Senior Press and PR Officer

Job id: 082305. Salary: £43,205 – £50,585 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 10 January 2024. Closing date: 04 February 2024.

Business unit: Strategic Comms & External Relations. Department: News & Brand PR.

Contact details:Rebecca Lewis. [email protected]

Location: Guy’s campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

Job description

King’s College London is one of the world’s top universities, with an award-winning Communications Team. With an ambitious vision, effective communications with key audiences, including with the media, is crucial. As Senior Press and PR Officer, you will work with journalists and the media to ensure that our world-class reputation is enhanced and maintained and that our strengths and successes are effectively communicated.  As a key part of the team, you will create and place compelling and engaging content aligned to the university’s strategic priorities in national and international news channels, on the website and across King’s digital channels, help to run a series of communications campaigns that appeal to staff, students and external stakeholders. You will also assist the university’s issues communications response offering expertise on messaging and lines to take.

What you’ll need to succeed

You’ll be a dynamic, driven person with an ability to engage with a range of colleagues, and with media and communications experience. To be successful in this role you will have experience in a similar role and will be able to demonstrate success of working with and briefing journalists and placing positive stories in prominent media outlets. We need a confident self-starter, who works well under pressure and who uses a keen news sense, relationships with journalists, creativity and initiative to achieve success.

This post is offered as an indefinite post.

This is a full time post – 100% full time equivalent.

Key responsibilities

• To ensure the Communications Team’s excellence in external PR is maintained and enhanced by helping to create and implement strategic PR campaigns that cut across communication channels and which includes the regular placement of positive news stories in prominent media outlets.
• Be a key liaison point between journalists, the media and the university, maintaining contact lists and ensuring that relationships are enhanced and maintained.
• To support the two Senior PR and Communications Managers to proactively promote key research and strategic initiatives across Faculties and departments.
• To utilise all the university’s external and internal communications channels, including social media, to amplify and enhance positive news stories in a creative and engaging way that will appeal to key audiences including students and staff.
• Work closely with the communications network across the university to have a keen sense of what content is being produced and when, so that campaigns and media outreach can be planned accordingly
• To help protect and maintain the university’s reputation by monitoring and responding to emerging issues and quickly correcting inaccuracies.
• To monitor the university’s external PR performance and keep abreast of the latest trends to ensure best practice.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.

Excellent standard of English.

Experience of working with the media either in a communications role or as a journalist and with a solid contact list of national media journalists as well as a successful track record in delivering sustained national media coverage.

Experience of managing communications issues and external reputation management.

Excellent editorial skills and attention to detail.

An excellent news sense and the ability to successfully brief and pitch into journalists.   

Experience of producing content for digital channels such as websites and social media.

A collaborative attitude to work, supporting others and with the ability to build effective links and relationships with a range of senior stakeholders.

A proactive approach to work, knowing when to work independently and flexibly but also when best to work as part of a team. Enthusiastic self-starter with a positive and determined approach.

Experience of using evaluation tools to report on and improve activities.

Desirable criteria

Knowledge and experience of working in the higher education sector.

A professional qualification in journalism, communications or PR.