Campaign Manager

About us

The Early Education and Childcare Coalition unites the voices of parents, children, providers, early years professionals and the wider business community, working together for investment and reform of early education and childcare in England.

We believe that we all benefit from a well-functioning early education system and we all have a role to play in ensuring it works for children, parents and the economy.

We are backed by some of the most high-profile campaign and research organisations in the UK. Our members include early years provider membership bodies, parent campaign groups, early childhood experts, trade unions, the business lobby, anti-poverty campaigners and NGOs. Together, we use our collective voice and research to build public and political support for early education and childcare.

And it s worked. Thanks to the dedication of our members, early years is now one of the top six priorities for the new government s Plan for Change, but our work isn t done we have an ambitious agenda to rescue and reform the system, ensuring that:

• every child can access high-quality education and care that their parents can afford and that will support them to thrive

• every provider is funded fairly for the places they offer

• every early years professional is rewarded and recognised for the skilled work they do
  

This year we launch a new three-year programme to achieve one of those key aims raising the status of the early education profession, and we need a Campaign Manager to help us drive that work.

About the role

• Hours: 30 hours (4 days per week). Some out-of-hours work may be required for which TOIL will be given.

• Duration: Two-year contract with possible extension subject to funding.

• Location: Homeworking, but within easy reach of London

• Salary: £48,000 per annum FTE (£38,400 pro-rata)

Although we work remotely with a team that is spread nationwide, this role does require someone that is based in or close to London in order to deliver our Westminster programme of activities.

We work flexibly and it won t come as a surprise to you that we understand the challenge of caring commitments. We trust you to manage your time, but we do expect that most of your hours are worked during standard office hours so that we can collaborate as a team and engage with our coalition partners. Our core working day is a Thursday. As a fully remote team this helps us to stay in touch and connect.

This role is initially offered on a two-year fixed term basis which we expect to renew in line with funding and is offered at four days per week. If you have a preferred working pattern, please speak to us and we would be happy to see if we can make it work.

The Coalition has experienced significant growth over the last two years and with early years firmly on the political agenda, we expect this to continue. Our hope is that this role will evolve and the successful candidate will continue to progress within this growing and impactful organisation.

For the last two years, the Coalition has been incubated by the Women s Budget Group, the UK s leading feminist economic think tank. Our growth means that we are now ready to spin out into a separate and independent legal entity. That means that your employment contract will initially be with WBG on behalf of the Coalition but will then transfer across to the newly constituted organisation. This won t change your role, your terms or your pay, but we want to tell you now. We are happy to answer questions at interview about that.

What you can expect to be doing

• Whilst the coalition currently has almost 40 core member organisations who shape our policy and lead on our shared campaigns, we are looking to grow our network of supporter organisations these are partners who share our belief in the value of early education and childcare even if they do not work directly in early years policy. The Campaign Manager will lead a new project to identify, onboard, engage and grow this supporter network, ensuring they remain up to date with the latest research produced by the Coalition and its partners.

• With the support of the Head of Advocacy and our external comms partner, develop a new narrative to raise the profile of the early education workforce and deliver a series of campaign moments across paid, earned and owned media to support this work.

• Deliver ongoing comms and campaign projects designed to grow the coalition s profile across a range of stakeholders.

• Analyse and scope political developments related to the early education and childcare workforce, identifying opportunities to engage and influence.

• Support the organisation of Coalition in person and online events.

• Engage collaboratively with Coalition members to coordinate and amplify their collective and individual voices and work.

• Support with the creation, writing and publication of communication materials including blogs, case studies, press releases and research reports.

• Work with our research partners to drive the aims of the programme.

About you

You will be creative, resourceful and highly effective at building relationships across a wide range of stakeholders. Above all else, you ll be as passionate as our members about the opportunity that the early years holds for children, families and wider society.

You will play a pivotal role in driving the aims of our new programme, delivering campaign moments that raise the status of early educators while amplifying our emerging research from this programme, and activating new messaging and narratives.

With the support of our Head of Advocacy & Communications, you will grow our network of supporters, securing the backing of organisations from across civil society, the business community and the public sector for our shared aims.

Ideally you will have a good working knowledge of the challenges facing the sector and a good understanding of key influencers in this space including think tanks, MPs and journalists.

You will be a confident communicator with strong writing skills and an eye for detail. The right candidate will be comfortable working in a small team where we all muck-in and benefit from each other s skills.

Person specification

Essential

• Strong background in advocacy and campaigns.

• Good at building and nurturing relationships at all levels of seniority.

• Experience of working in a fast-paced campaign environment or working on high-profile campaigns that have had good cut-through.

• Excellent knowledge of both the media and political landscapes.

• Ability to write compelling, high-quality content for various audiences.

• Comfortable with remote-working with the ability to self-manage when necessary.

Desirable

• Good understanding of the complexities and challenges facing the early education and childcare sector.

• Experience of working on employment-related issues or with other public sector/education workforces.

The application process

Please apply with CV and cover letter by the listed closing date. No agencies please. We use anonymous recruitment.

The EECC is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion. We use anonymous recruiting during the application process and we use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the disabled or Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic candidate in order to diversify our staff team.

We can only consider applicants with the right to work in the UK.

We regret that our small team does not have capacity to respond to unsuccessful applicants individually.

Closing date for applications: 9am, 12th May
Interviews: W/c 19th May
Start date: ASAP