Closing date Monday 28th February 2022
Job details
Job title: Engagement Officer
Directorate: Programmes
Reporting to: Engagement Manager
Responsible for: No direct line reports
Based: Our Head Office is based in London, but we have an agile working policy enabling people to work at another UK location up to 4 days/week for those who are office based.
Requests for permanent, fully remote working will be considered and we welcome applications from people based in other parts of the UK.
Terms: Full-time (35 hours per week), permanent. Requests for part-time or flexible working will be considered.
Salary: £24,432 – £29,583 per annum (pro rata for part time)
About the role
The British Science Association is looking to recruit a talented and organised Engagement Officer to help us implement our vision and strategy.
The Association has a reputation for high-profile science engagement events including British Science Week and the British Science Festival. This role will support the Festivals Engagement team to co-ordinate the UK Sciences Festivals Network, and related projects, and deliver the British Science Festival.
The successful candidate will sit within the Festivals Engagement team, but work with colleagues from across the organisation. This role would suit someone with an interest in public engagement with science, co-ordination and administration experience and experience of working with festivals and/or events, in either a voluntary or paid capacity.
Key responsibilities
The main responsibilities will be to:
- Co-ordinate the UK Science Festivals Network, including organising and attending meetings and being the main point of contact;
- Update the content on the UK Science Festivals Network website and manage the inbox;
- Administer and co-ordinate Engagement grant schemes;
- Support the development of the UK Science Festivals Network conference and British Science Festival programme;
- Be part of the core team that will deliver the UK Science Festivals Network conference and British Science Festival;
- Help with the planning and delivery of evaluation for Engagement Programmes;
- Other administrative duties as reasonably required by the line manager;
- Occasional travel across the UK will be required, plus a week on site during the British Science Festival itself.
The successful candidate will be expected to work independently, efficiently and accurately.
Person Specification
Below is a summary of essential and desirable criteria needed for this role, as well as how we will assess a candidate’s suitability.
Essential criteria
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Criteria
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CV
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Cover letter
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Interview
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|
Experience in project co-ordination, administration and maintaining relationships with partners
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Y
|
Y
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Y
|
|
Experience of working on several projects/tasks in parallel
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Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
|
Excellent time management and prioritising skills
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Y
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Y
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Y
|
|
Resilience – adaptable with the ability to remain calm and effective when working on multiple fast-moving, high pressure projects
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Y
|
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Y
|
|
Clear written communication skills, including the ability to write for a range of external audiences
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Y
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Y
|
|
|
Good oral communication skills, with the ability to build good working relationships with internal colleagues, external partners & stakeholders
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|
Y
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Y
|
|
Understanding of audience needs and adapting content accordingly
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Y
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Y
|
|
Experience of programming and developing creative science content for non-expert audiences
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Y
|
|
|
Experience of organising and delivering events
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Y
|
|
Y
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|
Good knowledge of Word, Outlook and Excel
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Y
|
|
|
|
A self-starter, able to work on their own initiative and manage their own work effectively
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Y
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Y
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|
A good team player with a positive and flexible approach to work
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Y
|
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Y
|
Desirable criteria
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Criteria
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CV
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Cover letter
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Interview
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|
An interest in science and science communication
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|
Y
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Y
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|
Experience of working on festivals
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Y
|
|
|
|
Experience of using Salesforce and/or working on grant funding schemes
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Y
|
|
|
Benefits
- Agile Working policy enabling you to work at home or in another UK location up to 4 days per week, if office-based, and to vary your working hours outside our 10am – 12pm and 2pm – 4pm core hours, subject to the needs of the BSA;
- 27 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time employees);
- Up to two days paid leave per year for significant voluntary commitments in support of professional and personal development, such as being a trustee of a charity or a school governor;
- Auto-enrolment pension scheme (4% paid by employer);
- Up to five days’ unpaid leave per year (this is down to the Manager’s decision and ensuring it does not affect work);
- Life assurance from your first day, subject to scheme rules;
- Occupational sick pay: up to six weeks’ full pay per year (pro-rata for part-time employees);
- Interest-free loan for season ticket, bike to work, and assisted study.
To apply
Please send a CV and covering letter (each of no more than two A4 pages) that summarises your interest in the role and details your ability to match the criteria.
Applications should be made via this link: https://recruit.smb.co.uk/vacancy.aspx?id=grvAvTNZTtp6tWKq
The closing date for applications is 17.00 on Monday 28 February.
Interviews are due to take place during the week commencing Tuesday 15 March 2022.
You will be informed as soon as possible after the application deadline whether you have been selected for interview. We may carry out a second interview.
As part of the British Science Association’s commitment to being a Disability Confident employer, all disabled* applicants who meet the ‘essential criteria’ for this vacancy will be offered an interview under our guaranteed interview scheme.
If you wish to apply under the guaranteed interview scheme, you will be asked to indicate this when you submit your application by selecting ‘yes’ in the relevant box when asked during the application process. Applicants do not need to state any further information or declare their disability at the application stage.
The BSA follows government advice in that it is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations (such as a high number of applications), we may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
In these circumstances, we could select the disabled candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria, as we would do for non-disabled applicants.
Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are successful in being shortlisted, we will ask candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions to let us know if they need any adjustments during the recruitment process.
If you have further questions or would like this information in a different format, please contact: recruitment@britishscienceassociation.org
Terms & conditions
From time to time the job entails working extended hours and occasional weekends, for which no overtime payments are made. The BSA operates a time off in lieu policy for weekend working and some other out-of-hours instances.
Only applicants who have a legal right to work within the UK will be considered. You will be asked to bring along proof of nationality and/or proof of ability to work in the UK.
You will also be asked to declare any previous convictions in line with your rights under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975.
This is a description of the job as it is presently constituted. It is the practice of the Association to examine job descriptions from time to time and to update them to ensure they relate to the job as then being performed, or to incorporate whatever changes are reasonably required, in discussion with the postholder.
It is the policy of the BSA to offer starting salaries at the bottom end of the salary band where appropriate.
A copy of our Privacy Notice is available on the vacancies page of our website.
*The Disability Confident scheme’s definition of disability is in line with the Equalities Act 2010: “a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life”.
Further information about our Disability Confident commitments can be found on the Disability Confident page of our website.
