Public Affairs and Campaigns Officer

Are you passionate about building relationships to drive meaningful change to make a real difference in people s lives? Samaritans is the UK and Ireland s leading suicide prevention charity. While we are best known for listening to those who need us, we also work to influence change through our advocacy campaigning and relationships with political stakeholders.

We are looking for a Public Affairs and Campaigns Officer to join our team and help influence decision makers and mobilise our campaigners to achieve our vision of fewer lives lost to suicide. You ll play a pivotal role in delivering inspiring public affairs and advocacy campaign activity that help achieve our policy and influencing aims, resulting in lasting system change.

About the Role

As Public Affairs and Campaigns Officer, you will lead on the development and delivery of impactful advocacy campaigns and public affairs activity, managing supporter journeys and mobilisation, as well as political engagement. It involves building strong relationships with parliamentarians, Samaritans branches and people with lived experience, while producing high quality campaign actions, briefings, events, and intelligence to influence change.

Contract

£30,000-£33,000 per annum plus benefits

Full Time (35hrs per week)

Permanent

Hybrid working with link to Ewell office

In-person working: Meeting in person and working collaboratively are things we value. We work in person around 2 days per month. This role will also involve regular travel to Westminster.

We are passionate about flexible working, talk to us about your preferences

What You ll Do

• Develop and deliver effective advocacy campaign actions.
• Manage campaign data, mailing lists and inboxes.
• Support strategy development for campaigns and lead community mobilisation.
• Promote our campaigning work internally and externally.
• Build and maintain public affairs relationships, particularly with parliamentarians.
• Monitor parliamentary developments and identify opportunities for influencing.
• Coordinate political engagement events.
• Provide secretariat support to relevant APPGs.

What You ll Bring

• Strong experience designing impactful advocacy campaigns.
• Solid understanding of public affairs and the Westminster environment.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and relationship building skills.
• Highly organised, proactive and adaptable, with strong project and time management skills.
• (Desirable) Knowledge of suicide prevention and mental health policy, local and regional political structures, and experience within complex service delivery charities.

See full Job Description and Person Specification

Why Samaritans?

At Samaritans, you ll be part of a people-first organisation deeply committed to inclusion, compassion and learning. You ll contribute to a team where your voice matters, your expertise makes a difference, and your work helps save lives.

We welcome applications from individuals with lived experience and encourage those from underrepresented communities to apply. We are committed to creating an environment where all our people feel seen, heard and supported.

You ll join a values-led organisation with a powerful mission and a collaborative culture. We offer flexible hybrid working, excellent benefits, and the chance to make a tangible difference in suicide prevention across the UK and Ireland.

For further information about Samaritans, including our charity structure, values, employee benefits, and application process, please read our recruitment brochure available here. You can also visit our careers website to access this.

We recognise the enormous benefits and the social justice imperatives of ensuring diversity at every level of our organisation. Samaritans is wholly committed to inclusion and diversity and to building a culture and environment where everyone is appreciated for the unique person they are. To ensure Samaritans is representative of those we support and who support us, we particularly welcome applications from disabled, racialised minority and LGBTQ+ candidates, as these people are under-represented at Samaritans.

Apply now

If this sounds like the opportunity for you, please apply. You will be asked to some answer short application questions and to upload your CV.

Applications close: Sunday 19th April 2026

Interviews: w/c 27th April 2026

At Samaritans, human connection is at the heart of everything we do.

We do not use AI at any stage during the selection process. Your application will always be carefully reviewed by the recruiting manager or a member of the Talent Attraction Team.

We kindly ask that you avoid using AI tools to generate your application or interview answers. We want to hear your own ideas, insights, and writing style so your unique strengths can shine through.