Contract type: Permanent
Hours: Full Time (37.5 hours per week)
Salary: £58,000 negotiable based on skills and experience
Location: Whitehall, Greater London (Hybrid)
Application deadline: Monday 24th August, 09:00 GMT (UK)
About Demos
Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think tank producing research and policies that have been adopted by successive governments for nearly 30 years. Movements, ideologies and governments have come and gone, yet in this moment of global democratic emergency, Demos’s work could not be more urgent or relevant.
Our overarching mission is to upgrade democracy in the UK and build a system powered by trusting relationships, information and technology, fit for our times. We are designing the practical foundations of a new deal between citizen, state and the institutions that shape daily lives.
Demos’s work focuses on four pillars that span the interface between state and citizen: Everyday Democracy, Public Service Reform, the Citizen Economy, and Resilient Information Ecosystems – with technology and AI shaping each. Between June and July 2026, we launched the New Deal series that explains what we see as the opportunities to upgrade democracy ahead of the appointment of a new Prime Minister.
About the role
Demos is looking for an exceptional individual to fill the post of Head of News and Media. This is an exciting and challenging role tasked with raising Demos’s media profile, generating excellent coverage of its work and maximising its voice in the national debate.
You will lead our media strategy, grow Demos’s media contacts and networks, engaging day to day with journalists to maximise coverage of our work, policies and messages in the press and across broadcast. You will also oversee our senior design and digital officer to manage our digital channels and their production of our reports. You will explore new channels and formats for our content, and ensure we have a consistent tone of voice throughout.
This is a career-defining opportunity for an experienced media operator to play a key role in shaping the voice of one of the UK’s most dynamic and influential think tanks, as we enter an exciting new phase of growth.
We want you to develop a new media strategy for Demos, building our team’s voices in the national media, helping us to narrate the democratic emergency that our work is designed to address and ensuring our ideas are reaching their intended audiences.
A skilled storyteller, you will write, edit, coordinate and publish content across multiple channels, ensuring consistent, distinctive tone of voice and strong and clear narrative in the crowded communications spaces we work in. An authoritative media operator, you will be comfortable advising colleagues on where our media investment will have the most impact.
Demos is a small think tank of 24 people with new growth plans in the coming year. We have a huge reputation and potential to reach even more key audiences with our work. This is a role for someone with similar energy and ambition to range across the dynamic and exciting work we are doing, and ensure it is shaping the national debate about the future of politics, policy and democracy.
What you’ll be doing
With the support of a CEO who has 20 years experience as a journalist and editor, you will deliver a powerful media strategy to ensure the proactive and reactive promotion of Demos’ work across the media, socials and other channels.
Your duties will include, but not be limited to:
Media
- Develop a network and database of media, politics and public affairs contacts with an interest in our subject matter.
- Act as a first point of contact for media enquiries, ensuring Demos is able to maximise both proactive and reactive influencing opportunities. We want to be more responsive to the ongoing national conversation about democracy.
- Horizon scan, identifying appropriate media outlets, timings and nature of approaches to launch the varied range of Demos research across press and broadcast.
- Support the public profile development of the Chief Executive and thought leaders across the organisation.
- Write and distribute press releases, blogs and statements as needed. Monitor press and media coverage and keep the team informed and updated.
- Lead strategic communications planning across Demos’ portfolio of research and policy projects, advising project teams on communications objectives, priorities, timing and appropriate levels of media and digital activity.
- Identify and pro-actively manage areas of reputational risk.
Digital
- Line manage and support the senior design and digital officer to continuously improve the Demos outputs, website and digital presence.
- Develop and support the senior design and digital officer to deliver an impactful social media strategy to support all our activities and reach target audiences.
- Coordinate the weekly Demos newsletter, with contributions from across the team.
What you’ll need to be successful
The types of knowledge, skills and experience we are looking for are below. We welcome a range of applications which include at least some of these attributes.
Skills
- A demonstrable eye for a story – able to capture complex research findings to present to a variety of audiences, using accessible and impactful language for media consumption.
- Excellent written communication skills, able to confidently copy-write and edit under pressure while maintaining consistent attention to detail and accuracy
- Strong interpersonal skills; able to build and manage fruitful relationships with information-rich, time-poor senior stakeholders.
- Highly organised and able to manage a varied workload, such as the planning and execution of numerous simultaneous research report launches.
- For the right candidate, this role could also act as a spokesperson for the organisation as required.
Knowledge
- A politics and news obsessive. Bringing insights and understanding of the opportunity Demos has to influence the news agenda in the context of a democratic emergency.
Experience
- Experience of working in journalism, politics, policy environment, think-tank or related advocacy organisation.
- Strong media connections in the political/policy space and the ability to build relationships with journalists fast.
- Has demonstrable experience of producing high quality, creative content for a variety of media channels including Linkedin and Bluesky.
- Experience managing proactive and reactive media opportunities.
Behaviours
- An enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, proactive and tenacious person with good judgment.
- Highly collaborative in approach to working with colleagues and external partners.
- A commitment to centring diversity, inclusion, equity and justice in your work and across all external affairs activity
- A passion for the kind of politics we want to promote, coupled with an open mind and inclusive approach to working with people whose ideas and opinions differ.
- An appetite for pace, ambitious for this role.
What we offer
- Generous leave entitlement: 27 days + Bank holidays + 3 additional days off between Christmas and New Year
- Enhanced pension contribution: 6%
- Enhanced sick pay
- Enhanced parental leave
- A forward-thinking, supportive and collaborative team
At Demos we centre staff wellbeing as a key priority; we will make every effort to ensure staff feel happy, healthy and valued as part of our integral team.
Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice (DIEJ) at Demos
At Demos, we recognise, celebrate and promote the positive contributions that are made by diverse groups. We exist to proactively tackle social and economic exclusion, and engaging with and promoting the voices of people whose voices may not otherwise be heard is core to our work. We believe that this should be reflected in our team and we strongly encourage applications from people from minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities, or others with lived experience of disadvantage.
We expect all members of our team to commit to Demos’ cross-party approach. This means we engage with all parties in the democratic system where it will further our charitable aims. Our mission to strengthen democracy and overcome division depends on building dialogue across political divides while upholding our values of diversity, inclusion, equity and justice.
We expect all members of our team to recognise and value differences and the unique contributions that people make to the way we conduct our work and develop our insights, and encourage people to bring their diverse perspectives and backgrounds into their work on a day-to-day basis. We would be happy to discuss flexible working requirements with any candidates.
Selection process
To apply, please complete our online application form by Monday 24th August, 09:00 GMT (UK).
Please get in touch at [email protected] if you require any adjustments to be able to engage with our recruitment process.
Questions?
If you have any further questions or aren’t sure if the role is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us by emailing [email protected] and we would be happy to answer any queries.
We look forward to hearing from you!