Senior Community / Stakeholder Engagement Manager
Utility Scale Renewable Energy Development
Cambridge
Circular Resourcing are pleased to be recruiting for a Senior Partnerships and Community Manager to join one of the UK's leading renewable energy development companies.
Location: Cambridge area (hybrid office set up)
Salary:
competitive salary plus bonus, excellent benefits and car allowance.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES:
* Reporting into the Sustainability and Community Director, you will be responsible for stakeholder engagement, public affairs and community activity across England as a brand, and be responsible for the projects in this market, ensuring that each has a marketing and engagement strategy to deliver results, from bringing new projects into the planning system and gaining consent, to their construction and operation.
* You will also be responsible for embedding social, economic and environmental good practice into the project design to meet and exceed the expectations of key stakeholders and the companies sustainability strategy.
* You will be a persuasive character with strong communication, interpersonal, presentation and negotiation skills and the confidence and credibility to open doors and engage with and influence a wide range of people. To be successful you will also need to develop a good knowledge of local communities and the key stakeholders around each of our projects and be able to translate this into strategies which result in large renewable energy projects getting consent
KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
* Devise, manage and deliver project communications and community engagement strategies in support of new developments, promoting the benefits for the environment, the local community and the regional economy. Where a project is a significant distance from our head office you may be required to hire a community manager or appoint a consultant to manage the consultation activity
* Develop relationships through a careful, thoughtful stakeholder engagement strategy, including MPs, councillors and parish councillors, local communities, local businesses, charities and voluntary organisations in the vicinity of renewable energy developments to encourage support for each of the projects and to keep the community informed about our development proposals in their area.
* Work with the Director of Sustainability & Community and other senior leaders to devise regional and national stakeholder engagement activity across England which positions the company as the leading, sustainable energy developer in this market and influences policy in commercial areas, supporting project consents in tandem. This will include events such as site visits to wind farms, producing & launching collaborative reports and other activity which highlights area of common interest with politicians, statutory consultees and civil servants.
* Work within project teams to devise and implement strategies to obtain community, business and political support to ensure that each new development proposal has the best chance of achieving planning success.
* You will collaborate with the marketing team to ensure the production of engaging and relevant marketing communications material including, news releases, project brochures, web pages and an agreed programme of social media posts all with images and videos to support each of your projects.
* Prepare reports prior to and for submission with planning applications that set out how the business has consulted with a range of stakeholders, what views were expressed and how those views have been considered.
* Organise and attend community meetings, workshops, public exhibitions and surgeries, open days, presentations and community surveys to promote projects, explain the benefits of the proposals, record feedback, seek support and identify opportunities for local economic, environmental and social benefits that could be delivered by the development.
* Promote the community funds in the communities around developments and work with project teams to ensure that tangible economic, environmental and social benefits are delivered in the vicinity of renewables developments.
* Identify, foster, and cultivate strategic partnerships with organisations which help deliver excellent sustainability initiatives and increase the likelihood of planning consents in tandem.
* Investigate and resolve community enquiries, complaints and feedback regarding any energy projects
KEY CONTACTS:
The successful candidate will have contact with a variety of stakeholders including politicians, local community representatives, local residents, council officers and statutory consultees, as well as internal project teams and external PR and digital marketing agencies.
WORKING ENVIRONMENT:
Based at our office Cambridge. You will travel extensively throughout England and must be a capable driver with a full UK driving licence. The post involves meeting with a wide variety of people and organisations and will involve attendance at occasional evening events, meetings, workshops, surgeries and exhibitions which may also require overnight stays.
QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
ESSENTIAL:
* Educated to degree level and ideally you will have some experience in one of the following areas: public affairs, sustainability, sales, community relations, stakeholder engagement, marketing, and customer relations.
* You must have experience in delivering excellent customer or community care by developing trusting relationships with a variety of different stakeholders. This could include customers, politicians, local community representatives, residents, council officers or statutory consultees.
* Experience in dealing with challenging environments where you have employed your influencing skills to deliver commercial results, demonstrating your ability to get people on-board in the face of adversity. This could be through a marketing approach or in other areas such as policy advocacy or sales.
* Confident, credible and trustworthy.
* Resilience and the confidence to remain positive and calm.
* Full UK driving licence.
DESIRABLE:
* Experience of working within strategic marketing and communications such as preparing written copy for use in promotional material, including web site, and social media.
* Experience of dealing with communication with local communities and a good understanding of planning and environmental / sustainability issues.
* Experience in delivering senior stakeholder engagement, event management, corporate affairs, government affairs, policy advocacy and public affairs activity.
* Leadership experience either though managing people or consultants.
* Experience of renewable energy projects and the planning system.
PERSONAL QUALITIES/COMPETENCIES:
* Confident, credible, and trustworthy with excellent written, verbal communication, presentation, and delivery skills.
* An ability to foster strong relationships with people, based on trust and mutual respect.
* A strategic thinker, able to listen thoughtfully, learn and then devise and execute a plan which delivers results with resilience and confidence.
* Passionate about making a positive difference through your work; it is key that you share our values and live by them every day in your behaviours.
* Great relationship and people skills with ability to lead through influence, engaging at all levels including senior management, senior external leaders, politicians, and technical functions both internally and externally.
* Community champion who is a good listener, consistently delivering on their commitments and promises with integrity, and knowing when to accept and when to challenge.
* Logical planning ability with the capacity to manage multiple priorities and deliver different tasks to a high standard with strong attention to detail.
* Ability to work with minimum or no supervision with a professional, flexible, responsive approach.
* A good team player capable of delivering excellent results under pressure and to strict deadlines.
* A positive 'can do' enthusiastic attitude
* A curiosity and willingness to learn and remain up to date regarding the latest industry developments about the subject matter you are responsible for.
* Comfortable with regular travel, sometimes at short notice and occasional overnight stays away from home