Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO11 £73,602 to £77,550

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 10/06/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): 25/06/2026

Reference: 2154

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

We are a Home Office–licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.

About the role:

This is a pivotal leadership role in our Communications and Campaigns service, responsible for overseeing the planning, development, delivery and evaluation of fully integrated, multi-channel communications and influencing campaigns to drive participation, raise awareness, influence public behaviour, and to realise a range of defined strategic objectives.

The postholder will oversee end-to-end delivery, ensuring campaigns are delivered on time, within budget, and meet all performance KPIs.

The role will also oversee, and be the driving force behind, Waltham forest’s public affairs activities, influencing the national political agenda on significant areas of relevance and interest to the Council, representing the Council in meetings with officials and politicians, both locally and in Westminster, and working with senior colleagues in sector bodies such as LGA and London Councils.

You will make sure that our public affairs activity is responsive to opportunity, effective, and grounded in the achievement of tangible results.

You will involve people from multiple disciplines within the Directorate, across the wider Council, and the Borough as a whole, unlocking the full potential of people’s technical skills and lived experiences, and fostering a culture of active participation and open dialogue. Together with your team you will develop innovative campaigns that resonate with our community and reflect the Council’s values.

You will work extensively with a wide range of internal stakeholders and be required to build exceptional senior level relationships. Key to securing the evolution in culture and working practice required to make your brief a success will be effective influencing and presentation skills, the ability to formulate compelling arguments and the sensitivity and nous to work collaboratively across directorates and services.

You will be required to have excellent project management and communications skills, and experience of working with digital specialists, multimedia producers and designers to produce high quality, effective and impactful assets.

You will develop a campaign infrastructure for the Council, including planning cycles, review and evaluation mechanisms, governance frameworks and tools such as campaign packs and guides, seeking to establish the means to promote consistency and best practice internally. You will also ensure that effective triage mechanisms guide the team’s use of time and effort, making informed and sensitive calls on prioritisation whenever demands clash.

.>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Overseeing and managing the prioritisation, planning and execution of campaigns for the Council to promote initiatives and services, and to influence public opinion and policy, ensuring they are of the highest quality, align with corporate priorities and help to maintain and enhance corporate brand and reputation.
• To deputise for the Director of Communication and Campaigns and support them in delivering an overall communication strategy and associated frameworks.
• Lead the development and implementation of public affairs strategies that align with the Council's overall objectives.
• Lead on developing a strategy and regularly reviewed operational plan for integrated campaigns, engaging and securing buy in from senior colleagues.
• Oversee the operational aspects of campaigns, events, and public affairs activities, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.
• Energise, motivate and support the team to identify opportunities and work with them to develop and build, campaigns that are meaningful and relevant to their target audiences, generate enthusiasm (internally and externally) and change hearts and minds.
• Oversee standard of campaigns plans and ensure that have clarity on any budgetary implications.
• Develop high quality, insight led, approaches that deliver a step change in resident understanding, engagement and advocacy.
• Ensure each campaign has identified the goals, target audience, primary channels, key messages, and success metrics necessary to deliver its goal and that it carries a singular and coherent narrative framework utilising a range of engagement levers across an identified timeline.
• To support, and on occasion manage, the Council’s crisis management efforts and campaigns through effective communication and use of different channels.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements:

• Significant experience/knowledge of internal and external campaigns management, development and delivery.
• Significant experience of developing and maintaining strategic narratives.
• Ability to work in an agile fashion to respond to respond to internal or external crisis.
• Experience of managing a team, providing guidance and support.
• Experience of leading high-profile campaigns that have support the delivery of key strategic objectives
• Direct experience of developing and delivering effective strategies in at least three of the following disciplines: digital communications or marketing, public affairs, media relations, behaviour change.
• Experience/knowledge of different campaign approaches and methods.
• Experience in evaluating and reviewing campaigns.
• Experience of using insight and data to create communications plans.
• Experience of crisis management.
• Experience in planning and delivery of communications strategies and activities.
• Experience of providing direct advice and briefing to senior managers and/or elected members on media and reputation issues.
• Experience of working across a wide range of communications projects including media, campaigns, marketing and events.
• Experience of working in a highly pressured environment and delivering results to tight deadlines.
• Experience and ability to manage a team to deliver high quality campaigns and projects.
• Significant experience/knowledge of internal and external campaigns management, development and delivery.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Adrian Thomas, Corporate Director of Communications and Campaigns at Adrian.Thomas01@walthamforest.gov.uk or on 07506 112971.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.

Fraud Awareness Notice:

The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk