Community Engagement Manager

Community Engagement Manager

This is a permanent position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.  

This role is advertised as full-time but we are open to discussing flexible working including part-time arrangements for the right candidate.

Summary

We are seeking an experienced community engagement specialist to lead the successful delivery of the Crick’s community engagement strategy, building and strengthening relationships with the communities in and around Somers Town.

We believe that by working in partnership with the local community, the Crick has an opportunity to both help tackle health inequalities and to grow and diversify the community of people connecting with the Crick and its science. At the heart of the Crick’s community engagement strategy is the Living Centre, a community space within the Crick building that is run in partnership with the community. The Living Centre aims to help improve health and wellbeing in the local area, and to tackle inequalities. The Community Engagement Manager is the first point of contact between the Living Centre operator, the Crick and the Crick’s founders.

The community engagement programme is creative and varied, covering the Living Centre, a local small grants scheme, coproduced projects, local employment and local science outreach.

Reporting to the Head of Public Engagement, the Community Engagement Manager will be based in the Public Engagement team, whose responsibilities include public engagement with science, community and stakeholder engagement, education outreach, exhibitions, and events. The post holder will line-manage the Public Engagement Apprentice, and work closely with other members of the Public Engagement team. 

The successful candidate will be highly motivated with excellent communication skills and a commitment to the principles and practice of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Key responsibilities

Key responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:

• Lead on developing and delivering the Crick’s community engagement strategy, managing key relationships and a programme of activity that seeks to reduce inequalities in health and wellbeing in the local area, and to grow and diversify the community of people connecting with the Crick.
• Lead on the Crick’s relationship with the Living Centre, including liaison with the operator, forging links between the Living Centre and the Crick, and evaluation and contract monitoring.
• Manage communications with local residents, listening and responding to concerns and demonstrating that the Crick is an active and trusted member of the local community.
• Manage the Crick’s small grants scheme (the Community Chest), which supports community-led initiatives to help improve health and wellbeing.
• Manage events and programmes that engage the local community with Crick science, including activities at local festivals, and engagement projects coproduced with the local community.
• Line manage the Public Engagement Apprentice.
• Oversee marketing and communications to local residents and partner organisations including production of a quarterly community newsletter.
• Support local recruitment initiatives, working with colleagues across the Crick and local partners to promote recruitment from the local community internally and externally.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with local stakeholders and organisations.
• Contribute to reporting and compliance with the Crick’s S106 planning agreement.
• Manage communications for Institute development or maintenance projects with local residents and partner organisations.
• Act as an advocate for the local community within the Institute, working with colleagues to ensure community engagement is integrated into the Crick’s culture.
• Uphold and promote the Crick’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI); and actively contribute to an inclusive workplace culture.
• Work with colleagues to strategically embed EDI principles and practice in our public engagement programmes, and ensure our activities are as inclusive and accessible as possible.

Person specification

The postholder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values (Bold, Imaginative, Open, Dynamic and Collegial), in addition to the following:

Essential

• Significant experience working in community engagement, and a comprehensive knowledge of best practice in the field.
• Significant experience of working with a range of stakeholders, including underserved communities, local government and third-sector organisations.
• A demonstrable understanding of health inequality issues, approaches to tackling these strategically, and evaluating impact.
• Significant project management experience, including budget management, and the successful delivery of complex projects involving multiple stakeholders.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, including the ability to interact well with people at all levels and inspire confidence, and to be diplomatic and assertive.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise in the face of competing demands and work to tight deadlines.
• A motivated self-starter with a proven record of using your initiative to solve problems.
• A good understanding of the principles and practice of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and how they relate to community engagement; including a commitment to respecting and valuing diversity.
• Excellent IT skills, particularly MS Office.

Desirable

• Experience of coproducing events or projects with underrepresented audiences or community groups (e.g. patients, community groups, young people).
• An understanding of the communities and organisations within Camden.
• Experience of managing communications with local residents for disruptive construction projects, listening and responding to concerns, dealing with queries, and successfully maintaining relationships.
• Experience of coordinating community grants schemes.
• Experience of undertaking or commissioning impact evaluations for community engagement initiatives.
• Experience in engaging public audiences with science or research.
• A degree or equivalent qualification or experience.
• Line-management experience.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We welcome applications from all backgrounds. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, pregnancy, age, disability, or civil partnership, marital or family status. We particularly welcome applications from people who are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic as they are currently underrepresented in the Crick at this level.

Diversity is essential to excellence in scientific endeavour. It increases breadth and perspective, leading to more innovation and creativity. We want the Crick to be a place where everyone feels valued and where diversity is celebrated and seen as part of the foundation for our institute’s success.

The Crick is committed to creating equality of opportunity and promoting diversity and inclusivity. We all share in the responsibility to actively promote dignity, respect, inclusivity and equal treatment and it is our aim to ensure that these principles are reflected and implemented in all strategies, policies and practices.

Read more on our website: https://www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-study/life-at-the-crick/equality-diversity-and-inclusion

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King’s College London. 

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under a single roof in Europe.