Senior Communications Officer
Senior Communications Officer
Key information
- Location: Carers Leeds Offices (Hybrid working available)
- Salary: £36,363
- Closing date: 8 September 2026, 23:59
- Interview date: Wednesday 23rd September 2026
- Hours: 28-35 hours per week (negotiable)
- Contract: Permanent
About the job
This role will lead communications at Carers Leeds with the aim of identifying and engaging carers; raising awareness of caring and influencing others in the city to act to benefit carers; and fundraising. The postholder will work closely with the CEO, the Senior and Operational Management Teams to design and deliver the organisation’s communications strategy and plans.
Job Specification
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Work closely with the CEO and SMT to agree Carers Leeds communications strategy. Responsible for developing, updating and monitoring Carers Leeds communications plans, to ensure a co-ordinated approach to communications.
- Establish and maintain effective communications processes and good working relationships across the Carers Leeds team to support communication across service delivery, carer awareness, influencing and fundraising.
- Oversee Carers Leeds communication channels, act as the point of contact for all media enquiries and build relationships with external stakeholders to amplify our messages and to reach key audiences.
- Ensure consistent brand use across all our work, develop a suite of on-brand digital and print materials and provide communication support, guidance and training for staff and volunteers, where appropriate.
This post is subject to a satisfactory a DBS check
About Carers Leeds
Established in 1996, Carers Leeds is a charity that provides information, advice and support to unpaid adult and parent carers across our city. This includes our Advice Line, carers support groups, one to one support and support in hospitals. Some of our services are universal – open to all carers – and some are targeted at specific groups of carers. Our services are provided to all communities throughout Leeds. We work in partnership with others to deliver our service and to influence them to act to benefit unpaid carers. This involves those working in health and social care and employers. We use what unpaid carers tell us about their experiences and what matters to them, to help create change at a local and national level.
Advice for Candidates
Before applying for any role at Carers Leeds, please read through all the sections below. This will help you best prepare your application, what you can expect from the shortlisting process and guidance on preparing for your interview. If you have any questions about our recruitment process, please contact us by email or by calling 0113 380 4300.
How to Apply
All applications are made via the online recruitment portal by clicking on the ‘apply here’ button.
We do not accept CVs, nor do we use agencies to recruit staff.
If you accessibility requirements or need an application in an alternative format, please contact us on 0113 380 4300 / jobs@carersleeds.org.uk.
Completing the application
The person specification details all the relevant, essential and desirable qualifications, skills and knowledge required for the position.
The job description outlines the main duties and responsibilities of the position.
Please read both the job description and person specification carefully before submitting an application. Using the information in the job description and person specification, please provide examples to evidence that you meet the essential criteria, whilst also demonstrating how you meet the requirements of the role. It may be helpful to use headings to outline each aspect of the role. It is advisable to provide real examples from your skills, knowledge and experience wherever possible.
Regardless of the role you’re applying for, preparation is key. There are useful links on our website which will provide you with further information on a wide variety of subjects including what we do, our mission, our vision and the support we offer carers.
You may have gaps in knowledge and experience that are listed within the job description, however you may feel that you have similar knowledge and experience that can be transferred. Please make this clear to enable the recruiting manager to see your transferrable skills.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) generated answers is discouraged. The use of AI may affect the depth and understanding that is required to demonstrate successful answers to experience and knowledge-based questions, in our shortlisting process. Carers Leeds uses Humans to shortlist for interview.
You can save your progress, however we do not take any responsibility for any data loss that might occur. We advise you prepare your application in a word processor prior to copying & pasting your response in to this form. If you do not have Word you can download a free Office alternative called Libre Office for Windows or Libre Office for MACs.
Before submitting your application, ensure that you take time to read through the form to check for any errors or omissions. You will not be able to make any changes once the form has been submitted.
Shortlisting Process
Our shortlisting process is carried out by cross referencing the skills, knowledge and experience that is entered into the application form with the essential and desirable criteria contained in the job description using a scoring system. Without this important information, your application may not proceed to the interview stage.
Applications which score the highest are shortlisted. Personal details and Monitoring information is not shared with the Recruiting Manager at shortlisting stage.
We will email you once the shortlisting has taken place. If you require correspondence in another format, please contact us on 0113 380 4300 / jobs@carersleeds.org.uk
Preparing for your interview
We’re keen that both you and your interviewers get the best out of the interview and have a positive experience. Interviews will take place face to face usually at the Carers Leeds office.
Depending on the type of role, you may be asked to prepare a presentation or role play exercise as part of the interview. If this is the case, your ‘invite to interview’ correspondence will normally state this.
Before your interview, you should review the job description and person specification and think about which of your experiences matches our job requirements. Be ready to discuss these in your interview.
We use a competency-based recruitment and selection process; the questions are aimed at uncovering what specific abilities or experience you possess that are necessary to do the job.
Behavioural questions about how past experiences match the requirements of the job. Interviewers will want you to briefly explain the situation or task, what you did or what your role was, and the result or outcome.
Our questions may start ‘Tell me about a time when you…’, or ‘Give me an example of when you have…’ etc. and questions to assess your suitability for the job overall. The examples you give can be related to your current job, previous positions, or even from outside work. The interview panel will likely ask you some follow-on questions, possibly to clarify a particular area.
Finally, prepare some questions of your own to ask the interviewers as this is your opportunity to understand the role and culture at Carers Leeds and help understand if the role is for you – the interview should be a two-way process!
If I have a question, who can I contact?
The recruiting managers contact details can be found on the bottom of each job Description or you can contact us on 0113 380 4300 / jobs@carersleeds.org.uk
How will you use my data?
We have outlined how we use this in our Privacy Notice for Recruitment Candidates.