Communications & Digital Innovation Officer
Avon Needs Trees (ANT) is a registered charity creating new, permanent woodland throughout the Bristol-Avon catchment to fight the climate and ecological emergencies.
We fundraise to buy land to create woodlands that will remain for generations, locking up carbon, boosting local biodiversity, and providing natural flood management as well as publicly accessible green space where appropriate.
Since our formation in 2019, we have had two incredibly successful projects in Wiltshire, purchasing two sites of 47 acres, planting and caring for 22,000 native trees with the help of hundreds of volunteers from local and surrounding communities.
In 2023 we started planting Great Avon Wood; a ground-breaking partnership with the Forest of Avon Trust. With over 100 acres of land and 40,000 trees to plant and care for, it was our most ambitious project to date.
We are in the middle of transforming 420 acre Wick Farm to create Lower Chew Forest, the biggest new woodland in the South West in a generation. We are also leading a Landscape Recovery Project across a wide area of the Chew Valley.
- Flexible working with an employer with a proven record of sensitivity to range of personal circumstances and needs
- Hybrid working, based on a 35-hour (full time) working week
- 26 days leave per annum, plus bank holidays (all pro rata for part-time staff)
- Wellbeing and resilience focussed employer
- Paid leave for emergencies
- 24/7 free, impartial and confidential support service
- 24/7 free helpline with health professionals
- Pension scheme, with a 3% employer contribution
Reporting to: Communications & Engagement Lead
Hours of work: 0.8 FTE to full time (35 hours per week) depending on your preference
Duration: Fixed-term contract to March 2027, with the potential of an extension of contract subject to funding
Salary: £27,040-£29,120 pa, pro rata as relevant. Starting salary depends on experience, with opportunities to receive performance related pay increases within this salary band over time.
Location: Flexible working between home, our offices in central Bristol and with travel across our catchment area
Your legacy will be a tangible impact on slowing down climate change, helping nature recover and creating social impact by communicating our vision, and the scale of our projects, to a wide range of audiences.
You will join a fast-growing organisation that started in 2019 with four volunteers and has grown to a staff team of twenty six, over 2,000 volunteers and ownership of nearly 600 acres of land that will grow woodlands of over 160,000 trees.
We are seeking an experienced communications professional with strong copywriting and content production skills, and experience working with digital marketing channels.
You will help take our impact to the next level by inspiring and influencing others to follow us in our ambitious plans for change.
Work with the Communications & Engagement Lead to deliver the new Communications Strategy and ensure our comms are aligned with our strategic priorities
Building the narrative & telling stories
- Develop messaging that captures the imagination of our different audiences - around the scale and ambition of our projects, their innovative aspects
- Translate complex projects & partnerships into simple, compelling ideas
- Work across the wider ANT team to identify stories from our projects and habitats that will bring the positive impact of our work to life
Day to day management of our communications channels
- Build out a proactive calendar of communications based around key points in project timelines, events and other key moments, while maintaining a focus on strategic priorities
- Day to day management of email campaigns and journeys, social media and website
- Design specific comms plans around our fundraising and campaigns work
- Work with partner organisations to produce mutually beneficial stories, leveraging their networks and resources
- Work with Communications & Engagement Lead to generate local & national media coverage to build awareness of our projects, in response to external developments where appropriate
- Be the first point of contact online, engaging with supporters and monitoring inboxes
- Work in a dynamic and fast moving environment with the ability to adapt around shifting competing priorities
Coordinate the production of high quality content and materials, including video and photography
- Spend time at our projects, and more widely, gathering content for use on comms channels. That might include interviews with our volunteers, recording short form video content for use on digital channels or photography
- Provide basic design support, for example producing graphical elements for socials, flyers or poster materials
- Briefing and coordinating freelancer designers or other media suppliers on more complex projects
Digital marketing & innovation
- Develop excellent user journeys online for our supporters including donors, volunteers and wider stakeholders. Use automation where possible to improve the efficiency of supporter comms, for example automated email journeys
- Trial emerging platforms and technologies where appropriate to drive engagement with target demographics
- Employ SEO techniques to ensure our content is optimised for search platforms
- work with the Communications & Engagement Lead to manage our Google Ads Grant, using third party specialist suppliers where appropriate
Performance monitoring and optimisation
- Use analytics to track, analyse and optimise the performance of communications channels online
- Provide regular reporting on the performance of our digital channels
- As a member of the Engagement, Communications & Fundraising team, you will work closely with the Communications & Engagement Lead, the Head of Engagement and wider ECF team. You will collaborate across the organisation coordinating comms needs from different teams
- You will spend time at our sites, working with the project and land teams, volunteer leaders and other supporters to generate content
- Hybrid working between home and our office (central Bristol, overlooking Castle Park) with the expectation of being present in our office or on site more than half the days on the typical week
- Occasional evening and weekend working will be required but this is not a substantial feature of your role
- Our staff maintain an appropriate level of confidentiality, professionalism and discretion at all times
- Our staff comply with organisational policies, procedures, and guidance, and external regulations and laws
Essential / desirable
Specification
Essential
Passion and commitment to addressing the climate and nature emergencies in general and woodland creation in particular
Ambitious and positive about new opportunities and challenges, especially driving new projects
Track record of successful communications management, from either the charity or commercial sector
Understanding of the key principles behind engaging communications, how to influence and persuade, to create an emotive response and understanding audiences
Exceptional copywriting skills, with the ability to adapt and test different styles and tone of voice - from more technical long form, to emotive and inspiring fundraising copy
A good eye for spotting a story, both proactively planning around our activities but reacting to external events
Experience managing digital channels in a professional setting - website, email campaigns and socials
Highly adept and naturally comfortable managing social media channels in a professional setting, including keeping an eye on emerging platforms and trends
Proven track record of producing high quality visual content (photography and video) across different media
Ability to thrive in a busy, exciting environment and a results-driven approach and the ability to work proactively on own initiative, continually learning and evaluating projects to improve delivery of our projects
Desirable
Knowledge around nature recovery and understanding of the climate and biodiversity crises
An understanding of the charity sector, the challenges specific to it and fundraising channels
Experience working across digital marketing channels & platforms including (but not exclusively) Google analytics, SEO, Meta ads platform, PPC/ the Google grant and Mailchimp
Experience using image and video editing software such as Canva
Experience generating media stories and PR
Knowledge of data protection and GDPR
A valid UK driver’s licence and access to a vehicle would facilitate travel to our sites where required
A suitable home-working environment, or equivalent
Application deadline: Wednesday 18th March 2026 at noon
Interview date: Week commencing 30th March 2026
Start date: As soon as possible and ideally by May 2026
To complete an application please follow the link to the form and submit by the deadline above.
If you have any concerns or issues completing the application please email: contact@avonneedstrees.org.uk. Please include the job title “Communications & Digital Innovation Officer” in the subject line.
We would be grateful if you could also complete our equal opportunities monitoring form. This is used for internally monitoring the diversity of applicants to our roles. Your answers in the equal opportunities monitoring form will be anonymous and not be connected with your application, or reviewed by anyone involved in the decision-making process.
Your application will have all personal details redacted before being assessed by our short-listing panel.
As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria for the role.
To address any diversity gaps in our team we will also offer an interview to candidates who meet the essential criteria and are from under-represented groups. At this time this applies to those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.