Community Engagement Manager – Defence
Location: Reading/Hybrid
Sector: Defence / Infrastructure / Major Programmes
Short Term Contract: 3 month with possibility to extend
We are seeking an experienced and proactive Community Engagement Manager to join a growing Defence team supporting a high-profile programme in Reading. This is an excellent opportunity for an engagement professional who can combine strategic advisory capability with hands-on delivery across complex, regulated projects.
Working closely with communications specialists, project teams and key stakeholders, you will play a central role in planning, coordinating and reporting on community engagement activity, including the preparation of statutory engagement documentation required for planning, regulatory and licensing purposes.
This role would suit someone with strong consultation and stakeholder engagement experience gained within infrastructure, Defence, nuclear, utilities, transport or other highly regulated environments.
The Role
You will be responsible for:
- Providing senior-level advice and guidance on strategic and technical aspects of community engagement.
- Designing and drafting public engagement surveys informed by research, stakeholder insight and programme requirements.
- Ensuring all engagement activity aligns with accessibility standards, planning obligations and data protection requirements.
- Coordinating and overseeing engagement activity to ensure consistency, quality and alignment with programme objectives.
- Analysing consultation and survey data, including coding, interpretation and reporting of findings.
- Producing Statements of Community Involvement and other statutory engagement documentation suitable for planning and licensing submissions.
- Writing clear, structured public engagement reports, presenting findings, recommendations and key insights.
- Capturing lessons learned and using insights to improve future engagement activity.
- Working collaboratively with internal teams, technical specialists and external stakeholders across a complex programme environment.
About You
To be successful in this role, you will have:
- Significant experience delivering community or public engagement programmes on major projects or schemes.
- Experience operating within regulated sectors such as Defence, infrastructure, nuclear, utilities, transport or energy.
- Proven experience producing engagement documentation for planning or licensing purposes.
- Strong experience designing consultation surveys and analysing engagement data.
- Excellent written communication and report writing skills, with the ability to produce clear public-facing and regulatory documentation.
- The ability to operate confidently at both strategic and delivery levels.
- Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to work independently across multiple workstreams.
- A solid understanding of accessibility requirements, consultation best practice and data protection considerations.
- Eligibility to obtain BPSS and SC security clearance.
What’s on Offer
- Opportunity to work on a nationally significant Defence programme.
- A collaborative and supportive team environment.
- Exposure to complex, high-profile infrastructure and stakeholder engagement challenges.
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- Strong opportunities for professional growth and career progression.
If you are an experienced engagement professional looking to work on meaningful, large-scale programmes within a highly respected environment, we would be keen to hear from you.