Africa Practice Vacancies 2022 Apply For Consultant, Strategic Communications & Advocacy Jobs In Johannesburg, Gauteng

Job Description

We are seeking a full time Consultant to join our Johannesburg team, primarily to support our Strategic Communications and Advocacy work for clients in the development finance, infrastructure, financial services and social sectors.

This will be a stimulating and rewarding role for someone who is seeking to work with prestigious clients, enjoys immersion in interesting, varied and purposeful work, will thrive in an extremely dynamic, multicultural working environment and is keen to make rapid progress in their career.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Client Service (90% of role)

• Manage assigned strategic communications and advocacy projects, including client relationships, accountability for quality of consulting services and effective management of the project team (delivery on schedule, within budget)
• Develop deep insights into the strategic issues shaping our clients’ industries and influencing their organisational goals to understand what will be relevant and valuable to them
• Nurture strong relationships with top tier journalists to deliver effective media relations and source media intelligence.
• Lead in developing persuasive pitches, tailoring media lists, pitching feature stories and interviews, distributing press releases and following up for coverage, arranging background briefings with senior editors and reporters.
• Deliver succinct and insightful analysis based on media and social media monitoring, conduct nuanced and detailed peer benchmarking studies and reputational risk assessments.
• Make strategic recommendations based on your understanding of the stakeholder and media landscape and the way communities of interest are mobilised and engaged across different social media platforms to inform the design of imaginative and effective communications and engagement strategies
• Lead on communications planning and take accountability for quality and timely execution of communications plans for assigned projects

• Plan and produce high quality content for online and offline formats (including but not limited to briefing documents, advisory notes, presentations, opinion pieces, talking points for speeches and podcasts, press releases, FAQs, web copy and social media posts)
• Support project teams to deliver in innovative and engaging ways – proactively share ideas on new technologies and creative approaches so we’re constantly raising the bar on performance

Business Development and Marketing; Learning and Development (10% of role)

• Support proposal development with quality research and analysis and robust technical input
• Support marketing activity through production of quality content (e.g. for our newsletter and website)
• Attend internal and, where appropriate, external training sessions to build a strong technical communications and advocacy skill set

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in relevant discipline (e.g. social sciences, languages)
• Outstanding verbal, written and visual communication and presentation skills
• Strong, highly collaborative relationship management skills with clients and colleagues to maintain effective communications across teams and deliver high quality work under time pressure
• Good relationships with South Africa-based top tier business and development focused journalists and a track record of successful pitching to tier 1 international media
• Strong organisational, administrative and prioritisation skills to ensure deadlines are met across multiple projects; comfort working under time pressure essential
• Comfortable working with digital platforms for content management, publishing, and monitoring, e.g. WordPress, MailChimp, Google Analytics, Synthesio (or equivalent)
• Visual thinker; creative skills in graphics and digital media highly desirable, e.g. Adobe Suite, Flourish, Canva (or equivalent)
• Data literacy; ability to manage, analyse, structure and visualise datasets highly desirable
• Interest in development finance, ESG, sustainability, infrastructure, climate change and gender essential; prior experience an advantage
• Keen interest in African current affairs essential
• Strong aptitude for problem solving and rigorous attention to detail
• Adapts well to changing demands in a highly fluid environment
• Proactively looks for opportunities to improve own performance
• Ability to work with direction and manage own time

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Do you want to join a dynamic, purpose-driven and ambitious company? Please send in your application by clicking on the Ï’m Interested” link below. Do include a cover letter explaining why you think you are suited to this position and indicating your availability. Your documents must be entitled with “*your name*‘C SA’”

The vacancy is immediately open for suitable applications and will be closed as soon as a suitable candidate is identified. Early applications are advised.