Strategic Communications Manager - 12 Month Contract

Salary: £50,000 to £55,000 per annum, dependent on experience.

Closing Date: Monday 24th August 2026

Hours: 12 month contract, 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Reports to: Head of Strategic Communications, Brand and Marketing.

Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site.

Extra Information: Open to conversation on hybrid, flexible and compressed working arrangements.

About the role:

The Strategic Communications Manager is a vital role supporting the Motability Foundation to deliver structured campaigns, advocacy and always-on activity as part of a wider Communications team.

This is a fixed-term position working alongside two other Strategic Communications Managers during a period of growth and re-alignment where we implement a new integrated communications strategy and new ways of working to raise our profile and impact. The post-holder will design, project manage and help deliver joined up communications plans that tell a clear story and motivate audiences to engage with our mission: to build transport equity for disabled people in the UK.

As well as planning and coordinating projects, the role will give counsel on communications issues and support operational delivery, from drafting narratives and messaging to creating content and supporting event delivery. A broad range of communications experience and the ability to collaborate with specialists across the communications team and beyond will be critical to its success.

What you will be doing:

• Develop communications campaigns and projects, collaborating with colleagues across the Communications team to agree objectives, concepts, messages and activities that resonate with our audiences and grow engagement with our work

• Project manage the delivery of communications plans, creating clear roles and responsibilities, spotting and addressing problems and collaborating to ensure smooth delivery

• Create clear narratives, messages and content themes that profile our work and promote our grants, research and policy priorities across different transport themes

• Use audience insights and testing to refine messaging and creative concepts so that our work is inclusive, representative and audience-led

• Build close relationships with Transport Solutions team colleagues to provide counsel and communications support to help them carry out engagement work

• Identify always-on opportunities to promote work from our transport themes. Work with colleagues to prioritise and coordinate communications outputs week by week, as part of our editorial calendar team

• Work with colleagues and independently to produce compelling, accessible content for different channels as needed, from blogs to videos to events and long-form editorial projects

• Manage relationships with external stakeholders as needed, including managing partnerships with other organisations to agree communications ways of working, objectives, plans, and delivery

• Anticipate and manage communications risks and external factors that could affect messages, plans or audience response, escalating issues and recommending appropriate actions where needed

• Monitor, analyse and report on communications activity, campaign performance, KPIs and use insight to recommend improvements.

Your experience:

Must haves:

• Significant experience of communications delivery gained across a mix of disciplines, such as corporate communications, campaigns, marketing, PR, digital or brand.

• Experience of developing and delivering integrated communications campaigns using a range of channels and content to engage and mobilise public and professional audiences. Experience of setting campaign KPIs and monitoring performance.

• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines and keep colleagues involved, consulted and informed.

• Ability to build strong relationships, persuade and influence, and work collaboratively across disciplines, including communications, brand, marketing, digital, PR, public affairs and programme teams.

• Experience of working closely with subject matter experts to support them to undertake communications and engagement activities and to identify opportunities for stories and content.

• Excellent writing and editing skills, with the ability to create clear narratives, compelling messages and high-quality content tailored to different audiences and channels.

• Experience of creating content across a range of formats, such as web pages, social media posts, email, long-form editorial, video, infographics, events and stakeholder communications.

• Ability to use audience insight, research, testing or performance data to inform communications planning, messaging and content.

• Confidence using common communications and marketing tools, such as social media platforms, content management systems, analytics software and project management systems.

Nice to have

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline.

• Experience of working in the public, charity or not-for-profit sectors.

• Experience of leading or supporting online and offline events.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience, we'd still encourage you to apply.

Who are we?

We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose.

We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Why choose us?

We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries.

We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving.

We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff.

We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum.

A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits. Some of these include:

• 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/ sell up to five days.
• One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
• Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life Assurance of four times your salary.
• Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
• Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
• Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
• Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
• Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and a Dress for Your Day dress code.
• Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you.

To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates.

While we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role, we welcome applications from candidates who already hold a valid right to work in the UK. Candidates with an existing visa may be considered, subject to the type and conditions of their visa.