Head of Welfare Communications – Great British Racing, UK

The Head of Welfare Communications is a newly created senior role sitting within the sport’s promotional body, Great British Racing (GBR) and working closely with the Horse Welfare Board to help deliver their horse welfare strategy, A Life Well lived. The purpose of the role is to positively and proactively tell racing’s welfare story and demonstrate the sport’s commitment to prioritising the welfare of our horses and ensuring they lead a life well lived.

Reports to: Head of PR, GBR

Salary: c£70K per annum

Term: FTC until December 2021 with scope for permanent role thereafter

Location: Initially home based until office working permitted and then potentially one to two days a week in London as required.

Role requirements

Senior communications specialist with 8+ years’ experience and a track record of driving forward complex communications strategies involving multiple stakeholders

Strong story-telling and consumer PR skills, together with robust campaigning and corporate communications experience

An ability to work with a diverse group of internal stakeholders, develop consensus and coordinate activity

Board level presentation experience

An affinity with horses and the racing industry

Key Roles and Responsibilities

Promotional Activity

Develop and execute the annual promotional plan, providing an ‘always on’ welfare communications capability for the industry

Create engaging consumer-facing campaigns to demonstrate racing’s commitment to the care of our horses

Proactively promote racing’s welfare story in target media and amongst key consumer audiences, helping to positively shape public perception of the sport

Work with a number of consumer-facing ambassadors to help us reach new audiences

Work with the existing GBR digital team to amplify the sport’s messages across our combined channels and develop engaging content with which to tell our story

Develop relationships with key media, strengthening their understanding of racing’s welfare record

Commission audience research and surveys, as appropriate, to deepen our knowledge of the key audiences we should be targeting in order to shape public opinion positively.

Industry engagement

Work across the industry to bring together racing’s different constituents so that we are working together to showcase the care that horses receive.

Harnesses the passion and expertise of horseracing’s workforce, community and supporters so that they are enabled to advocate on behalf of the sport

Identify key spokespeople and develop a network of advocates to authentically tell racing’s story, rather than being corporately-led

Continue to develop and grow existing industry initiatives that showcase the care that horses receive such as the Godolphin Stud and Stable staff awards and the annual open days

Stakeholder engagement

· Forge alliances with other equestrian sports and develop joint campaigns which span the various equestrian disciplines, centred around our shared love of the horse.