Senior Communications and Impact Manager - Strand, London, WC2R 2LS

Senior Communications and Impact Manager - Strand, London, WC2R 2LS

About us:

The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London is one of the oldest law schools in England and recognised globally as one of the best law schools in the world. TheSchoolwasestablishedin 1831 and has played an integral role in the life of King's since the university was formed almost 200 years ago.

TheSchoolis based in the East Wing of Somerset House on King's Strand Campus in London. Our location means that we are in the heart of legal London with the Houses of Parliament, government departments, the Royal Courts of Justice, the Inns of Court and the offices of global law firms all within walking distance.

About the role:

The role will provide strategic communications and impact management for the Centre for Data Futures across its two work strands: the participatory interfaces research programme (NAVIGATE), which develops and tests how AI systems can communicate non-quantifiable uncertainty and how communities can collectively refine that communication; and the Data Empowerment Clinic, which builds collective data stewardship capacity with communities, civil-society organisations and practitioners. The post is funded by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation for eighteen months from 01 January 2027: the 18 months initial duration may be prolonged if additional funding is secured. Please note that we are in a position to appoint earlier (from 01 November 2026, any earlier months would come on top of the 18 months funded duration), were a candidate able to take up the post at short notice.

This is a communications, impact and external-engagement post. It is not a Centre administration post: routine Centre administration and finance are met through Kings and Faculty shared services, and support for research-funding applications sits with the Faculty research team. The post-holder is the connective tissue between the Centres two work strands, building the bridges that allow Clinic case studies to feed the participatory interfaces research and allow that research to reach the communities and professions the Clinic serves. The post-holder is also the Centres outward voice, expected to take the Centres communications autonomously in a substantially more ambitious direction, with sustained mainstream-media presence and wide-audience pieces alongside academic and policy channels.

Strategic direction and day-to-day priorities for the post are set by the Centre Director. The post-holder works closely with the Faculty Senior Impact Manager, Communications Manager and Head of External Engagement, and is part of the Facultys professional-services community. Academic leadership of the Data Empowerment Clinic rests with the Clinics Academic Lead; this post carries the work of the Clinic and of the research programme outward, rather than directing either.

This is a full time (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 18 months from 1st January 2027.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Educated to degree level or comparable work experience.
2. Substantial experience of communications and external engagement in a research, policy, cultural or civil-society setting, including securing mainstream-media coverage and commissioning, writing or placing wide-audience pieces on complex subject matter.
3. Demonstrable understanding of, and active interest in, participatory infrastructure participatory data governance, collective data stewardship, or participatory and collective approaches to the design of AI systems sufficient to engage credibly and independently with both of the Centres work strands.
4. Demonstrable experience of research impact development and impact tracking, including systematic evidence-gathering for funder or institutional reporting.
5. Demonstrable experience of building connections between distinct research, delivery or stakeholder strands, and of turning that connective work into concrete outputs such as joint case studies, shared events or co-authored publications.
6. Excellent written and verbal communication, including for non-specialist audiences, and the judgement to work autonomously with external partners on the Centres behalf.
7. Demonstrable public-engagement delivery, including experience of working with creative or cultural-sector partners.

Desirable criteria

1. A postgraduate degree in a discipline relevant to the Centres work.
2. Experience of working with civil-society organisations, community groups, unions, professional bodies or grassroots data-empowerment initiatives.
3. Experience working on other interdisciplinary AI-focused research projects.
4. Experience of supporting research-funding applications or a research grant pipeline.
5. Experience of coordinating an events or public programme in a university, cultural or comparable setting.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at Kings guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicants own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our How we Recruit pages.

Interviews are due to be held on the afternoon of Wednesday 7th October 2026, in person at KCL Strand campus.