The Communications Specialist role is an exciting opportunity to be part of a cross-studio communications team, supporting Architype with new business development, events, marketing, social media and PR. The role will be responsible for the creation and release of content to represent the practice and communicate our core values and ethos to the wider industry.
About Architype
Architype offers exceptional opportunities to be involved in projects at the cutting edge of zero
carbon and sustainability.
Architype is the UK’s leading Passivhaus Architect and widely recognised for our innovative approach including Education Architect of the Year, highly commended AJ100 Practice of the Year, 2022 RIBA London an Sustainability Award and 2022 South of England and South Wales BCO award.
We have an open and collaborative ethos with a common purpose – to deliver fantastic architecture that performs exactly as predicted. We have steadily grown over the last 35 years and are now a team of 100+ collaborating across three studios in Edinburgh, Hereford and London.
Architype has a rich history of pioneering low carbon design and a clear focus on how buildings work for people and the planet. We masterplan and design a wide range of buildings across the education, university, housing, community and cultural sectors. Our consultancy service PERFORM+ enables us to offer insight and cutting-edge technical expertise to clients.
Working culture at Architype is creative and caring. We work in a collaborative and supportive way that encourages fresh ideas and career progression, and we support flexible working for all.
Architype is regularly featured in the top 5 of Building’s Employer of the Year. We are 30% owned by the staff through an Employee Benefit Trust and are committed to becoming 100% employee owned in the future – it is why we call ourselves “co-owners”.
Architype currently operates a hybrid working policy to enable co-owners to work flexibly from both home and from our studios. In Edinburgh we occupy an exciting studio space in Leith. In Hereford our studio is based in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside. In London we are based in a vibrant studio south of the river. All co-owners are fully supported with equipment to enable hybrid working and are integrated into our collaborative team culture both on and offline.
Location
The successful candidate will be attached to one of our three studios (Hereford, London, Edinburgh) and will work, day to day, with our Communications Manager (based in the Edinburgh studio) and a small team of Associate Directors (who are based in each studio).
This role would suit hybrid working, with the caveat that the successful candidate will be expected to work in their local studio for a minimum of 2-3 days per week. This can be discussed further at interview.
Job type:
Fixed Term Contract up to 31 July 2025 (with possible option to extend).
Full time
Benefits
A competitive salary aligned to industry standards. Depending on where the successful candidate lives, our current salary bandings for this role are:
Hereford/National base rate: £25,000 – £34,000
London/South East enhanced: £28,000 – 37,500
Edinburgh/the Lothians/Fife enhanced: £26,500 – 36,000
• 37.5-hour week – flexible/hybrid working possible
• 33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays)
• Pension benefits of 3% employer contribution
• Company health scheme
• Cycle to work scheme.
To Apply
Please take note:
Architype is an Equal Opportunities employer. We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and co-owner engagement forums, to support co-owners with varying circumstances.
Please can we ask that you complete our anonymous equality and diversity monitoring form by clicking on the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3FBSRVF
Visa sponsorship: We welcome applications from all nationalities; however, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for our roles, so before you apply for this post, you must ensure that you have the right to work in the UK. For more details on eligibility to work in the UK, please visit https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.
If you are an international student, recently graduated, you must have your graduate visa status established before applying.
Making your application
Please send a 300-word statement, setting out how you meet the criteria in the job specification along with your CV (max size 5mB) to [email protected]
Note: You must state, in the subject line of your email, your preferred studio location (Edinburgh / Hereford / London), and the job role you are interested in (Communications Specialist). Without this information in the subject heading, we will be unable to sift your application correctly and it will be missed.
This post will be offered as a fixed term contract (contract ending by 31 July 2025), subject to a probationary period.
The closing date for applications is 7 June 2024. The interviews will be in person, in the week of 17 June 2024.
Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications we are sorry we cannot respond to all applications, so if you do not hear from us after the interview date above, please assume that you have been unsuccessful.
Note that all applications will be treated in accordance with our GDPR policy. For more information, please clickhttps://architype.co.uk/contact/ here.
Job Description
Winning new work
You will understand the process of tendering for new work and be able to support the whole team in bidding for new work as necessary. This can mean tracking and researching opportunities across the UK, co-ordinating bids, writing bid content and assembling bid and tender documents in Affinity / Adobe suite. Training in Affinity/Adobe can be provided, but excellent writing skills are essentialYou will work closely with the Communications Manager (based in Edinburgh) and a small team of local Associate Directors based in each studip promoting business development for Architype, alongside the wider team. This will include supporting client and lead development using a CRM system; tracking and providing information on networking and insight events of interest to encourage attendance or securing speaker slots; attending events on your own if required; and support for presentations.You will manage our own events, for example B2Bs or networking events, and help identify new opportunities to contact clients and potential clients through event attendance and speaker opportunities.You will be able to provide support and guidance to the team for new work interviews and presentations and be able to develop effective PowerPoints.You will be a confident proofreader and be able to review and critique bids and other materials.You will attend regular cross-studio meetings with the communications team.You will assist and/or lead in the creation and delivery of client development plans.You will support the wider communications team in regular reporting and tracking of activities.
Communications, Marketing & PR Activities
You will be responsible for creating written and visual communication content for projects and practice promotions – including digital and print contentDevelopment of media and social media communication strategies and collateral, including press releases, case studies, blog articles, social media or promotional materialDevelopment of Awards entry material in coordination with the project teams.Responding to media enquiries and developing pro-active media strategiesCo-ordinating photography/film of key projects and assembling award entriesSupporting the management of our visual assets through Open AssetUsing Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to track and manage your own workload and projectsGeneral communications and new business activity as required by the teamYou will be responsible for / assist with updates to the website when required.You will be responsible for / assist with sector research and specific marketing plans.You will support the wider communications team in regular reporting and tracking of marketing and PR activities.
Job Specification
Graduate or equivalent level qualification (desirable)Two to three years’ experience in a communications/marketing environment (essential).Experience in architecture/design/built environment sector (desirable)An understanding of how to develop business relationships and win work (desirable)Excellent communication skills. Able to adapt appropriate tone of voice in verbal and written language to suit different audiences (essential)Excellent writing skills (essential)Excellent organisational and project management skills. Able to regularly update management team and colleagues on progress against key activities and plan work to complete tasks to agreed deadlines (essential)Excellent team member. Able to support the rest of the communication and architectural teams in achieving key goals, sharing information regularly and supporting fellow team members (essential)Computer literacy (essential in MS Word/email – desirable in Affinity/Adobe and other systems)An interest in design and sustainability (essential)Enjoy working in a busy team environment – able to juggle differing priorities and workloads to meet key deadlines (essential)Commitment to alignment with Architype’s core values as a creative, ecological, progressive community (essential)
