About the role

Job title: Community Engagement Manager (maternity cover)​

Reporting to: Head of Engagement​

Responsible for: Community Engagement Officer​

Based: British Science Association,​ 165 Queen's Gate, London SW7 5HD​

Terms: Fixed Term contract, due to start October 2020 part-time (21 hours per week), covering maternity absence. Requests for flexible working will be considered​.

Salary: £28,600 – £36,900 pro rata​

Role overview ​

​The Community Engagement Manager will specialise in growing, diversifying, and supporting our community engagement programmes. They will oversee the development, delivery & dissemination of high-quality science-based engagement activities through local networks and with non-traditional audiences. ​

This role would suit someone with an interest in public engagement with science and experience of supporting community engagement.

Key responsibilities​

The main responsibilities of this role are to: ​

• Extend the BSA’s engagement with under-served audiences and non-science communities mainly through our Community Engagement Network​;
• Enable and support non-school engagement with British Science Week, including managing the British Science Week Community Grant Scheme​;
• Lead the development and growth of our Community Leaders programme and new Community Buddies scheme; ​
• Oversee the BSA’s volunteer scientific sections by managing the provision of support, information and resources​;
• Manage Science Live, a web platform that connects event organisers with speakers and volunteers​;
• Line manage the Community Engagement Officer and provide effective leadership across projects​;
• Deliver against agreed budgets and timelines​.

In addition, the post holder will be expected to:​

• Proactively strengthen the organisation’s profile and reputation among external stakeholders​;
• Work closely with the other managers and with Programme Heads to develop new programmes and improve existing ones​;
• Support with writing funding bids that lead to the growth of the community engagement portfolio;
• Seek meaningful feedback from the communities that will be affected by planned activities (e.g. under-served audiences)​;
• Other duties as reasonably required by the line manager.​

Person specification 

Below is a summary of essential and desirable criteria needed for this role, as well as how we will assess a candidate’s suitability.​

Essential criteria 

Criteria	CV	Cover letter	Interview
Experience of building and managing multiple stakeholder relationships, especially with communities	Y	Y	Y
Project management experience and the ability to work on several complex projects in parallel	Y	Y	Y
Experience of working in the charity, science engagement or a related sector	Y	Y
Experience of managing and forecasting budgets	Y		Y
Experience of line management of staff or volunteers	Y	Y	Y
Experience of audience development and community building, particularly in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion	Y	Y	Y
Strong attention to detail combined with the ability to see the bigger picture		Y	Y
Excellent verbal and written communication skills	Y	Y	Y
Resilience – adaptable with the ability to remain calm and effective when working on fast-moving, high-pressure projects	Y	Y	Y

Desirable criteria 

Criteria	CV	Cover letter	Interview
Experience of administering and evaluating grants	Y	Y	Y
Experience of fundraising	Y	Y	Y
Experience of effective use of social media for business (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)	Y	Y	Y
Knowledge of science engagement theory or practice	Y	Y	Y

Employee benefits

• 27 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time employees); 
• Up to two days paid leave per year for significant voluntary commitments in support of professional and personal development, such as being a trustee of a charity or a school governor;
• Auto-enrolment pension scheme (currently 5% of salary from employee plus 3% from BSA);
• Up to five days’ unpaid leave per year (this is down to the Manager’s decision and ensuring it does not affect work); 
• Life assurance from your first day subject to scheme rules;  
• Occupational sick pay: up to six weeks’ full pay per year (pro-rata for part-time employees); 
• Interest-free loan for season ticket, bike to work, and assisted study; 
• Homeworking Wednesdays, subject to the needs of the BSA. 

How to apply

Please send a CV and covering letter (each of no more than two A4 pages) that summarises your interest in the role and details your ability to match the criteria.

Applications should be made via this link: https://recruit.smb.co.uk/vacancy.aspx?id=eaBEJUjsyXbLSVZC

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Monday 7 September 2020. 

Interviews are due to take place on 17 & 18 September and are likely to be held virtually (e.g. via Zoom). Currently the BSA team is working from home.

You will be informed as soon as possible after the application deadline whether you have been selected for interview.

As part of the British Science Association’s commitment to being a Disability Confident employer, all disabled* applicants who meet the ‘essential criteria’ for this vacancy will be offered an interview under our guaranteed interview scheme.

If you wish to apply under the guaranteed interview scheme, you will be asked to indicate this when you submit your application by selecting ‘yes’ in the relevant box when asked during the application process. Applicants do not need to state any further information or declare their disability at the application stage.

Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are successful in being shortlisted, we will ask candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions to let us know if they need any adjustments during the recruitment process.

If you have further questions or would like this information in a different format, please contact: [email protected]  

Download the candidate pack for this role as a PDF or view our text-only version of the pack here. 

Terms and conditions 

From time to time the job entails working extended hours and occasional weekends, for which no overtime payments are made. The BSA operates a time off in lieu policy for weekend working and some other out-of-hours instances.

Only applicants who have a legal right to work within the UK will be considered. You will be asked to bring along proof of nationality and/or proof of ability to work in the UK.

You will also be asked to declare any previous convictions in line with your rights under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975.

This is a description of the job as it is presently constituted. It is the practice of the Association to examine job descriptions from time to time and to update them to ensure they relate to the job as then being performed, or to incorporate whatever changes are reasonably required, in discussion with the postholder.

It is the policy of the BSA to offer starting salaries at the bottom end of the salary band where appropriate.

A copy of our Privacy Notice is available on the vacancies page of our website.

*The Disability Confident scheme’s definition of disability is in line with the Equalities Act 2010: “a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life”.

Further information about our Disability Confident commitments can be found on the Disability Confident page of our website.