Brand and Content Manager - FTC 18 months

About us

At Exchange for Change, we are building something the UK has never had before. Working across the United Kingdom we are designing and delivering a Deposit Return Scheme from the ground up, creating a system that helps reduce litter and waste by encouraging people to return their empty drinks bottles and cans for recycling.

We are industry led and driven by purpose. A national movement with a clear mission. No bottle unreturned. No can left behind.

This is not just another job. This is a rare opportunity to do meaningful work, shape a landmark national programme, and help deliver lasting positive impact for people, businesses and the planet alike.

Your role

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help build a brand that will be at the heart of a new way to recycle.

Exchange For Change is preparing to bring the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to life, helping millions of people make returning and recycling their drinks containers part of everyday life. At the heart of that is a simple ambition: to help build a world with less waste.

We’ve created the foundations of our brand. Now we need someone brilliant to help us take it into the world, shaping how Exchange For Change looks, sounds and feels across every interaction.

As our Brand & Content Manager, you’ll take what we’ve started and turn it into a distinctive, consistent and practical brand world that works across B2C, B2B, B2B2C, internal and third-party communications.

This is both a brand management and content role. You’ll lead how our brand is brought to life across tactical campaigns, content, digital experiences, retailer and partner communications, events, workplaces and everyday business tools, while creating and producing the stories, assets and content that bring it to life.

This isn’t a role where you’ll inherit a finished brand and simply guard it. You’ll help build it, shape it and bring it to life at national scale.

Key Responsibilities & Priorities

Brand development and rollout

• Lead the rollout of our brand identity across B2C, B2B, B2B2C, internal and third-party touchpoints.

• Develop and evolve practical brand guidelines that give colleagues, agencies, retailers, partners and suppliers the confidence to use the brand brilliantly.

• Manage, update and share our Brand Guidelines through our digital tool e.g Frontify

• Define how the brand flexes across different audiences, channels and moments while remaining unmistakably Exchange For Change.

• Work with our creative and production partner agencies to evolve the brand world as new requirements and opportunities emerge.

• Be a confident day-to-day guardian of the brand, balancing consistency with creativity and pace.

Content strategy and creation

• Shape Exchange For Change’s content approach, identifying the stories, messages and themes we need to tell across B2C, B2B and B2B2C, across all channels.

• Develop and commission high-quality content, from copy, photography and film to digital content, animation and brand storytelling assets.

• Create evergreen content that can be adapted intelligently across different audiences and channels.

• Develop strong creative and content briefs and oversee production through agencies, suppliers and internal teams.

• Build a clear, accessible content and asset library so great work can be found, reused and adapted easily.

• Ensure everything we create reflects our purpose, personality and tone of voice.

Making the brand work everywhere

• Define what brilliant, on-brand execution looks like wherever Exchange For Change shows up.

• Translate the brand into practical guidance across local and national advertising, retailer and partner communications, PR, events, digital, social and physical experiences.

• Work cross-functionally to ensure the brand translates effectively across paid, owned and earned activity, while giving campaigns and channels the flexibility to do their job.

• Ensure retailers, suppliers, agencies and third parties have the guidance and assets they need to represent Exchange For Change effectively, including in environments where we do not have complete creative control.

• Continually identify new opportunities and touchpoints as Exchange For Change grows, creating the content, assets and guidance needed to bring them to life.

Internal brand management

• Embed the brand across the organisation, making it easy for colleagues to understand, use and represent Exchange For Change consistently.

• Develop practical templates, tools and everyday brand assets, including presentations, documents, organograms, invitations, signage and internal communications.

• Partner with Corporate Affairs and HR on corporate communications and employer brand requirements, providing the brand framework, assets and guidance they need.

• Shape how the brand is experienced internally and physically, from our offices and internal events to employee touchpoints.

• Establish clear and pragmatic brand governance and approval processes, enabling teams to self-serve wherever possible.

• Build confidence across the organisation so our people become great ambassadors for the Exchange For Change brand.

Agency, stakeholder and team management

• Build strong partnerships with creative, content and production agencies, writing clear briefs and confidently reviewing and challenging creative work.

• Work collaboratively across the business, particularly with Marketing, Digital, Social, Corporate Affairs, HR, Operations, Finance and DDAT.

• Manage multiple brand and content projects simultaneously, balancing quality, pace and competing priorities.

• Line manage and develop executives, giving them meaningful ownership, coaching and creative direction.

• Help establish effective ways of working as the wider Brand & Marketing function grows.

What success looks like

Within the first 12 to 18 months:

• Exchange For Change has a distinctive and consistent brand presence across B2C, B2B, B2B2C and the organisation itself.

• Colleagues, agencies and partners have the tools, templates and guidance they need to use the brand confidently.

• We have a clear and usable tone of voice, messaging framework and approach to content.

• We have built a strong library of high-quality brand and content assets, including film, photography, copy and digital content.

• Campaigns and channels can develop their own creative expression while still feeling unmistakably Exchange For Change.

• Brand governance is clear, pragmatic and scalable, with fewer day-to-day decisions needing to escalate to the Head of Brand & Marketing Communications.

• You are developing the people around you and building stronger brand capability across the organisation.

About you

We’re looking for someone who combines brilliant brand instincts with the ability to make things happen.

You’ll ideally bring:

• Significant brand management, brand development or integrated marketing experience, ideally building or transforming brands at pace and at scale.

• Experience taking a new or refreshed brand and embedding it across an organisation.

• Strong content strategy and production experience across film, photography, digital and written content.

• Experience working across paid, owned and earned environments.

• Confidence briefing, managing and challenging creative, content and production agencies.

• A strong understanding of how brands flex across audiences, channels and physical environments without losing consistency.

• Excellent judgement across visual identity, messaging and tone of voice.

• Experience turning brand strategy into practical guidelines, assets, templates and tools.

• Strong stakeholder skills and the confidence to influence across multiple teams and seniorities.

• The ability to move comfortably between strategic thinking and hands-on delivery.

• Experience thriving in a fast-moving environment where not every process or answer is already established.

The person we’re looking for

You’ll be comfortable joining an organisation that is still being built, that is growing at pace. You’ll see a blank page as an opportunity rather than a problem and be as comfortable developing the long-term approach as you are rolling up your sleeves to get something brilliant, delivered tomorrow. Agility and a can do attitude will be key skills that will make you successfully in this role.

The opportunity

This is a Fixed Term Contract for 18 months.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help establish a scheme of national importance, working with purpose-driven colleagues and partners to deliver visible, real-world impact. You’ll contribute directly to meaningful environmental and social change and in return, we support and reward our team through a range of benefits and initiatives, including:

• Competitive base salary

• Bonus scheme

• 34 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays, additional holidays for length of service

• Flexibility with holidays. You may work on a local public holiday and take an alternative day off, giving you the freedom to celebrate the days that matter most to you.

• 5% employer pension contribution

• Life Insurance: Cover of 4 times base salary

• Private Medical Insurance: Includes GP access and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for wellbeing support

• Income protection

• Family Leave: Maternity, adoption, parental, and paternity leave policies will be developed to be progressive and inclusive.

• Hybrid Working: 60% office or field-based and 40% home-based, with some flexibility according to business and personal needs.

Our Head Office is in Milton Keynes and we need someone able to spend time in the office as the role demands which in some weeks could be 2/3 days.