Head of Communications , Stichting BirdLife Europe

Brussels, Belgium 

1. Introduction

BirdLife Europe is looking for a dynamic, entrepreneurial, out-of-the-box Head of Communications with proven success record in international communications and campaigning, with solid managerial and excellent interpersonal and networking skills.

BirdLife Europe is a Partnership of 48 national conservation organisations and a leader in bird conservation. Ourunique local to global approach enables us to deliver high impact and long term conservation for the benefit ofnature and people.

BirdLife Europe is one of the six regional Secretariats that compose BirdLife International, the global authority on the status of bird species. Based in Brussels, it supports the European and Central Asian Partnership and is present in 47 countries including all EU Member States.

With more than 4.100 staff in Europe, 2 million members and tens of thousands of skilled volunteers, BirdLife Europe, together with its national Partners owns or manages more than 6,000 nature sites totalling 320 000 hectares.

In Brussels, the BirdLife Europe team works mainly on EU policy issues and aims at improving EU legislation relating to the environment and biodiversity.

2. OVERALL PURPOSE OF JOB

To shape and lead BirdLife Regional communications and campaigning strategy and be the driving force implementing the communications and campaigning priorities in support of Policy and Conservation work in Europe and Central Asia.

3. MAIN DUTIES/WORK PROGRAMME RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic - Regional

1. To lead the regional communications and campaigning work and the team, in coordination and close contact with the BirdLife Partners;
2. Develop media ‘narratives’ for BirdLife Europe work and get coverage in traditional and social media;
3. Define new communications tools to step-up BirdLife communications;
4. Contribute to the definition of communication needs and solutions around BirdLife Europe’s events;
5. Support BirdLife Europe national partners in shaping their campaigns and communication around common BirdLife messages and campaigns;
6. Design and lead policy campaigns involving BirdLife EU partners.

Strategic - Global

1. To support ad-hoc global campaigns with a strong ECA component.

Operational - Regional

1. Support BirdLife Europe in conveying to media, policy-makers and other external stakeholders its position on the key policy areas affecting birds and biodiversity;
2. Create, maintain, update and plan content for the BirdLife Europe website, intranet, extranet and other relevant online platforms including social media;
3. Produce publications, including content, distribution and promotion;
4. Writing and editing fact sheets, newsletters, position papers, website articles and other communications material;
5. Monitor news that are relevant to the work of BirdLife Europe;
6. Give verbal and written presentations to influence key audiences to BirdLife Europe point of view;
7. Support BirdLife Partners in communications at national level;
8. Participate and lead communications activities in relation to NGO coalitions, in particular the Green 10;
9. Contribute to the annual Achievement Report of BirdLife Europe and other relevant publications;
10. Contribute to the fundraising efforts of BirdLife Europe;
11. Line-manage the Communications staff and interns at BirdLife Europe.

Operational - Global

1. Contribute to the BirdLife International communications work as relevant.

4. Qualifications required

PLEASE, READ THIS CAREFULLY: Beforesubmitting your application take time to score your qualifications for this job. Remember to be honest, this is the best way to increase your chances to get the job. You need to score each required qualification from 0 to 3: 0 = I do not have this qualification, 2 = basic, 2 = good, 3 = very good). Then sum up the scores to obtain the total.

Before submitting your application, please answer to the following questions and you will know whether you are qualified enough to apply to this job:

Question	Answer
Do you score only 2 or 3 in qualifications from 1 to 7?	NO: you are notqualified enough to apply to this jobYES: please pass to the following question
Is your total score above or equal to 50?	NO: you are not qualified enough to apply to this job YES: you can apply for this job

If you are qualified to submit your application, please attach the next table with your scores to the cover letter. Please consider that any application sent without individual and total scores or with any 0 or 1 in qualifications from 1 to 16 or with a total score of less than 65 will be automatically discarded.

Essential Qualifications (Score: 0 = I do not have this qualification, 1 = basic, 2 = good, 3 = very good)		Score
Experience & Knowledge
1	Good general education – University Degree or equivalent in journalism, communications, marketing, public relations.
2	Minimum of 5 years experience in communications, campaigning or public relations with demonstrated success, preferably in the not-for-profit sector.
3	Proven success record in international communications and campaigning.
4	Experience overseeing the design and production of online and offline communications materials and publications, including press-releases.
5	Solid experience of digital communications, social media and web-based communications and marketing techniques.
6	Good understanding of Nature conservation issues.
7	Knowledge of BirdLife work and programmes.
Skills & Abilities
8	Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills.
9	Good interpersonal, networking and team working skills.
10	Experience in hiring, training, developing, managing and appraising personnel.
11	Ability to understand, generate and manage budgets and fundraising proposals.
12	Fluent in English (additional languages are an asset).
Approach to work
13	Openness and creativity: capacity to propose and integrate new ideas and approaches.
14	Demonstrable ability to create and follow work plan and prioritise own workload with minimum supervision.
15	Flexibility and adaptability (multiple assignments, working under pressure, responsiveness to requests, follow-up of decisions).
16	Ability and willingness to travel for work and to work occasional evenings and weekends as required.
Personal disposition
17	Commitment to nature conservations.
18	Strong self motivation and curiosity.
19	Problem solving attitude and capacity to resolve potential conflicts.
	TOTAL

5. Salary

The gross salary is between 4700 and 5000 EUR gross per month according to personal experience (double holiday pay, 13th month, pension scheme, luncheon vouchers) under Belgian employment contract (1 year renewable).

6. How to apply

Please submit the qualification scorecard, a full CV, a comprehensive cover letter (all in English) setting out your reasons for applying for the post, your vision about BirdLife Europe and Central Asia communications work and outlining the qualifications experience knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role.

Please send the required documents to: recruitment.europe@birdlife.org.

Closing date: 25th February 2016 at midnight. Please consider that applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded.

7. Short listing and interviews

Shortlisting is based on CV and cover letter. Successful candidates will be asked to attend face to face interviews and perform an additional test. Travel support or possibility of remote interview may be offered to candidates from abroad.

Please note that due to the large number of expected applications only successful candidates will be contacted.

Interview days: 3rd or 4th of March 2016 (9am – 5pm), in Brussels.