Job Description

Royal Museums Greenwich
Interim Press Officer
Hours: full time; 35 hours per week with some flexibility to work outside of usual working hours required (with the postholder eligible for TOIL for these hours)
Salary: \xc2\xa330,752 per annum
Location: Hybrid working with two to three days per week at the Museum site in Greenwich
Contract: fixed term maternity cover contract until July 2024

Charity People is delighted to be partnering with Royal Museums Greenwich to recruit a Press Officer to join their warm, friendly, fun team on an interim basis to cover a period of maternity leave. A truly inspiring organisation and site, Royal Museums Greenwich incorporates the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum and Queen\xe2\x80\x99s House; and is an invaluable historical resource.

An organisation that strives to foster inclusivity, Royal Museums Greenwich is a place of and for opportunity, that encourages active citizens and creates a shared sense of place, belonging and community.

As Press Officer, you\xe2\x80\x99ll work across a diverse range of sites, each with its own unique identity as well as overlapping interests and a common purpose. Explorers of time, space, place and belonging, you\xe2\x80\x99ll work to promote collections and subjects that investigate worlds, cross barriers bridge cultures, and create connections in a busy, engaging role.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with a press and media background gained either within the museum, arts, and heritage sector, or another sector entirely; and is a wonderful opportunity to develop your existing skills in a varied role covering a huge range of topics.

Core responsibilities within the role will include:

• Being a key contact for filming enquiries and media interviews
• Research, prepare and distribute media releases and other media communications
• Provide a fast, helpful and efficient response to external media enquiries with an awareness of media deadlines and knowledge of the Museum\xe2\x80\x99s best interests
• Write accurate copy to a high standard
• Arrange, organise and supervise filming, radio recording and photography in Museum grounds and galleries and interviews with staff
• Brief media spokespeople from the Museum sites before being interviewed
• Liaise closely with journalists, on the telephone, by email and in person, giving tours of Museum galleries and cultivating contacts
• Contact media proactively via telephone and email, following up press releases and negotiating news and feature stories across a wide range of media
• Organise and supervise media activity on-site (e.g. photocalls) professionally, making sure that relevant parties are involved
• Network and build relationships internally within the Museum, to work closely with Museum staff to identify any newsworthy activities. That newsworthy stories on the Museum sites are supported by the Press Office

This is a fast paced role working within a busy Press Office responding to journalist requests and working with colleagues from the across the organisation. We\xe2\x80\x99d love to hear from you if you have the following skills and experience:

• Previous experience of working in a Press Office either in a dedicated press role or as part of a previous role
• A thorough understanding of press office principle and sound judgement
• Demonstrable experience of planning, developing and contributing creatively to a press campaign
• An effective writing style, with a proven ability to write press releases and related material
• A good knowledge of UK and international media, and an awareness of media trends
• Proven experience of \xe2\x80\x98selling\xe2\x80\x99 stories to a variety of media and negotiating media coverage, with the ability to think creatively, identifying news angles and feature hooks
• Exceptional time management skills and ability to work under pressure, to prioritise, multi-task and successfully juggle a variety of projects, campaigns and reactive press simultaneously
• Strong interpersonal skills and the proven ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to communicate across all levels of the Museum and with external contacts
• A positive approach whilst being sensitive to the Museum environment and the priorities of colleagues

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis because of the short term nature of the role and the urgency to recruit.

How to apply:

If you are as excited by this role as we are and have the relevant experience, please send your up-to-date CV and a Supporting Statement to or contact Alice for an informal confidential chat about the role.

Charity People actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. We match charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the charities we work with.

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