Officer: Professional and Policy

The Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

The Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning – supporting education, teaching, research, professional practice, and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography and providing advice to policymakers.

The Society has an international membership of approximately 16,000, 31 specialist research groups, and a programme of activities that extends far beyond its membership to broad engagement with more than three million people per year. Over 200 lectures, conferences and other events are organised each year including a major four-day Annual Conference, a programme of popular lectures, professional development for geographers, and policy-related discussions.

The Society also publishes, under contract, scholarly journals and the popular Geographical magazine. It empowers others through a programme of grant-giving in support of research, fieldwork and expeditions, and teaching. The Society’s information resources include its historic geographical Collections of maps, images, books, manuscript archives and artefacts.

The Society offers professional accreditation to members through Chartered Geographer status.

The Society is based in a listed building in its own grounds in Kensington opposite Hyde Park, and operates nine regional branches in the UK and two overseas. There are 54 permanent full-time staff, together with part-time, temporary and volunteer staff.

Applicants are strongly recommended to familiarise themselves with the current work of the Society set out on our website: www.rgs.org

The position

The Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) seeks an Officer to organise and deliver events for professional audiences and develop resources that showcase the value of geography to policy and professional practice.  

This is an exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the application of geography within the workplace and provides an excellent opportunity to work with organisations and professional geographers from a wide range of sectors and roles. The postholder will produce materials, and support initiatives, which amplify the impact of geographers, and supports professionals across the professional community.

The role is ideally suited to someone with very strong organisational and communication skills and relevant experience, post undergraduate degree.   

Salary and application details

This is a permanent, full-time post subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months. The salary range for this post is £32,510-£34,600 per annum depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10.00am-4.00pm.
• Flexible working arrangements are available with a mix of office based and home working possible.
• 25 days annual leave per annum plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships.

We strongly encourage applicants from those traditionally underrepresented in the geographical discipline.

To apply please email HR@rgs.org (via the ‘Apply’ button above) with a copy of your CV and a covering letter explaining your suitability for the post and how you fulfil the selection criteria, along with the monitoring form.

Applications must be received by 9.00am, Monday 4 August. Interviews are planned to take place in the week of 11 August.

We thank, in advance, all candidates for applying and regret we are unable to write separately to those who are not selected for interview.

Job description: Officer: Professional and Policy

Responsible to: Professional and Policy Manager

Persons reporting: None

Purpose of post

The post holder will produce materials, and support initiatives, to amplify the impact of geographers, and support professionals across the professional community. 

Duties and responsibilities

The post holder will work closely with members of the Professional team, and others across the Society, to ensure the smooth running and successful delivery of events, to maintain and develop digital content, including specific content for LinkedIn and other platforms; and to disseminate this content widely.  

The post holder will create newsletters for professional geographers monthly and produce materials such as case studies and geovisualisations for the Society’s website.      

Training will be provided where necessary. Effective team working and excellent written communication skills are essential.

Descriptions of responsibilities

• Organise the Society’s events for professional geographers, identifying potential speakers, promoting events, managing registrations and supporting the delivery of the events, either in person or online.
• Write and publish online professional profiles and case studies, including geovisualisations, to showcase the value of geography to policy and professional practice.
• Collate material for e-newsletters for the Society’s professional audiences.
• Create content for social media platforms for professional geographers, including X/Bluesky, Instagram and LinkedIn.
• Organise the Society’s Use Geography careers webinars for undergraduate students and maintain the undergraduate careers focused LinkedIn community.
• Source opportunities for the Society’s work experience database, promoting and reviewing existing content.
• Maintain the content of the Professional section of the Society’s website.
• Monitor government consultations, share these across the Society’s networks, and maintain the directory of the Society’s consultation responses, including on the website.
• Update and maintain accurate records for key contacts and stakeholders in the Society’s contact management database, including support for the Chartered Geographer scheme, and undertake timely and accurate retrieval and analysis of data.
• General support for the Professional and Policy Manager and the Director of Research, Education and Professional as needed.

Selection criteria

The following are the requirements for this post. These are the criteria against which candidates will be shortlisted and judged, and it is in your interest to ensure that you cover each of these areas in the covering letter of your application.

• A degree or equivalent in geography, with a demonstrable interest in contemporary geography and its professional and policy applications.
• Relevant experience post-graduation.
• Experience of writing for different audiences and of proofreading.
• Experience of using social media in a professional capacity.
• Strong organisational and administrative skills, with previous office experience.
• Strong IT skills, with proven experience in the range of Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, and an interest in new digital developments to support events, communication and networking.
• Well-developed inter-personal skills and good communication skills on Teams, in person and in writing.
• Systematic approach to tasks, with a demonstrated ability to follow through and complete tasks to a high quality successfully with the ability to meet deadlines.
• Experience of multi-tasking working efficiently under pressure.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• An ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Experience of organising events (desirable).