The Donkey Sanctuary is an international animal welfare organisation, offering care and protection to donkeys worldwide. Our vision is a world where every donkey has a good quality of life, and our mission is to improve the lives of donkeys every day. We will achieve this by transforming the lives of donkeys in need worldwide by fostering greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships.
These are exciting times for the charity, and we have an excellent opportunity for a highly proactive and professional team player with outstanding interpersonal skills to join our dedicated Public Affairs, Advocacy and Campaigns team. As Public Affairs Officer, you will bring to life our global influencing strategy and plans, with a focus on strategic public affairs and events. We are tackling the greatest threats working donkeys face locally and around the world, from the donkey skin trade to challenges working animals face in disasters. The role is critical at a point of growth in our influencing work with several priority projects to support within a high-performing team. Alongside high-level coordination and stakeholder management, the role will take on specific projects to improve our outreach.
About you:
Experience of working in the Public Affairs or Campaigns sector supporting and delivering global influencing strategies and activities.
An understanding of animal welfare, international development or a related field to our work, with evidence of working on these topics.
Experience of representing externally, including at events, conferences and through civil society networks.
An understanding of global political institutions such as the United Nations, European Union and African Union, and experience of assessing trends and developing plans.
Experience of supporting research, having written or contributed to reports and briefings and evaluating evidence of their impact.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly to different individuals through a variety of mediums.
Excellent organisation skills and able to multi-task and able to work with a number of different systems (i.e. IT systems, databases).
About the role:
Your principal duties and responsibilities will include -
Working collaboratively with departments across the charity to support the development of thought leadership and influencing materials, such as blogs and policy briefs.
Engaging on cross-cutting priorities with the campaigns team, taking on roles in specific projects and protocols as agreed.
Supporting the establishment and maximisation of the Donkey Sanctuary's network of contacts and partnerships, working closely with the Public Affairs Manager to deepen our impact.
Supporting the department in assessing the perspectives, policies and work of major inter-governmental agencies and how they could link in with and/or support the work of The Donkey Sanctuary.
Preparing briefs, reports and relevant documents in support of our strategy.
Offering input on policy positions, submissions to consultations, speaking notes, reports and briefings including leading on analysis and research where appropriate.
Representing the charity at national and international conferences and events as required.
What we offer in return:
This is a full-time, permanent contract, starting as soon as possible, nominally based on our site based in Sidmouth, Devon on a hybrid basis- but we are keen to make the role work for you, and so will consider fully remote/home working and flexible working patterns, where required.
Due to the nature of the role, flexibility will be required for site attendance or meeting regionally within the UK, as our team are dispersed. These trips, for team building and other cross organisation meetings, are estimated to be 2-3 days per quarter. Flexibility for working outside of core hours and occasional international travel is also required.
Benefits:
Competitive pension.
Life assurance.
31 days holiday (including Bank holidays), rising to 34 with each full year of service.
Wellbeing team.
Recorded Pilates and Yoga classes.
Long service awards.
Healthshield plan -
Reimbursement of. some medical expenses up to the specified limits per membership.
Offers, discounts and cashback on shopping, travel and entertainment from participating outlets.
Access to a 24/7 GP and counselling service.
Free parking.
Subsidised restaurant and shop.
Closing date for completed applications: Sunday 16 August 2026.
Please note: We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the advertised date and therefore encourage early applications.
The Donkey Sanctuary is a Disability Confident Employer.
The Donkey Sanctuary is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (children and adults), and expects all staff and volunteers to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment processes, including an application for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check where required for the post.
The Donkey Sanctuary also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, for relevant posts, may request information from applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.
Please note: The Guaranteed interview scheme is only applicable to candidates who consider themselves to have a disability applying for roles based within the United Kingdom.
NOTE TO APPLICANTS: We look forward to receiving your application, but we do ask you to complete this in your own words, and not to employ an Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing tool or assistant. Applications that are considered not to be an applicant’s own work may not be shortlisted for interview.
Before submitting your application, please ensure you read our candidate journey page, in particular our FAQs section – https://jobs.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/jobs/candidate-journey/
