Communication and Engagement Officer

The University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research. 

We are ambitious and have a bold vision of what we want to achieve - shaping ourselves into one of the best universities in the world, which we are achieving through the talents and endeavour of every employee.  

Our culture empowers people to achieve this aim and to collectively, and individually, make a real difference.  

The role

This is a unique opportunity to join our Surrey Innovation District team based at the Surrey Research Park and support the engagement and communication activities that bring our business tenants, university services and regional stakeholders together to create a thriving innovation district in Surrey.

The Surrey Research Park is a community of over 200 businesses operating in the science and technology sectors and is owned and operated by the University of Surrey as part of the university campus in Guildford. The Park has premises to accommodate varying needs, ranging from a single desk in our SETsquared Surrey incubator, units suitable for three – several hundred employees, to whole buildings designed to suit the tenants’ needs.   Buildings are used as a mix of laboratories, offices and light manufacturing, all set in Green Flag awarded lush landscaping. The Research Park has a strong brand locally and internationally having been established for nearly 40 years.

This role provides essential support to the engagement and communication activities of the Surrey Innovation District community, ensuring through its remit it is adding value to all stakeholders and contributing to regional growth and development.  

The successful candidate will need to have experience running marketing and public relations activities, like website maintenance, social media, event organisation and have excellent communication skills. They will need to be confident communicating with a range of public and private stakeholders, setting up meetings, events and recording activities. It is desirable to have an interest in and understanding of innovative ecosystems and the role universities play in supporting regional growth. The role involves use of all the digital communication assets, including a website with linked hubspot CRM, as well as data capture and reporting, thus proficiency in IT skills is essential. The role is ideally suited to a candidate who is looking to develop their project management skills and has a strong foundation of administrative support in a stakeholder engagement related field.

The role sits within the Innovation District portfolio and works for the Head of Engagement who is responsible for the relationship management with tenants and regional stakeholders, supporting them to engage with the university and each other, facilitating knowledge exchange and regional growth. The team also includes roles specialised in communications, business incubation, investment and civic engagement.  The role has a close working relationship with the Research Park operations team who manage the facilities and tenancy contracts. 

The Surrey Research Park engagement activities are part of a wider suite of programmes that the University of Surrey delivers to support commercialisation, industry partnerships and knowledge exchange. It makes up an essential local part of the innovation ecosystem and provides an important facilitation and communication role, supporting businesses to access university research collaborations and student / graduate skills.  

We acknowledge, accept, embrace and celebrate diversity and we welcome applications from recent graduates from the University of Surrey.

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