Senior Media Officer

Islamic Relief Worldwide is an independent humanitarian and development organisation, serving humanity for over 37 years. With an active presence in over 40 countries across the globe, we strive to make the world a better and fairer place for those affected by poverty, conflicts and natural disasters.

Islamic Relief is currently recruiting for the position of ‘Senior Media Officer’ to join its dynamic UK (IRUK) division. The purpose of the role is to promote Islamic Relief’s work and concerns to the UK media through relationship building with key journalists, responding to media enquiries, issuing press releases and other information, and pitching and placing news stories and features. To project manage selected media events (e.g. press conferences) and projects (e.g. fundraising campaigns and products), working across teams.

The successful candidate must have or be:

• Excellent communications skills – written, verbal and listening
• Excellent journalistic skills – including research, writing and editing
• Strong networking and interpersonal skills
• Passionate about international development/humanitarian relief
• Ability to handle multiple projects and a variety of work simultaneously
• Proven ability to think ‘outside the box’ in order to generate a wide range of media and PR coverage
• Established media contacts
• A professional or academic qualification in media, public relations or marketing
• Excellent understanding and working knowledge of online media
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong team player
• Flexibility, including willingness to travel at short notice and work unsocial hours, particularly during emergencies
• Highly organised with an ability to multi-task
• Able to maintain calm under pressure
• Proactive, innovative thinker with a strong news sense for what makes a good story

If you are talented, reliable, service-minded, resilient and a highly motivated professional looking for a meaningful career, with a strong commitment to IRW’s mission and values of sincerity, excellence, compassion, social justice and custodianship, please apply by completing our online application form.

For more information on the excellent company benefits we offer our employees, please visit:

https://www.islamic-relief.org/work-with-us/what-we-offer/

PLEASE NOTE: Interviews are expected to take place on an ongoing basis until a suitable appointment is made.

Pre-employment Checks:

Any employment with Islamic Relief will be subject to the following checks:

• screening clearance
• proof of eligibility to live and work within the UK
• basic criminal records check
• receipt of satisfactory references

Please note, for UK-based roles, we are only able to accept applications from candidates who are eligible to work in the UK. We are unable to progress applications which would require sponsorship.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

IRW is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom IRW engages. IRW expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records checks. IRW also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.

In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Applicants should be sympathetic to the values of Islamic Relief:

(Sincerity, Excellence, Compassion, Social Justice and Custodianship)

Islamic Relief is an equal opportunities employer