Join our team!

Campaigns Officer 

We’re looking for a good researcher with excellent writing, administration and communication skills. 

  • 2.5 to 3 days a week 

  • £25,000 to £28,000 pro rata, depending on experience. Also payable as a freelancer at a daily rate, by negotiation 

  • Initial contract to end December 2025, with possibility of extension  

  • Based in Oxford, travel unlikely 

  • Office-based working preferred (East Oxford), some home working possible

  • Application deadline: Friday 22  November, interviews on Wednesday 4 December (please hold). Start as soon as possible in early January

Why apply for this job?  

We’re supporting the implementation by Oxfordshire County Council of the most ambitious plan for a  low-traffic city in the UK. When the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan key schemes are successfully bedded in, we will have helped create a model for other local authorities across the country. What we do in the next few years in Oxfordshire matters in terms of the UK’s climate change policy and public health for years to come, and you could be a small part of making that happen. 

If you want to see how public transport, clean air, climate and active travel policies get put into practice, then this is the place for you. If you want to see the complexity of how public opinion, party politics and national policies intersect, then this is the place for you. If you are as fascinated by the psychology of behaviour change as you are by the impact of the school run on morning traffic flows, then this is the place for you. 

You will gain access to some excellent networks within Oxfordshire, and to an extent, nationally. Our  well-connected board, funders and wider ecosystem will provide an excellent launch pad for future roles in communications, campaigning, policy or community engagement in the areas of active travel, clean air, climate, public health or urban planning. 

What a day might look like  

The morning is spent creating next week’s line-up of social media posts. You take a look at the social media plan you developed with the Campaigns Director, and see that this week you’re due to make a post about the benefits of the traffic filters. You decide the post will be about how the filters will improve air quality in Oxford. You decide to also make a post about the recent roll-out of some electric buses in Oxford that you heard about through a local active travel organisation’s emails.

For the traffic filters post, you look through Oxfordshire County Council’s report on how the traffic filters will impact air quality, and pull out the relevant facts and air quality maps from the report. For the bus post, you read a newspaper article and bus company information page about the bus release, and find some photos of the electric buses that you are able to use. You then use Canva to design short videos for each post using what you’ve found, along with some clip-art assets. Your posts are upbeat, focus on concrete benefits, and speak to a wide range of people with different views and levels of understanding of the traffic filters and Oxford’s buses. You send the videos and post text to the Campaigns Director for approval, make the changes she suggests, and then schedule them on BlueSky, Facebook and Instagram. 

In the afternoon, you update the website to reflect some recent changes made to the traffic filter exemptions. You update the language being used on a couple of pages to accurately reflect the current policy, make sure the links are to the newest version of the County Council’s website, and create a new FAQ about the exemptions. You keep your language informational, neutral and casual - making sure to break down any jargon on the County Council site. You get stuck with Squarespace at one point, but use online help to work it out. 

You then get an email about some research that the Campaigns Manager needs doing for a newspaper article she is writing advocating for the traffic filters. She needs to know how much the number of cars per household has risen in Oxford over the past 20 years. You look into census data and data from the Department for Transport to find out the answer to this question, and send her your findings and sources.

You end the day by responding to some emails you’ve received from organisations the Campaigns Manager will be giving talks to about the traffic filters later this month. You send one the promotional materials they need, check in with a venue about whether they have a projector and sound equipment available, and export the list of attendees from the event page on Action Network to send to another organiser.

Overall, this is how we expect the time in role to be spent:  

20% Research and writing - 60% Administration/organising - 20% Social media 

These will be your regular tasks: 

  • Simple, but good quality secondary research, synthesising information and short form writing for a range of purposes including updating our website, PowerPoint presentations and social media 

  • Tracking and organising community outreach events and meetings 

  • Writing and sending OLS members’ newsletter and scheduling informative social media posts

  • Doing a variety of admin and tasks to assist the Campaigns Director 

What skills, experience and qualities you must have 

  • You passionately believe in a low traffic Oxford and the benefits to everyone of non-car transport choices, clean air, active/low-carbon travel, and the importance of beautiful streets and public spaces 

  • You believe in equity, and can handle complexity and nuance – understanding that different groups of people have different needs and identities. You can acknowledge these viewpoints, while simultaneously holding to the importance of data and evidence-led policy 

  • You have solid secondary research skills – you’re able to hone in on key information, assess the quality of sources, reference your work and summarise fairly complex information and arguments 

  • You have experience organising events, campaigns, fundraisers or actions of some scale – be it at work, in the local community, at university, or with a specific group or club 

  • Your writing is clear, succinct and persuasive, and you’re able to demonstrate humour and empathy 

  • You live in or around Oxford, or visit several times a week 

  • You are a social media pro (Facebook and Twitter or BlueSky) – able to quickly create thoughtful, relevant, and kind posts, and monitor engagement. 

  • You are an organised, proactive, can-do person, with the ability to prioritise tasks 

  • You demonstrate common sense and have good communication skills 

  • You’re comfortable using email, Excel, PowerPoint and Word 

What skills, experience and qualities would be helpful 

  • You know Squarespace and have updated or created websites using it 

  • You have some basic video editing skills which allow you to create short, simple videos for social media, and are able to record basic audio (equipment supplied) 

  • You have some knowledge of Canva or similar for creating social media graphics

  • You have used Action Network to organise and communicate 

  • You have knowledge of traffic or active travel or public transport policies 

  • You are familiar with the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan and Oxfordshire’s low-traffic policies 

To apply

To apply for this role please submit a CV and covering letter to info@oxlivsts.org.uk by 5pm on Friday 22 November. If you have Linked-in or social media profiles, a personal website, or videos which tell us a bit about you we would love to see those too, but these are by no means essential.  

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview on Wednesday 4 December (please say when applying if this date is not possible for you).