload, meet tight deadlines, and handle multiple projects;
• Strong understanding of and experience with Wordpress, Mailchimp and graphic design tools (Canva, Venngage and/or Adobe Creative Cloud applications);
• Experience in forging collaborative working relationships with relevant stakeholders;
• Experience in drafting advocacy and collaborative communications;
• Master of social media platforms (X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn);
• Experience in cancer and international public health issues;
• Experience in website development, management and update and ability to collaborate with the relevant experts; and
• Experience with press relations and media campaigns.

Required skills and personal qualities:

• Near native or full professional proficiency in spoken and written English;
• A positive, ‘can-do’ attitude and the ability to work autonomously;
• Well-organised, practical-minded and able to prioritise a busy and varied workload;
• Ability to convey information in a compelling and concise way and to re-package complex content in an accessible format;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including tactful and effective facilitation skills to build consensus across teams;
• Strong IT skills (including MS Office applications and Zoom);
• Strong project management skills and attention to detail.

Desirable:

• Good knowledge of the civil society sector and/or public health sector;
• Experience working for a membership or network organisation;
• Good understanding of the functioning of EU institutions and EU policy-making and influencing processes and strategies;
• Experience working in the pan-European context, preferably with EU institutions; and
• Fluent in one or more additional European languages.

What do we offer?

• A permanent, full-time contract;
• A friendly and flexible work environment, with the opportunity to take initiative and drive communication work;
• A hybrid work environment, A challenging international job in a dynamic, supportive and multinational team;
• Working with a network of 32 members and access to experts and a large diverse network of partners across Europe and beyond;
• Opportunities to meet and work with EU institutions and leading European and global cancer organisations;
• Experience in EU-oriented communication and advocacy work and exposure to a broad range of cancer-related issues;
• Benefits package (e.g. meal vouchers, 5 additional extra-legal vacation days).

Terms of employment

• This position is offered on a full-time basis with a permanent CDI contract according to Belgian national legislation;
• Salary offered will be commensurate with experience and be supplemented with extra benefits;
• All applicants must be qualified, eligible, and able to work in Belgium without requiring a work visa. We are not able to provide financial assistance to relocate to Brussels;
• ECL is a tobacco-free workplace, compliant with Belgian regulations.

How do I apply?

Send an email to Vacancy(at)cancer.eu (no telephone calls accepted) with the subject line: Application for ECL Communications and Events Officer – [Your name & surname], with attachments:

1. Curriculum vitae, no longer than two A4 pages, with two professional references;
2. Letter of Motivation, maximum two A4 pages, which includes your a) gross (brut) salary expectations and b) earliest availability;
3. 2-4 writing samples, written and published by you, in any realm of communication and/ or events management (e.g. social media campaign, reports, news articles, blog posts, op-eds, communication campaign, position papers, press release, reports of events with 30+ participants).

Applications that do not follow these instructions will be disregarded.

Deadline for application: 24 March 2024 – 23:59 (CEST)

Short-listed candidates are expected to be informed within 2 weeks of the deadline for applications and invited for virtual interviews the first 2 weeks of April.

Due to the high volume of applications anticipated, kindly note that we are unable to provide individual feedback and that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

The successful candidate must be based in Brussels. The position will involve a combination of teleworking and working in the office at the EU quarters or 1030 postcode.