Internal Communications Officer SHG0311

Location

Worthing, Hove and Arundel

Vacancy Type

Full Time/Permanent

Pay Range

Grade 5 - £31,660 Pro rata for part time roles

Contracted Hours

37.5 hours per week

Application Deadline

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Job Summary

About the role

Colleagues can only connect with our direction and play their part when communication is clear, timely and relevant. Across three hospices and a wide range of services, this role will help people understand what is happening, why it matters and how their work contributes to the care and support we provide.

You will create and coordinate internal communications that support organisational priorities, colleague engagement, culture and change. From leadership updates and organisational announcements to intranet stories, newsletters and campaigns, you will turn complex or sensitive information into content people can understand and use.

You will build relationships across Clinical Services, Fundraising, Retail, the People Team and Corporate Partnerships to identify useful updates and strong colleague stories. You will maintain content plans and schedules, support leaders and managers to communicate effectively, and help create genuine opportunities for two-way engagement.

This is a hands-on role for someone who combines excellent writing with curiosity, organisation and sound judgement. Success will mean colleagues receive more consistent and accessible information, feel better connected to SHG's purpose and have clearer ways to engage and respond.

Essential Criteria

You do not need to come from a hospice or charity background. What matters is that you can bring relevant expertise, understand the responsibility attached to our work and use your skills to deliver meaningful, measurable impact.

• Experience in internal communications, engagement, communications, marketing or public relations.
• Excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills, with examples produced for different audiences and channels.
• The ability to translate complex, technical or sensitive information into clear, accessible and useful communication.
• Strong relationship-building skills and confidence working with colleagues, managers and senior leaders.
• Experience planning content and managing several priorities, deadlines and contributors.
• An understanding of internal communications, organisational change, colleague engagement and two-way communication.
• Confidence using digital workplace tools such as Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Teams, and using feedback or engagement data to improve activity.
• Care and discretion when handling confidential information, together with a commitment to inclusive communication.
• A proactive, collaborative approach and alignment with our values: Caring, Connected and Courageous.

About us

Southern Hospice Group is the largest group of hospices in Sussex and one of the largest in the UK. We are committed to providing exceptional and compassionate care to adults, children and their families across Sussex. Bringing our teams and resources together as one organisation means we can focus on new and exciting visions and plans for our people and patients and provide even greater opportunities for our workforce.

St Barnabas House provides specialist palliative care to adults in the Worthing, Adur, Arun and Henfield areas through a range of services, including in-patient care and community living well services.

Chestnut Tree House is the children’s hospice for East and West Sussex and South East Hampshire, providing specialist palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions.

Martlets provides essential care to people affected by terminal illness in Brighton and Hove and surrounding areas. Our expert teams provide the very best care and support, helping patients and their loved ones to live life to the full during the precious time they have together.

Benefits

• Company pension scheme or NHS pension scheme for eligible employees
• Up to 35 days’ annual leave inclusive of bank holidays
• On-site education support and study leave opportunities
• Option to access Bupa and cover your everyday cost of healthcare for less
• Free parking, subsidised meals and various social activities
• Corporate rate gym membership, discounts with local complementary therapies and Blue Light Card
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Death in Service

We warmly welcome applications from all sections of our community. We also invite applications from suitably experienced people for all industry sectors who can demonstrate the skills, ability and enthusiasm to work with a people-centric organisation like ours.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Your application and interview should give us an accurate and authentic picture of your skills and experiences. Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Before you submit an application, we will ask you to confirm the information you provide is true and accurate.Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please note that we reserve the right to close this vacancy before the published closing date where applicant volume is high.

Some of our roles are subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it may be necessary for a disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.