Engagement Lead

ShareAction London United Kingdom Food and Health
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Company Description

ShareAction

The global investment system has an oversized impact on many of the existential challenges we face today. Investors, as holders of capital and owners of the companies they invest in have an influence on corporate practice. They influence which companies find it easier or harder to access finance and can use engagement tactics to influence the companies they’re invested in. Through their investment decisions and company engagement, investors can support a transition to a more sustainable, healthier way of living - this is known as responsible or ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment.

ShareAction’s vision is of a world where the investment system better serves our planet and its people. Our mission is to define the highest standards of responsible investment and to drive change until these standards are adopted worldwide. We work towards our mission by:

  • advocating for change in the investment industry using our research and rankings
  • campaigning with allies to strengthen investor stewardship and improve corporate practice
  • pushing for public policy reform to transform the financial system

Long-term Investors in People’s Health (LIPH) programme

ShareAction are building a world-first programme aiming to transform the investment system for better population-level health. As stewards of vast quantities of capital, investors have an influence on the companies they’re invested in. Companies can shape our health through the products and services they produce, the quality of work they provide and through their impact on communities. By considering health when they allocate money or engage with investee companies, investors can drive toward better health outcomes whilst improving the financial sustainability of their investments. More on LIPH here.

Please note, this is a unique programme aiming to forge new ground in responsible investment. We don’t expect you to have all the knowledge you’ll need when you start, we can help you build this over time.

Position

We are looking to appoint an Engagement Lead to build and manage a working group of investors and key stakeholders committed to a healthier and more equal society.

The focus of the Engagement Lead (Health) role will be to develop, lead and deliver our engagement strategy, with support from a team of engagement professionals that they will build over time. This role exists to engage and inspire investors, health foundations and other strategic partners to support the LIPH programme, to manage relationships with important stakeholders and to build its profile across the investment industry. The new hire will be an expert at developing strategies for engagement and able to quickly build trusted relationships. They will work across teams to coordinate activity and be a leader within the LIPH programme team. This will be an exciting and evolving role.

Key Responsibilities

  • To develop an engagement strategy for LIPH which will include mapping key investor, health foundation, charity/NGO and other targets and working across ShareAction to identify the best way of approaching them.
  • Build and manage relationships with VIP stakeholders including funders, the LIPH Steering Group and a figurehead for the programme.
  • Build a group of investor signatories and lead engagement with them. This will include working closely with investors and others to develop and test the Terms of Reference for the investor signatories group.
  • Work closely with ShareAction’s Investor Standards team to ensure a coordinated and streamlined engagement process.
  • Manage investor relationships, coordinating activity to harness their voice toward better health.
  • Work closely with the Corporate Campaign leads to support engagement of target companies and the growth of investor working groups for each campaign.
  • Support the establishment and continued engagement of the LIPH Steering Group, including investors, NGO’s, health experts.
  • Take an active role in engaging existing and new prospective funders.
  • Provide thought-leadership on how the investment sector can be used to improve health outcomes.
  • Depending on funding, it is anticipated that you will have the opportunity to build a small team to support our engagement work. This will involve supporting, developing and hiring new members of the team.
  • Influence senior external stakeholders and represent the LIPH programme at key events.
  • You will be expected to communicate effectively to a range of audiences including as a speaker at events and in written pitch-decks and briefings.
  • Spotting for opportunities, and risks, be responsive to these, evolving the strategy as more is learnt.
  • You will need to work flexibly and effectively in sometimes ambiguous and complex situations.

Please note that this list isn’t exhaustive and the role might change slightly from time to time.

Requirements

We are looking for a passionate, determined individual, with the following experience and skills:

ESSENTIAL

  • Strategic thinker - experience developing and delivering tailored engagement strategies and implementation plans.
  • Excellent communication skills - both written and verbal. Able to communicate to a range of audiences and at very senior level and to influence and inspire stakeholders.
  • Leadership skills – able to provide thought-leadership on an emerging topic, represent the programme at major events and develop and manage a small team. Able to work independently and make decisions and progress within an evolving and ambiguous context.
  • Relationship development and management – able to quickly build effective working relationships and nurture these over time.
  • Working knowledge of the investment system and how it influences and interacts with companies.
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

DESIRABLE

  • A good grasp of public health concepts, an understanding of the ‘wider determinants of health’ and how companies shape people’s health.
  • Experience working in new and growing teams.
  • Experience of working with Microsoft Office 365, particularly SharePoint.
  • Experience of working with CRM systems, ideally Salesforce.

Other information

Hours: Full-time, but with some flexibility possible

Contract type: 1 year fixed term, full-time (with aim of extending to a permanent position dependent on funding)

Salary: £45,000 - £49,000 + 8% pension (non-contributory) and benefits including a healthcare scheme

Deadline for Applications: 9am Friday 22 October

Interview dates: 25th and 26th October for first round

ShareAction values and respects all differences in people (seen and unseen). One of the ways we do this is by actively encouraging staff to work in ways that best suit their needs and our flexible working policy outlines many of the options available- such as part-time and term-time working, job sharing, home working and working compressed hours. Please talk to us at the interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking..

Please note that to be considered for this post you must be legally eligible to work in the UK. Due to current restrictions we are unable to hire anyone that isn’t already living in the UK.
Due to our size we are unable to sponsor visas.