About the business

Horton Advisory is a growing communications firm specialising in advocacy, thought leadership, and policy change. We help our clients achieve their goals by shaping and promoting their messages to resonate.

We spend most of our time planning, researching, writing, liaising with clients, and pitching.

We're fortunate to work with important clients who deal in interesting things. Our clients value us for our knowledge of news values, our writing skills, our professionalism, our reliability, and our creativity.

A lot of our work involves politics, both big and small. Some of our work is with trade unions, some is with advocacy bodies, some is with think tanks, and some is with business. But all of it is with entities trying to effect change.

We don't stick to a rigid 9-5. Sometimes our clients need us early, sometimes late, sometimes on a weekend. But sometimes they don't. We can work from home when it suits, and we help each other shape our work around other parts of life.

About the role

We are seeking someone with newsroom experience who can act as a link between what our clients want to communicate and what audiences are interested in.

The right candidate will be someone with a deep understanding of news values, and the capacity to work flexibly and energetically under dynamic circumstances.

We are also looking for someone with excellent writing skills and a capacity to produce clear, clean copy under time pressure.

We have offices in Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne and would be open to candidates residing in any of these cities.

You'll report to our two principals and work alongside our other communication consultants.

Benefits and perks

You'll get to work directly with the principals for interesting clients doing good things. You'll gain excellent experience and make valuable connections.

You'll have a lot of responsibility and flexibility.

We are at exciting growth stage and the right person will find abundant opportunities to develop their work and their income over time.

Skills and experience

1. Have newsroom experience: We're all former journalists and the discipline, knowledge, and experience we got from our newsroom days is highly valued by our clients.
2. Be an outstanding writer: We need someone who is excellent at taking complex information and efficiently converting it into sharp, clear writing that explains and persuades.
3. Be an omnivorous media consumer: We need someone who reads a lot, listens a lot, and watches a lot. A big part of our job is connecting our clients' aims to the wider world. We need someone who is deeply engaged in that wider world.
4. Have a practical progressive worldview: We work with trade unions, advocacy bodies, think tanks, and enlightened business. We're not generally agitating for the revolution, but if you own a MAGA hat you're unlikely to be comfy. We're also no place for ideologues, because effective communication often means engaging with conservative perspectives.
5. Have some chutzpah: We work with important people dealing with important things and sometimes they're under the pump. We also deal with journalists who are always under the pump. So we need someone who can engage with confidence. That also means someone with sufficient confidence to listen carefully and change their mind.