UK Internal Communications & Engagement Partner

Contract type: 15-month Fixed Term Contract, Full-time (35 hours per week)

Location: London, UK

UK hybrid working – a minimum of 40 % of working time is spent face-to-face (London office, external meetings or travel), this amounts to a minimum of 2 days per week and the remaining 60% you can be based at home.

Salary: £47,423 per year with excellent benefits

*We offer competitive, market-aligned salaries based on the grade and scope of each role. Roles are offered at the advertised starting salary, with any exceptions considered only in exceptional circumstances. 

Change starts with water. Change starts with you.

Every day, millions of people live without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid exists to change that – for everyone, everywhere. Join us, and your energy will help unlock people’s potential and create a fairer future.

About WaterAid

We’re a global federation driven by one vision: a world where everyone, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Powered by our values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation, we work alongside communities, partners and supporters to make change happen.

About the role

A role where you will partner with UK senior leaders, teams, and employee-led groups to develop and execute strategic internal communications and engagement activities that drive delivery of our mission, strengthen organisational capability in communication, and help shape our employee experience.

Serve as the primary communications and engagement partner across the UK, providing proactive partnering, shaping key messages, and creating meaningful opportunities that connect colleagues to purpose, strategy, and each other. Champion diversity, equity and empowerment (DEE) through initiatives that celebrate our rich cultural diversity, promote inclusion, and help build a workplace where everyone can thrive.

In this role, you will:

Internal Communication & Employee Engagement:

• Develop and manage the UK staff communications plan and calendar - ensure alignment with global and wider WaterAid UK plans, activating WAUK and global priorities and initiatives at a local level.
• Manage all UK internal communications support requests - partnering UK based leaders and teams to advise on communications plans and channels.
• Manage key UK internal communications channels, including the UK country pages on the global intranet (The Spring) and the UK Connect Teams space.
• Business partners the UK Head of People to advise and review communications for risk and clarity.
• Business partner UK based employee groups (Staff Representation Group and Diversity Group), advising and supporting on communication/messaging, acting as a trusted advisor.
• Provide UK Functional Directors with advisory communications support for significant strategic initiatives.
• Lead for reactive/crisis internal communications support in the UK.

Projects

• Design, project management and delivery of WaterAiders Week in the UK, including events such as the UK WaterAiders Fair.
• Key communications partner for change management projects that span UK hosted and financed roles.
• Design, content creation and support communication and staff engagement of the office move from 20 Canada Square to our new premises.
• Activating communication on the employee engagement survey in the UK, in alignment with global communications.

Requirements

To be successful, you will need:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Experience of having worked and successfully impacted outcomes in an internal communication and engagement role.
• Demonstrable branding and design capability.
• Understands employee experience concepts.
• Project management experience.
• Designing engaging and impactful communication
• Experience of using and designing in SharePoint.
• Has used MS office suite, with a strong skill in PowerPoint.
• A demonstrated ability to work in a style that reflects WaterAid’s values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity, and Innovation.

Although not essential, we’d prefer you to have:

• Demonstrable experience of working in a communication, engagement role within a People & Organisational Development team.
• Experience of working with staff resource groups.
• Additional language skills such as French, Spanish or Portuguese.

View the full job description here

Closing date: Applications close 12:00 PM UK time on 17th August 2026. Interviews are expected to take place the week commencing 27th August 2026.

How to apply: Click Apply to complete the pre-screening question and upload your CV.

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application?

At WaterAid, we strongly advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well.

Pre‑employment screening

To apply for this role, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the respective country. All pre-employment checks will be carried out according to local law and WaterAid’s Safer Recruitment policy. All UK based roles require a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Benefits

• 36 days’ holiday (this includes 8 Bank Holidays)

• Option to buy an extra 5 days’ annual leave
• Employer pension contribution up to 10 %
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
• Season ticket loan
• Free annual eye tests
• ‘Give as you Earn’ charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced parental leave (maternity, adoption/surrogacy, shared parental and paternity)
• Sabbaticals (after qualifying period)
• Two paid volunteer day each year

As part of our annual leave policy, all employees receive three additional days of annual leave on top of their standard allocation of 25 days. These days are designated to cover the period when our UK office closes at the end of the calendar year, allowing all UK WaterAiders to take a well-deserved break.

These days are automatically scheduled and cannot be changed or moved. Annual leave is accrued based on your start date. If sufficient leave has not been accrued by the time of the closure, the 3 days will be taken as unpaid leave or pro-rated, depending on your circumstances.

Our Committment

Our People Promise

We will work with passion and focus to make sure everyone everywhere has clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have. We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.

Equal Opportunities

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions, ways of life and status. This includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, caste, colour, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability status, neurodiversity, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation.

Safeguarding

We are committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero- tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and to any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks (which can include counterterrorism, safeguarding and criminal records checks).

Together, we’ll change the world through water.

Join us and be part of the change!