Location: FAAM Airborne Laboratory, Cranfield
Salary: £27,924 to £33,309 p.a. pro rata
Contract length: Fixed Term (for 4 years due to external funding)
Contract type: Part Time – 50%
Closing date: Friday 18 March 2022

Are you highly motivated with experience of developing and implementing communication plans? Would you like to engage stakeholders as part of the transformative FAAM Airborne Laboratory Mid-Life Upgrade programme?

The FAAM Airborne Laboratory is a unique, highly modified 4-engine jet aircraft adapted to carry a range of unique science instruments, dedicated to supporting the UK atmospheric science community and users of atmospheric science data. The Facility is managed by a unique team of scientists, engineers, flight technicians and project managers forming a complete package of support for the scientific community. The Facility is supported by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and is an environmental research infrastructure of national and international importance.

The exciting Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) Programme aims to deliver a range of upgrades and enhancements to the scientific capabilities of the aircraft, its measurement capabilities and its research impact, extending its useful life by at least 20 years. This plans to meet the ongoing requirements for UK researchers, the Met Office, UK government bodies, commercial organisations and international research bodies.

This represents a 4-5 year project to rebuild significant parts of the aircraft systems, to carry out a comprehensive upgrading of the aircraft’s scientific and operational capabilities with a budget of up to £50m. Successful delivery will require working closely with major stakeholders, including the aircraft design organisation, engineering suppliers and the aircraft’s scientific user community.

Role Responsibilities

As a Communications Officer at FAAM, you will take a structured and proactive approach to the generation and delivery of MLU communications activities to support the programme and help to implement the MLU Communications and Engagement Plan. You will work closely with the MLU Project Manager, MLU Director, NCAS Communications Manager, Activity Leads and external stakeholders to plan, design, implement, oversee and evaluate tasks pertaining to the communications within the project.

You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team at FAAM and will be responsible for developing communications processes, producing detailed communications plans and supporting documentation, and working with key stakeholders to develop trust and effective knowledge sharing.

Good innovative thinking is required along with the ability to work with scientists, engineers and other stakeholders to effectively communicate with interested parties on progress in the project, and aid in the delivery of efficient internal communication processes.

The post will be employed by the University of Leeds and will be based within the FAAM team on the campus at Cranfield University.

Apply Now

Find out more and make your application.

For any queries you may have, please contact:

Edward Andrews, Mid Life Upgrade Project Manager, FAAM Airborne Laboratory

Email: edward.andrews@faam.ac.uk, telephone +44 (0) 7874 887786