Regional Communications Manager

Regional Communications Manager (South West)

Make sure to apply quickly in order to maximise your chances of being considered for an interview Read the complete job description below.
Salary: £35,853 - £42,181 per annum (dependent on experience)
Vehicle: A vehicle will be made available to carry out your duties
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full Time
Additional Information: 37 hours per week
Location Description: Home-based in the South West region, with regular travel to RNLI locations, including the RNLI Regional Base in Saltash, Cornwall
Interview Date: w/c 1st June 2026
Closing Date: 25-05-2026
Reference: 21517
About us
Our purpose is simple: to save lives at sea. 24 hours a day, every day, RNLI lifesavers are ready to launch to the rescue.
The RNLI’s Communications team plays a key role in helping to prevent drowning, managing the RNLI’s reputation and building support for our charity’s cause. We work closely with volunteers, staff and partners in water safety, fundraising, and operations to amplify advice, build strong constructive relationships and ensure the RNLI can continue to save lives well into the future.
Some of the benefits
- Salary of £35,853 - £42,181 per annum (dependent on experience)
- Flexible working
- 26 days’ annual leave plus Bank Holidays
- Competitive pension scheme
- Life assurance
- Health cashplan option
Your role
As Regional Communications Manager, you’ll work with our current Regional Communications Lead and Media Trainers to recruit and support our volunteer Lifeboat Press Officers, ensuring they have the skills and resources needed to deliver local news stories, videos and engaging social media content for their lifeboat station.
In this role, you will help plan and support our fundraising and water safety PR campaigns, while maximising the impact of our lifesaving stories and protecting the charity’s reputation.
You will be home-based within the South West region (which stretches from Bristol around to Weymouth and includes the Channel Islands), with regular travel to the South West Regional Base in Saltash, Cornwall. The ability to work independently and prioritise your work is essential. You will be expected to travel throughout the South West region.
The RNLI is a 24/7 search and rescue organisation, and you should be ready to work outside normal office hours. You will also be part of an out-of-hours duty press officer rota, which will require scheduled weekend and evening work.
About you
To be our Regional Communications Manager, you’ll need to be able to understand the needs of our volunteers and be flexible around their needs where appropriate and generate interest in our charity by telling powerful stories across traditional, digital and social media.
To be successful in your application, you will need:
- Experience of supporting volunteers or a demonstrable understanding of what that requires
- The ability to conduct challenging conversations with confidence
- A professional qualification or equivalent experience in a media or corporate communications environment
- Substantial experience in a busy media environment and current communications best practice – media relations, press release writing, social media, basic video production, as well as creative flair
- Substantial experience of finding and pitching stories that include key organisational messages
- An understanding of how to include and increase access for people from a broad range of backgrounds and life experiences
- The ability to evidence a strong news sense and have a good understanding of the regional and national news agenda
Your reward will be seeing the RNLI’s reputation go from strength to strength as you help save lives, raise awareness of our lifesaving work and inspire people to support us.
This post requires a valid driving licence.
Safeguarding
The RNLI is committed to safeguarding; protecting a person’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment and have a zero-tolerance approach. The suitability of all prospective employees and volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. This will include relevant criminal record checks being carried out, dependent on the eligibility of the role. (England & Wales; DBS check, Scotland; Disclosure Scotland PVG, Northern Ireland; Access NI, Republic of Ireland; Garda Vetting; International, International Child Protection Certificate process).
Diversity at the RNLI
Our staff and volunteers have been saving lives at sea without prejudice for 200 years. We respect and value diversity of background, skills and perspectives within our teams, and consider it essential to help us deliver a world-class lifesaving service. xwzovoh We are an inclusive organisation and welcome applications from everyone. In addition to having the skills needed for the role, we also look for applicants who share our commitment to living our RNLI values (trustworthy, courageous, selfless, and dependable), and helping us work towards Our Vision: To save Every One.