Community Engagement Officer

Love Dogs? Are you a skilled communicator? Do you want to make a difference in your community?

We are looking for people who are passionate about animal welfare and their community to join our team as a Community Engagement Officer. This role will help to achieve positive change in their local area by engaging with, and as necessary, working to change attitudes of local stakeholders. This may include dog owners, dog professionals, members of the local authority, parks authorities and prominent community members.

Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and normally cares for around 14,000 dogs across its network of 21 rehoming centres in the UK and one in Dublin. Dogs Trust has a non-destruction policy and will never put a healthy dog to sleep.

The Community Education and Engagement Department is made up of UK wide, regionally focussed teams with a mixture of expertise, including training and behaviour, teaching, education and campaigning. The Department is core to the mission of Dogs Trust, with an aim of identifying and preventing the issues faced by dogs and owners which commonly result in relinquishment or early euthanasia using a range of Human Behaviour Change based interventions. The delivery of these interventions into selected communities by the Community Education and Engagement team involves considerable planning, piloting, review and revision to ensure that desired impacts are achieved.

Becoming our positive voice in the community you will develop a good working knowledge of the key issues for dog welfare through local research and meeting stakeholders, community groups and dog owners, gathering their insight using both online and in-person methods.

Using your research, you will work alongside the Intervention Development team on identifying relevant creative approaches to engage these communities and relevant stakeholders, ultimately building positive working relationships with them. You will also act as a Dogs Trust ambassador in your area, promoting activities of Dog School and Education Teams.

With exceptional communication skills, you will be able to take the lead in contacting relevant local individuals and organisations, discussing key welfare issues and helping to deliver our messages to local communities. With experience of undertaking administrative activities, you will work alongside the Intervention development team in bringing interventions to life.

You will join a team of highly professional and passionate colleagues at the forefront of Dog Welfare- and you’ll learn from and get to meet dedicated experts in the field of canine care, research, and welfare. Added to this, the whole charity has a brilliant upbeat and collaborative culture promoted by a highly supportive management team. Interested? Then apply today.

Please note that this is a 9-month fixed term contract opportunity.

To apply for this position please click the APPLY NOW button. Our application process requires you submit a CV and a cover letter explaining your interest and suitability for the role.

At Dogs Trust we value diversity and we're committed to creating an inclusive culture. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, abilities and cultures and believe that a diverse workforce will help us to achieve our mission. Should you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, either at application or interview stage, please contact us on jobs@dogstrust.org.uk