Position: Advocacy and Campaigns Manager  

Office Base: Dublin & Hybrid 

Reports To: Director of Advocacy  

About The Wheel  

The Wheel is Ireland’s national association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises. As a representative voice, we provide leadership to the charity and community sector and we advocate on behalf of our growing community of members. As a supportive resource, we offer advice, training and other opportunities to people working or volunteering in the charity and community sector. Learn more about who we are and what we do https://www.wheel.ie/about-us 

The Opportunity 

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a passionate and enthusiastic professional to join The Wheel’s Advocacy team. This role will work directly with the Director of Advocacy and will manage the Advocacy and Campaigns operations of The Wheel and provide support to members of The Wheel, and the wider Community and Voluntary sector.   

The post holder will work closely with the wider Advocacy and Campaigns team and the wider staff team.  

The successful candidate will maintain a positive and responsive attitude towards collaborative working that encourages the best from, and supports the efforts of, others.  

The Purpose of the Role 

The overall purpose of the work will be to advocate for positive change for organisations and society generally. To positively influence public opinion in support of the community and voluntary sector whilst maximising member mobilisation and engagement in campaigning.   

Working Relationships  

The Advocacy and Campaigns Manager will be line managed by the Director of Advocacy and will work alongside other Directors and managers contributing to the general management of the work of The Wheel.   

The post holder will be expected to develop and maintain positive professional relationships with colleagues, board and subgroup members and a range of external stakeholders, commercial and other organisations including community and voluntary organisations in pursuit of the interests of The Wheel.    

As The Wheel is a membership organisation, all post-holders are expected to provide leadership and support to members.   

Duties and Responsibilities 

The primary focus of the work will be to identify and drive The Wheel’s advocacy objectives and deliver strategic campaigns that achieve these objectives, and which maximise member mobilisation and engagement.  

The responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:   

Advocacy:

• Develop advocacy positions for The Wheel in consultation with members.  
• Oversee the development papers / member survey analysis and reports and maintain and update same.  
• Provide in depth analysis of public policy in areas relevant to members of The Wheel  
• Ensure a continuous feedback loop to members on our advocacy and campaigning outputs and impacts.  
• Supporting the organisation’s research aims and capacity, as well as supporting engaged research among our members.  
• Oversee the preparation of official submissions from The Wheel to various calls for input.   
• Support the work of the Policy Sub-committee of the board through preparation of materials as needed, attendance at meetings and minute-taking.   
• Line manage the Policy Officer and any other officers assigned.  
• Represent The Wheel at Community & Voluntary Pillar meetings and bi-lateral Departmental meetings as required  
• Deputise, as appropriate, for the Director of Advocacy at national fora such as the Health Dialogue Forum, National Economic Dialogue, and others.  
• Engage effectively with Government Ministers, senior policymakers and civil servants to further The Wheel’s advocacy profile.  
• Work collaboratively with the Member Engagement Manager to engage with members on their advocacy priorities.  

Campaigns:

• Lead and manage public-policy, media and event campaigning, including public awareness campaigns; pre-budget campaigns; election-related-campaigns (local, general, European, Seanad, and Presidential), and other campaigns  
• Mobilise and engage with The Wheel’s members in advancing shared objectives through campaigns while ensuring synchronisation with associated public affairs activity  
• Build strong and proactive relationships with media and key media figures   
• Collaborate with The Wheel’s Communications Manager around media engagement, production of campaign materials and collateral, and develop and deploy campaign messaging across multiple communications channels and coherent with The Wheel’s brand positioning  
• Draft opinion pieces, reports and briefings, ensuring a regular stream of advocacy and campaigning-related comment and opinion that engages key target audiences and enhances member engagement.  
• Develop and implement a social media strategy for The Wheel’s advocacy work, taking responsibility for social media content, and ensuring that social media messaging is delivered in a timely fashion.  
• Manage and keep up to date content in the advocacy and news pages of The Wheel’s website
• With the Director of Advocacy, develop & manage campaigning coalitions to include relevant members and external stakeholders as necessary  
• Support the CEO and Director of Advocacy in their public-policy spokesperson roles for The Wheel, in particular drafting regular member-updates and communications.  
• With the support of the Development & Member Services team, lead in identifying and securing funding opportunities that will support the advocacy, campaigning, and research work of The Wheel.   
• Link The Wheel’s Managers and other team members into an effective internal campaigning team to assist in identifying opportunities for increased impact.   
• Undertake any other tasks that are needed, and which are aligned with The Wheel’s purpose and mission, to support the delivery of the advocacy and communications objectives  

Person Specification  

Essential Experience & Knowledge  

Advocacy:

• A qualification in Public Policy, Political Science, Law, Social Sciences, or a related field.  
• Proven experience (typically 3-5 years) in policy development, advocacy, or related roles, ideally in a non-profit or similar environment.  
• Demonstrated experience in policy research and public policy development.  
• Experience in influencing public policy, government relations, or engaging with relevant stakeholders (e.g., governmental bodies, civil society groups, and think tanks).  
• Experience working in or with community and voluntary sector organisations.  

Campaigning and Advocacy:

• Significant experience and demonstrable ability to develop, manage, deliver and monitor significant policy-change or behaviour-change campaigns.   
• Experience of using research within campaigns and communications.  
• Experience of mobilising local people and groups to take action.  
• Experience of developing and managing a network of contacts at all levels, including building new relationships and representing an organisation at events.   

Communications:

• A proven ability to develop and deliver high impact messages and content.  
• Experience of writing engaging campaigning material and communicating complex and sensitive issues to a non-specialist audience.  
• Excellent face to face presentation skills.  
• Experience of local and regional media interviews.  
• Excellent ability to engage with external stakeholders to advance The Wheel’s advocacy positions.  

Management skills:

• Experience of leading complex projects and managing their time, quality and budgets over a multi-year time frame.  
• Staff, contracts and volunteer management experience.  
• Experience of public sector and charity partnership work (at local or national levels).  
• A strong understanding of the importance of The Wheel’s role in building understanding and appreciation of the importance and value of civil society and public-benefit non-profits.   
• High motivation, positive disposition and flexible attitude in response to organisational change and development.  
• Excellent ability to use all standard computer software, as well as standard social media platforms e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  

Skills and Abilities Required 

• Confident personal style, able to communicate with a range of audiences, including local community organisations, national charities and everything in between as well as with business, media, elected politicians, charity trustees etc. using written, verbal and presentation skills.  
• Strong project management skills, with an ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and resources.  
• Ability to problem-solve, think of creative solutions and choose a range of options to solve problems in project management and relationship building scenarios.  
• Strong ability to think strategically and execute tactically.  
• Creativity and an ability to generate engaging campaign messages.  
• Networking, relationship building, diplomacy and interpersonal skills.   
• An ability to see opportunities and connections between current initiatives and developments in the policy landscape. 
• Ability to work effectively on own initiative.  
• Must be capable of working as a team player; be highly motivated, enthusiastic and bring people with you.  
• Commitment to and understanding of working within a voluntary organisation in an inclusive manner.  

Note: This job description is not a definitive list of tasks; rather it is designed to give an overview of the job. It is envisaged that the post-holder will use their own initiative and develop the job under guidance so that the goals of the organisation are achieved. It should be noted that it may be necessary to step beyond the areas outlined above to support its development from time to time.  

Terms and Conditions 

This is a full-time permanent position with The Wheel. 

The annual gross salary for this role is between €46,098 - €62,368, depending on the knowledge and experience of the person who occupies it, and will be decided accordingly.  

This contract is for a 36-hour week and salary is payable monthly in arrears.  

The Wheel has a salary-band framework and a detailed Remuneration Policy and every employee will be provided with a ‘Total Rewards Statement’ that outlines all of their benefits.  

Other benefits include: 

• A 6% employers contribution to a company contributory pension scheme (subject to a 4% employee contribution) 
• Annual Leave of 21 days 
• Closure of the office on Good Friday, Christmas Eve and the Christmas / New Year period which comes additional to annual leave entitlement 
• Death in Service benefit of four times salary 
• Further Education / Training investment programme 
• Travel (bike-to-work schemes/tax saver commuter tickets) 

The Wheel uses a Behavioural Competency Framework as a key cornerstone of its performance management processes. The priority behavioural competences identified for this role are:   

Problem Solving:  Seeks solutions and builds on others’ suggestions, working in a collaborative manner; Tenacious in solving the problem, even if it’s outside own area of responsibility; Stimulates new thinking and approaches.   

Collaborative Working: Leads formal and informal teams in a way which values the diversity of experience and opinions and builds a sense of ‘team’. Provides encouragement to colleagues after setbacks. Helps others to work collaboratively.  

Leadership: Using a future narrative, explaining the ‘why’, creating an excitement to go forward; Communicates ‘where to’ with clarity and zest.  

Quality: Actively develops and improves systems and procedures to manage information and shares these with colleagues. Arranges support where development needs are identified; Monitors work to ensure standards are kept high.  

Successfully shortlisted applicants will be provided with the Behavioural Competency Framework prior to interview.    

A complete list of all the terms and conditions will be made available to the candidate offered the role through The Wheel’s Staff Handbook. The Wheel is an equal opportunities employer.