PR & Social Media Officer

Location: Reading, Hybrid (at least twice a month to the Reading Office)
Hours: Full time
Salary: £33,000 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Campaign Closes: 11th March 2026
Interviews: First stage, 18th March 2026. Second stage, 25th March 2026

On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible

Core Purpose:
As our PR & Social Media Officer, you will play a vital role in bringing Make-A-Wish UK s mission to life. By building strong media relationships, creating high-quality content and engaging our digital communities, you will help strengthen our brand and raise vital awareness of our work. In this exciting role, your work will be central to amplifying the charity s impact and ensure effective communication across earned and owned channels, ultimately supporting the goal of granting life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses.

Essential

• Proven experience in a PR and/or social media role within a comparable organisation (ideally a minimum of three years).
• Demonstrable experience and confidence with PR outreach, media relations, and press material preparation.
• Experience managing social media platforms, including content creation and community management.
• Experience in using relevant programmes, including social media channel planning tools such as Sprout Social and asset creation tools like Adobe Express or similar.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communications skills including writing skills.
• Ability to build relationships with media contacts, external stakeholders and wider internal teams.
• Skilled in managing a varied workload, able to pivot between PR and social media responsibilities as required.

Desirable

• Experience within Not-for-Profit or the Charity sector and its common practices and regulations.
• Experience working with storytellers sharing sensitive topics.
• Understanding of the importance of our services to children, their families and local communities would be highly beneficial.

Key Responsibilities:
PR campaign support

• Assist the PR Manager in planning and executing PR campaigns.
• Draft press releases, media outreach materials, and PR project plans.
• Develop and maintain media relationships and media databases to ensure effective media engagement.
• Seek opportunities to enhance our media exposure through strategic partnerships and collaborations.
• Support reaction and responses to media incidents.
• Work with wish families to share their story in a sensitive and an authentic way.
• Lead on some PR projects, owning and delivering releases.

Social media management

• Support the daily management of social media channels, including content creation, curation, and scheduling.
• Monitor and respond to community interactions to foster engagement.
• Tailor content to resonate with different audience segments, ensuring alignment with organisational goals.
• Track and evaluate social media performance, responding to key results.
• Lead on some social media projects or campaigns, producing and executing social media plans.

Project-based communications

• Coordinate specific project communication plans, leveraging audience insights and channel expertise.
• Support communications efforts for high-profile events, corporate partnerships, and volunteer recruitment initiatives.
• Collaborate with partners to deliver on multi-year communication strategies, ensuring clear messaging and outreach goals.

Content Creation

• Create compelling and audience-focused content for social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, etc.).
• Assist in creating long-form content for blogs, newsletters, and digital media to reach a wider audience.

Tracking and researching trends

• Track and analyse the charity s online and media presence
• Create reports on performance and research which campaigns lead to achieving organisations goals such as increased income.
• Identify trends and look for ways to improve engagement and brand.

Campaign evaluation, reporting and coordination

• Use monitoring and insight tools to assess the effectiveness of PR and social media campaigns.
• Provide data and insights to improve future communication strategies and audience engagement.
• Collate and coordinate PR and Social media requirements for campaigns and partnerships