Project Lead – The Big Plastic Count

Annual salary: up to £50,000 (depending on experience)

Contract type: Full-time or part-time options available

Application deadline: 6pm, Tuesday 11 February 2025

Interviews: w/c 17 February 2025

Start date: March 2025

Location: Remote (with regular in-person team meetings)

(Job share applications are also welcomed)

The Big Plastic Count is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund

Please send a CV and cover letter to hello[at]everydayplastic[dot]org. Your cover letter should be no more than one page.

Here at Everyday Plastic, we are committed to diversity and inclusion and promoting equal opportunities within our small organisation. You can read our Diversity & Inclusion policy here.

About The Big Plastic Count:

The Big Plastic Count is the UK’s largest investigation into household plastic waste. Since 2022, nearly 500,000 people have taken part in the project across the UK, and millions have engaged with the campaign through press, social media and our partnerships.

Having co-founded The Big Plastic Count with Greenpeace UK, who co-ran the campaign until 2024, Everyday Plastic has now received funding from The National Lottery Climate Action Fund to expand and advance the campaign. This is an ambitious project that seeks to grow the campaign’s reach by collaborating with new partners, conducting in-depth work with underrepresented communities, creating new communications and positioning around the climate impact of plastic, and more.

This is an exciting opportunity to not only progress action on the interconnected climate and plastics crises, but to also pioneer a much-needed new approach to inclusive campaigning that moves forward the conversation around major environmental challenges.

We are now looking for a brilliant Project Lead to oversee a multi-disciplinary project team to develop and deliver The Big Plastic Count from early 2025.

Main areas of responsibility:

Project management

Create and update a detailed project plan to detail the tasks between now and delivery in October and thereafter keeping the project on track and meeting its core objectives and expectations.
Balancing effectively multiple strands of the project including community research, communications, campaign delivery, web development, policy and advocacy, and more.
Set deadlines and ensure these are met to the best of the team's ability.
Identify and raise with the Founder & Director any skill and resource shortages.
Provide accurate and timely information about the campaign’s activities for overall scheduling and resource management purposes to project teams, partners and trustees

Budget management

Accountable for jointly overseeing a budget of around £500,000 per year.
Prepare and manage the project budget and delegate as appropriate to project team members
Ensure that accurate financial records are kept during the planning, execution and evaluation stages of campaign projects and that the Deputy Programme Director is kept informed on financial matters.
Using Xero to manage campaign and organisational finances
Supporting the Founder & Director with additional project fundraising.

Campaign, comms and evaluation

Develop and apply a clear monitoring and evaluation process and work with the team and partners to ensure The Big Plastic Count is supporting broader campaign goals on plastic, climate and social justice
Lead or delegate the development of the project’s comms and engagement strategies and provide day-to-day signoff of outputs.
In some cases drafting base copy for website, leaflets and supporter communications.

Managing external partnerships

Managing ongoing relationships with our project partners and forging new partnerships with other funders, academic institutions, community organisations, and/or NGOs.
Representing The Big Plastic Count with other NGOs, businesses or community groups and building support and collaboration where necessary.

Person Specification

Project leadership

Experience of designing and delivering projects utilising a variety of different campaign, public engagement or communication tactics.
Ability to lead and inspire others around a joint vision and drive a team towards a shared goal.
Confidence in taking larger and more complex project decisions and supporting the team to solve problems.
Proven ability to build relationships across teams/departments and work in multi-disciplinary contexts.
Proven ability to act diplomatically and resolve conflicts in a productive, respectful, solution-focused manner.
Personally resilient and able to manage the unexpected and support the team through moments of disappointment.
Understanding of and strong support for diversity, inclusion, equal opportunities and dignity in the workplace, especially in the management of staff, recruitment.

Team and project management

Experience of task management, with proven ability to provide constructive feedback and coach team members to achieve development aims.
A commitment to an inclusive and supportive team culture – and recognition of the personal contribution required to achieve it
Ability to set high standards of work performance and goals which are result-orientated.
Proven ability to manage large budgets.
Ability to plan and manage multiple projects concurrently within a team.
Experience of managing resources and scheduling.

Partnership and external representation

Experience of building and maintaining productive relationships with partner organisations.
Ability to represent The Big Plastic Count in partnerships and with other NGOs or community groups.
Experience of negotiating, agreeing and delivering on MOUs or contracts signed with partners.

Campaign and communications

Experience of working proactively with a wide section of communications channels and relating complex messages across diverse platforms.
Ideally previous experience in a communications discipline be it supporter engagement, press or creative comms.
Knowledge of the climate and plastics crisis is beneficial. Social justice and disability justice are also core to the project, so you’ll need a willingness to immerse yourself in learning.
Ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people both verbally and in writing.

Personal qualities

A high degree of self-motivation, drive, resilience and initiative
Excellent time management and organisational skills, with a good eye for detail.
Ability to keep calm under pressure
Personal belief in and support for the aims and activities of The Big Plastic Count
Good emotional intelligence and desire to create an inclusive team culture
A willingness to adapt, be flexible, pitch in and be hands-on within our small and agile team
A proactive approach to work with the confidence to generate ideas and strategies
Creativity and the ability to think outside the box when it comes to campaign tactics
Composure under pressure and able to work to deadlines

Benefits include:

3% pension contribution
Discretionary bonus scheme
Contribution to relevant training
25 days holiday + bank holidays