PR & Media Manager Job at Old Sw Full Time NEW

Are you a bold communicator who knows a great story when you see one? Do you want your work to genuinely matter – amplifying the voices of people who need to be heard, shifting public perception of social care, and putting a passionate, values-driven charity on the national map?

Community Integrated Care is one of the UK’s largest social care charities, supporting thousands of people with learning disabilities or mental health conditions to live the lives they choose.

As we launch our new five-year strategy, Best Lives Bolder (www.bestlivesbolder.com) this is a defining moment for our organisation. We are setting out to be even more creative, courageous and influential in how we champion the people we support and drive change across the sector.

We’re looking for an exceptional PR & Media Manager to lead our media function and help us tell our story with ambition, imagination and impact – playing a pivotal role in bringing our Best Lives, Bolder vision to life through powerful storytelling and high-impact media engagement.

This is a full time permanent, national role with hybrid working. You will be required to work from our head office at least once a week, so our ideal candidate will be based within an hour’s commute of Widnes, Cheshire.

What is “The Deal” for you?

• Flexibility: You can work your 37.5 hours over 4 days and enjoy a long weekend, or split the hours over 5 days to accommodate your other commitments.
• Pension: contributory pension scheme
• Benefits: retail discounts, holiday discounts, cycle to work scheme and travel discounts through our benefits app
• Best Lives Possible: You’ll be working for an award winning charity who is passionate about ensuring our colleagues and the people we support lead the best lives bolder
• Development: We’ll work with you to develop your career or to learn and experience new things. We’re passionate about developing our people!
• Support: From our Employee Assistance Programme (available 24/7), financial support options, and wellbeing fund you’ll have the support available to lead an easier (financial) life

This isn’t a press office role. It’s a platform for someone who wants to shape conversations, build national influence and champion the people at the heart of social care.

What you’ll be doing:

• Developing and owning our national and regional Media & PR Strategy, aligned to our influencing and advocacy goals.
• Proactively pitching compelling stories to secure high-quality national, regional, trade and broadcast coverage
• Building and nurturing relationships with journalists, influencers and media contacts across care, sport, culture and nature sectors.
• Leading crisis communications – protecting our reputation calmly and decisively when it matters most.
• Translating complex policy and social care issues into accessible, powerful content for diverse audiences.
• Collaborating closely with our Head of Influencing, Policy and Public Affairs to align media work with policy goals.
• Working with our Partnerships & Communities team to turn high-profile community programmes and brand partnerships into media ready stories.
• Supporting and developing confident spokespeople at every level of the organisation.
• Monitoring coverage, producing insight-driven reports and keeping senior leaders informed on media trends and reputational risks.

Our ideal candidate:

• Track record – Proven experience in a PR, media or communications role in the charity, public, health or social care sector.
• Media instinct – You know a story, you know how to place it, and you know when to act fast.
• Strategy – Experience designing and delivering media strategies with measurable outcomes.
• Crisis management – Experience building proactive processes for reputation risks and leading calm, confident responses when issues arise.
• Relationships – A strong network of media contacts or the ability to build one quickly across sectors.
• Storytelling – Exceptional writing, from press releases to opinion pieces to compelling human stories.
• Collaboration – Proven ability to work across teams, influence senior leaders and align messaging.
• Policy experience – Ability to turn complex social, regulatory or policy issues into content that lands with public and political audiences.

Why join us

• You’ll be working for an award-winning charity that’s passionate about ensuring our colleagues and the people we support lead the best lives possible.
• Flexible hours – work 37.5 hours over four days for a long weekend, or across five days to suit you. You can also work from home, with at least one day per week at our Widnes Head Office.
• A collaborative, values-driven team where your work will be seen, valued and celebrated
• Opportunities to travel nationally and attend sector events and media moments.
• A contributory pension scheme to help you plan for the future.
• Wellbeing support, including a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, financial support options and a wellbeing fund. Retail discounts, holiday deals, cycle to work scheme and travel discounts via our benefits app.

If you’re a bold, strategic communicator who wants to use your skills to change perceptions, influence policy and amplify the voices of people in social care – we’d love to hear from you.

Please note, if you are interested in this role, we welcome your application as soon as possible! Depending on the volume of applications received, the vacancy may be closed before the expected advertising end date.

Interested and want to know a bit more?

To find out more about us, watch our We Are Community Integrated Care video here and our Best Lives Possible video here.

We’re really proud to be a Hive HR Employee Voice Certified organisation, a recognition that confirms our commitment to creating a culture where our colleagues are not only encouraged to share their thoughts, but where this feedback is actively sought and acted upon to drive positive change at every level.

In our 2025 Colleague Engagement Survey, 59% (nearly 3,800) of our people shared their feedback and insights, giving us an incredible Employee Net Promoter Score of +34.

The Employee Net Promoter Score is a measure of how willing our colleagues are to recommend us as a good place to work to their loved ones – and a score of +34 is considered a Very Good score when compared to global benchmarks set by hundreds of other organisations.