Background to the role

Helping people, animals and the planet by supporting and enabling our external communications work in Europe 

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is at the forefront of the movement to transform meat production in order to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, from climate change and global hunger, to antibiotic resistance and animal suffering.

We work with scientists, businesses and policymakers to make plant-based and cultivated meat (grown directly from cells) delicious, affordable and accessible. Please check out the rest of our website, our 2023 Year in Review and our 2023 Europe Highlights blog post to find out more about who we are and what we do.

We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking for a Communications Assistant to accelerate our progress throughout Europe in positioning alternative proteins as a solution to climate, animal welfare and health challenges.

How you will make a difference

You will support the Communications team and wider programmatic teams on a wide range of areas. Reporting to the Head of Communications, you will:

• Create written and visual content for communications channels such as our social media, newsletter, website, resources and media engagement work.
• Monitor references to alternative proteins and related subjects in the press and on social media across Europe, and share relevant updates with the wider team.
• Triage and respond to incoming media requests, and log such interactions in our CRM database and on collaborative platforms such as Asana. 
• Perform maintenance activities for our multi-language website, including adding new content and updating existing pages.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our communications activities, media engagement work, social media channels, website and newsletter.
• Build and maintain lists of journalists using our public relations management platform.
• Conduct research to support a wide range of communications projects, from searching for event venues to generating profiles of key media outlets in a range of countries. 
• Assist with the procurement, contracting and relationship management of service providers such as PR agencies and translators.
• Help to keep a calendar of GFI Europe’s communications activities up to date.
• Identify gaps in the documentation of our processes and procedures, and help to fill them by drafting standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other support documents.
• Perform other tasks as required as a member of our team. 

Who we’re looking for

We primarily hire for skills and potential rather than experience; you do not need to have worked in a Communications role before. The core skills and attributes needed to excel in the role are:

• A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission.
• Excellent written communication skills: the ability to develop compelling content, tailored for our key audiences, for channels such as social media, newsletters and our website.
• An eye for good design: the ability to recognise engaging visual content.
• Strong prioritisation and organisational skills: consistently following through on commitments, reliably bringing simultaneous tasks and projects to completion, ensuring that all aspects are addressed comprehensively and nothing is overlooked, and allocating time effectively to manage competing deadlines.
• Problem-solving and critical thinking: analysing complex situations, identifying potential issues, and developing effective and creative solutions while considering the broader implications and outcomes before taking action.
• Attention to detail: ensuring accurate and error-free work, including for less exciting tasks like maintaining media lists and logging important information in our CRM.
• Excellent people skills: building strong, collaborative and positive relationships, and working well with colleagues and stakeholders across multiple cultures.
• Adaptability: adjusting to changing circumstances, priorities, and responsibilities while maintaining a high level of performance; openness and a positive response to varying cultural norms and perspectives.
• Openness to DEI principles: an affinity with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and with maintaining our welcoming and supportive culture.
• Tech savviness: comfort using various software tools and platforms in a remote workplace, and a willingness to learn and experiment with new systems. Training and support in Google Workspace, Asana, Salesforce and other key tools will be provided. 
• Language skills: our team’s common language is English, so you’ll need to be confident working in English.

It would be an advantage to have some or all of the following attributes, but none of them are prerequisites, and we welcome applications from candidates without any or all of them:

• Fluency in an additional European language, other than English.
• A good understanding of the media landscape in at least one country in Europe.
• Experience supporting teams on public relations, digital communications, branding and/or broader project management.
• Experience with website maintenance, SEO and performance monitoring using Google Analytics.
• Experience with graphic design software such as Gimp, Krita, Canva or Adobe Suite.

We want the best people and we know that building a diverse, inclusive workplace leads to stronger, happier, more productive and resilient teams. We strongly encourage people of every ethnicity, orientation, age, gender, origin, socio-economic background, and ability to apply.  Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive culture absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Benefits and the fine print

• Terms of employment: Full-time (flexible hours), permanent. Requests for part-time arrangements can be considered (minimum 30 hours per week).
• Location: We can consider applicants in any of the following countries where we can currently employ people: Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. This is a remote role, and you will be able to work from home, or anywhere you choose (within the countries we listed). We are happy to consider supporting costs for co-working to enable you to work from an office if you wish. The whole GFI Europe team aims to get together in person approximately twice per year for around 3-5 days at a time. Travel costs will be covered by GFI Europe within our travel policy.
• Salary and benefits: The salary and benefits package for all of our roles are researched and benchmarked based on similar nonprofit roles in the country/location of hire. Due to capacity, we cannot complete that research for every country in advance, but approximate indicative ranges (total annual amounts received in gross salary plus benefits including home-working allowance) are likely to be:
  • €2,120-€2,250 / month. This range is based on a hire in France and will be adjusted if hired elsewhere in Europe.
• Right-to-work requirements: The successful candidate must, by the start of the employment, have permission to work in the country where they are based, and to be able to travel within the EU.
• Application Deadline: 28 April 2024, 11.59pm CEST. We will get back to all candidates after that date, no matter the outcome of their application. You should expect to hear back from us within about a week of the deadline.

Application process

Round	Timeline	Description	Expected Time Commitment
Application	Deadline: 28 April	Fill in the application form, and complete a sample work task. Once you’ve submitted the form, you will receive a confirmation email containing a link to a short test (15 min). You will need to complete this test before the application deadline (28 April 2024, 11.59pm CEST) for us to be able to consider your application.	Up to one hour
Timed Assignment	Early May	Two to four questions simulating the type of work you’d be doing in the role.	One hour
Interview (we’ll aim to conduct one round of interviews, but might decide to conduct a second round if needed)	Mid-May	Interviews will be conducted remotely on Zoom. We know that interviews can be especially stressful for candidates. We’ve put together this guide so that you know exactly what to expect from our process and, hopefully, have a more relaxed experience.	One-two hours

We want you to have every opportunity to shine and show us your talents – we are happy to make all the reasonable adjustments that we possibly can to make sure the assessment process works for you. Email us at europe-hiring@gfi.org

We really look forward to hearing from you!

Any questions?

Watch the recording of our recent question and answer session with GFI Europe’s Managing Director Alex Mayers and Head of Communications Sophie Armour.

If you have any questions about this role, please do reach out to us at europe-hiring@gfi.org. If you’ve read this far but decided not to apply, please share this job description with someone else in your network who you think might be a good fit for the role! Thank you.