Storytelling Executive

Brink is privileged to work on some of the world’s most interesting and important challenges with partners ranging from globally recognised institutions like UCL, TRANSFORM, FCDO, and University of Cambridge, to small grassroots innovators across Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.  Together, we’re able to push the boundaries of what’s possible and imagine new futures, using stories to shift long-held, unhelpful narratives and encourage bold, new thinking.

Now we have an exciting opportunity for a Storytelling Executive to join our ranks and support this work.   

The Storytelling practice team explore questions like:

• Within complex, gnarly subjects such as testing technology in high-stakes environments where there are social, environmental and ethical issues at play, what is the story layer that brings research and evidence to life and helps someone learn from it?
• How do you best package up a story that cuts through the noise online? And what gets unlocked when you use audio, video and creative formats?
• When anticipating potential changes in the future, how can stories and artifacts prompt discussion, and inform decision making?

We’re looking for a Storytelling Executive who enjoys diving deep into topic areas and breaking down complex ideas into accessible stories, but also understands the need to run a tight ship in order to be as impactful as possible.

The role involves amplifying learning and stories from our Oxygen CoLab grantees testing how to create access to oxygen in low-resource settings through product and business model innovation. The role will also include supporting the storytelling practiceteam to operate and deliver efficiently across Brink’s programmes, working closely with the Practice Lead to manage resourcing across our team and freelancers we work with.

You’re likely a recent graduate or in your first years of work. This might even be your first job, but it certainly won’t be your first experience of getting creative and curious about stories and how they inform the bigger narratives that influence our behaviour across the world.

You know that you want to do work that matters and has a real impact on people’s lives. You love to dive deep into topics and nerd out on research, but deep down, you know that you’re a creative person, even if you don’t consider yourself “artistic” in the traditional sense. To you it’s about cultivating imagination to unlock new ideas, finding compelling ways to connect deeply with diverse audiences and challenging accepted norms in creative ways.

Brink is full of passionate, big thinkers who spend their days challenging the status quo and making things happen with oomph. Our team is made up of people with backgrounds spanning civil service, fashion design, international development, marketing and more. There's not one set type of Brinkster and we're always looking for people with new experiences to join us. If this sounds like you and the kinds of people you want to be surrounded by and learning from every day, then read on.

Here’s an overview of what’s expected:

Research: You’re a curious being who loves to nerd out and dive deep on topics such as systems change, oxygen provision and the informal workforce in Kenya. This job will lead you to learn about multiple new topic areas, and before you create stories about each, you’ll need to grapple with some desk research first.

Breaking down information: You’re not afraid of complexity, and enjoy breaking it down for others to understand. You’re deeply passionate about the power of evidence, insight and information to affect change, but you know that people are more likely to take notice when it’s packaged up in resonant, exciting ways.

Team delivery and operations: Our practice team is growing, so you’ll be working with the Storytelling Practice Lead to remove obstacles to delivery, supporting scheduling and coordinating activities. 

Creating content: You enjoy the power of words, visuals and bringing things to life. You aren’t precious about sharing a first bad draft early for feedback, whether it’s a slide deck, a rough infographic or a blog post. You’ll make some of the content yourself or brief an expert (e.g. designer or podcaster) to elevate to the next level.

Rolling up your sleeves: a key part of this job is keeping things organised and removing obstacles so that other people can do their work more efficiently. This might mean running and following social media schedules, digging up engagement analytics, transcribing interviews or rooting around in a website back-end to clean up tagging on blog posts.

Keeping an eye on design: When it comes to visual formatting on documents, you naturally look out for the details which others don’t notice. You can follow our designer’s brand guidelines to elevate slide decks, documents and web pages to ensure that they are professional, slick and most importantly, accessible. You know those details matter.

Context switching: we often work across multiple projects and you’ll need to be comfortable switching between different topics, teams and formats frequently. You may even thrive on this sort of style of working.

Other topics you might be working on:

It’s likely that in this role no two days will be the same. Just some of the topics you might find yourself working on include:  

• The circular economy - how can informal repair and reuse contribute to a more circular future in Kenya?
• Horizon scanning projects - what does the future of Money or Elections look like in 2033?
• Emerging technologies - when should you not use blockchain to solve a development challenge?

We also look for these interpersonal skills (being a ‘Brinkster’)

• Growth mindset: keen and eager to experiment and learn, comfortable with not knowing all the answers yet and happy to let stuff go when it doesn’t quite hit the mark
• Is ‘interoperable’: quickly establishes rapport with all kinds of people
• Enjoys ‘making others shine': Brink is a low-ego zone that thrives on making our colleagues, clients and collaborators shine
• Self-starter, proactive, can 'get on with it', has a sense of agency and a point of view

In addition to your annual salary you’ll have access to extra things to support you to be your best self, in and out of the office.

🐙 A role that isn’t available for anyone else and shaped around you and your interests

🏖 ‘Take what you need’ annual leave

🐣 16 weeks full pay parental leave

🧠 Dedicated coaching and therapy for your mental health and wellbeing from platform partner Oliva

🎒 Brink retreats and away days

📚 Kindle with unlimited books

🎓 Generous training budget

🏡 Workspace expense budget for working from home

🚴‍♀️ Access to a cycle to work scheme (if in UK)

How we work:

• A team of around 30 (and growing) that genuinely enjoy spending time together, online and in person where possible
• Remote-first approach
• If based in the UK, you can work outside of the UK for a maximum of 100 days within the tax year. If based elsewhere, local tax laws regarding working abroad apply.
• Flexible working hours; you take ownership over how you get your work done
• Dedicated learning time at our ‘Dojo Days’
• Certain set days over the year where we require the team to be together in real life. This is usually for around one week in mid January and for another week in mid July. It may also include travel and overnight stays.

🔗 Our commitment as Brink

Diversity is in our DNA at Brink and we’re proud of the broad range of Brinksters we have on board. We also know there is always room for improvement which is why we track diversity in all its guises to see how we’re doing, and make efforts to cast our hiring net as wide as possible. Our latest survey shows we could do better in some areas, so we’re particularly encouraging applications from people of the Global Ethnic Majority, people over 50, parents, neurodiverse people and/or those living with a disability.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability or age. We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require in the recruitment process, on commencement, or once in post.

❓❗ Questions that people often ask us

How many years of experience do I have to have?

Higher education qualifications are not needed for this role. It’s a remarkable opportunity to work with some of the best changemakers in the world and the right person will have an opportunity to establish their career.

Where is this role based?

Brink is a remote team and we work all over the place from London, Nairobi, Cape Town, Amsterdam and Kigali. For this role our preference is for UK, Rwanda or Kenya based applicants only.

Please note that we are unable to employ anyone that does not have the right to work in the country they live in and work from. If you plan to work on an existing visa, there is a section on the application form where you can let us know the type and expiry date.