Overview

Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

In this senior role within the multi award-winning team, you will work closely with the Head of Digital to develop and implement strategies that bring the Church’s digital evangelism, discipleship, and communication priorities to life. You will lead a range of major projects from helping to set the strategy, some budget management, delivery and analysis of results.

Post Introduction

Please note that this post is being offered on a two year fixed-term contract.

As Senior Digital Communications Manager, You will be responsible for scoping, planning, implementing and delivering national Vision and Strategy objectives and communication strategies for the Church of England and its institutions.

You will be working both operationally and strategically with the Head of Digital, you will deliver creative digital projects for the national Church and local churches.  

This role has accountability and ownership of A Church Near You, the Church’s national church finder tool that receives more than 77 million page views and has 22,000 editors across the country. You will oversee the day-to-day social media calendar and work of four members of staff.  

The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country.  Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minority Ethnic Backgrounds and disabled people.

For an informal conversation please contact amaris.cole@churchofengland.org

Closing date for all application will be on the Saturday 4th March 2023.

Interviews will be held on the Monday 13th March​ 2023.

In return we offer a unique environment with opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a range of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

Role Responsibility

The Role

• Responsible for shaping and implementing key elements of the digital strategy in support of the mission of the Church of England.  
• With the Head of Digital, develop new strategies, projects and work streams for digital evangelism and digital discipleship leading to numerical and spiritual growth and deliver the Vision and Strategy of the Church. 
• Management of A Church Near You, the national church finder tool that receives more than 77 million page views each year, with more than 20,000 editors across the Church. This includes development, budget, oversight of editor support and communication, advocacy and setting the strategic roadmap, working with colleagues across local churches to deliver this.  
• Generate creative ideas and solutions for digital projects that are innovative, compelling and have a measurable impact. 
• Work as a digital evangeliser, implementing new and innovative ways to promote the gospel in the digital environment.  
• Manage and lead projects to develop the Church’s national social media channels, with responsibility for scoping, managing internal and external stakeholders, delivery, and analysing results.  
• Create content for projects and campaigns using the digital and social channels at our disposal including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and the national websites). Oversee the Church’s day-to-day social media grid and the work of the Social Media Officer. 
• Harness the power of SEO, social media, search and organic and paid advertising to drive relevant traffic to our campaigns. 
• Oversee the online and in person digital skills training programme for church leaders, ‘Digital Labs’, which is run by the Digital Labs Manager and Digital Labs Officer.  
• Help advise the Communications teams for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on digital opportunities as well as providing advice to diocesan Digital Officers, working closely with the Head of Digital.  
• Supporting and advising other teams in the NCIs in ensuring their work and their resources for churches are professionally and effectively communicated.  
• Work with the media team to ensure social media is used effectively to manage our key messaging, enhance our reputation and to respond quickly and decisively to counter any inaccurate or potentially damaging comments. 
• Keep up to date with current web trends and developments and ensure we remain timely and current in our use of digital and social media. Network proactively with external organisations, forums and stakeholders. 

Financial and Budgetary Management 

• Responsible for the A Church Near You website budget. This includes hosting, agency support, security, technical and development costs. 
• Budget responsibilities for major national digital campaigns.  

Staff Management and Supervision  

• You will oversee the work of the Social Media Officer (Band 5), Digital Labs Manager (Band 4), Digital Labs Officer (Band 5), Online Service Producer (Band 4) and other agencies and temporary staff as required. 

The Ideal Candidate

The Requirements 

Knowledge/Experience:

• Proven ability and previous successful experience of implementing digital and social campaigns. 
• An awareness and understanding of Christian evangelism.  
• A strong track record in delivering large, complex digital projects, generating engaging content across a range of digital channels and media. 
• Ability to think and act both strategically and tactically.
• Adept analytical skills with proven ability to dissect large amounts of data and turn it into actionable initiatives. 
• Strong demonstrated excellence in communications, working on multi-channel campaigns in collaboration with a range of stakeholders and suppliers to deliver optimum experience and results. 
• A successful record in growing online communities in size and engagement.
• Experience of working with stakeholders to translate a broad range of aims and objectives into an effective digital campaign. 
• Experience of planning digital marketing campaigns utilising the full range of techniques and measurement available to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI) for the organisation.
• Experience of working with content management systems. 

Attributes  

• Comfortable and confident promoting the Church of England and faith in Jesus Christ in the digital public square.  
• Build consensus and positive relationships within and across teams. 
• A desire to bring more people to faith in Jesus Christ and deepen people’s faith. 

Circumstances 

• Able to travel within England and attend meetings away from London. 

Desirable 

Attributes 

• Gain confidence and trust of senior internal stakeholders through professionalism.
• Build strong working relationships with external audiences. 

About Us

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.  

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions at Careers | The Church of England

Our NCI values

• We strive for excellence 
• We collaborate 
• We act with integrity 
• We show compassion 
• We respect others 

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.  

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.  
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.