Community Affairs Manager

Apex Systems, LLC; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A global infrastructure management firm is seeking a Community Affairs Manager to engage with local stakeholders and oversee community engagement strategies across multiple regions in the UK. The role involves building relationships with government officials, NGOs, and community leaders while managing community investment programs. Candidates should have extensive experience in community affairs, strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to thrive in dynamic environments. This position requires national travel approximately 30% of the time.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in community and local government affairs, preferably with large infrastructure projects.
• Experience dealing with a variety of stakeholders including government officials and community leaders.
• Ability to manage contractors and build strong teams.

Responsibilities

• Act as the main contact between datacenters and local communities in the UK.
• Create and implement community strategy plans.
• Monitor community concerns and manage crisis communications.
• Lead deployment of community programs ensuring local alignment.
• Represent community voice in planning and operations.

Skills

Community and local government affairs experience

Stakeholder engagement

Interpersonal skills

English communication

Ability to thrive in fast-paced environments

Job description

Title / Position: Community Affairs Manager

Location: supporting sites in the areas of: London, Wales and Leeds. Around 30% of the time will be travelling, equally divided.

Type: Contract

Top Must-Haves:

• Extensive experience in community and local government affairs, preferably with a focus on large infrastructure and construction projects.
• Experience presenting/meeting and building trust with diverse stakeholders including government officials, community leaders, non-profits, environmental groups, STEM education partners and students in a variety of environments (rural, suburban and urban).
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced multinational environment working across multiple lines of business.
• Experience managing contractors, agencies, and/or other third parties.
• Strong team player with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to communicate and work in English.

Job Description:

Responsibilities

- Local stakeholder & community engagement

• Act as the primary point of contact between datacenters and local communities in the UK.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with local stakeholders, including residents, NGOs, businesses, and municipal actors (e.g., Authorities Having Jurisdictions, mayors).
• Support government engagement at local and regional levels, ensuring clarity on roles, expectations, and processes.

Community Strategy & Social Impact

• Create and implement location specific community strategy plans aligned with mission and CO+I priorities.
• Develop and execute community investment programs aligned with global social and environmental commitments including the Community Pledge e.g. STEM education and skilling, environmental sustainability.
• Coordinate qualitative (e.g. community listening sessions) and quantitative data collection and turn into actionable insights to understand community needs, risks, and opportunities.

Reputation, Risk & Issues Management

• Monitor and address community concerns proactively; support complaint management and crisis related communications.
• Identify social risks, political dynamics, and sentiment shifts in priority communities and recommend mitigation actions.
• Coordinate hyper local narratives in collaboration with Comms.
• Ensure consistent, transparent, and community informed messaging across internal and external channels.
• Support storytelling efforts to highlight program impact, foster trust, and strengthen social license to operate.

Program Delivery & Execution Excellence

• Lead the deployment of community programs on expected timelines.
• Ensure alignment of programs with local community needs.
• Track and report progress, insights, blockers, and outcomes to regional and global CA stakeholders.

Internal & Cross Functional Collaboration

• Represent the voice of the community internally, ensuring community feedback informs datacenter planning, permitting, construction and operations.
• Participate in regional Community Affairs team initiatives, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement practices.
• Measure, track and report impact and deliver a regular cadence of program updates to Community Affairs leadership team.
• National travel approximately 30% and limited international travel.