Chief Community Relations Advisor United States Visiting Forces Support Group

This is an exciting opportunity for a driven individual, with exceptional leadership and communication skills to be part of the USVF Support Group team. The USVF refers to American military personnel who are stationed at bases across the UK, due to close military alliance and historical relationships between the US and the UK.

This position is based at RAF Mildenhall, one of the USVF exclusive use bases, and is responsible for the day‑to‑day leadership, coordination, and strategic direction of community relations activity in support of the USVF across the United Kingdom. The USVF Support Group also includes RAF Commanders, who act as a military liaison at each USVF station, and Business Support, Business Management and Engagement Teams, who are responsible for administrative support to the civil servants embedded within the US workforce at each of the stations and directly supporting the USVF mission.

The British American Community Relations Team's aim is to maximise the mutual understanding between United States Visiting Forces (USVF) and the British communities in which they live and work. This team directly enables the USVF to deliver effective operational outputs in a permissive and supportive environment across the entire spectrum of local, regional and national engagement activities, engendering strong and harmonious relationships to encourage collaborative partnerships.

The postholder acts as the senior advisor to the United States Country Representative (USCR), the overall US lead in the UK, and the commanders across the various USVF bases, to ensure coherent engagement and messaging across the US Visiting Forces UK presence.

They will also act as the senior advisor to the British American Committee chairs, ensuring coherent engagement with UK communities, host‑nation stakeholders, and civic organisations across the span of the USVF bases.

The Chief Community Relations Advisor (CCRA) provides cover for the geographically dispersed team, i.e. in times of absence of a Community Relations Advisor, and supports surge capacity to a specific base or senior leadership team should the need arise.

While the main responsibilities are outlined above, the role holder may be required to perform other duties commensurate with the grade and purpose of the role, as required by the needs of the business.

Regular travel to the USVF sites will be required to carry out this role.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week, increasing to 45 hrs (net) when the All Hours Allowance is taken into account.

This post's primary functions include:

Strategic Leadership and Coordination

• Lead the day‑to‑day community relations operations across the UK USVF locations, ensuring coherence.
• Keep abreast of developments within the USAF/USAFE which could have an impact at a local level e.g. future plan.
• Understand the US Country Representatives priorities and ensure that the community engagement strategy supports these and identifies opportunities to optimise engagement and relationships that directly support these priorities.
• Identify and map key stakeholders and influencers to enhance strategic engagement for the USVF.
• Keep apprised of the US/UK relationship at the international level and the sensitivities that could impact the community relations programme.
• Ensure a consistent and coordinated approach to major issues affecting all USVF locations.

Senior Advisory Responsibilities

• Act as the primary Community Relations Advisor to the US Country Representative and key leadership staff within their headquarters.
• Formulate and implement an engagement strategy (updated frequently) which sets out engagement objectives, identifies key stakeholders and influences and includes an engagement activities database and suggested demarcation of effort between the US Country Representative and other Wing Commanders.
• Provide expert advice on UK etiquette, protocol, customs, and community expectations.
• Translate the UK stance and viewpoint on sensitive issues and assume the role of critical friend to the USVF.
• Offer guidance and support to committee chairs throughout their tenure, helping them deliver effective and culturally attuned community engagement.
• By using the intelligence gathered from the CRA network, report community relations issues which have the potential to cause reputational risk or negative media coverage.

External Engagement and Representation

• Foster strong relationships with UK civic leaders, local authorities, community groups, and other key stakeholders.
• Oversee the British American Committee chairs and facilitate their honorariums, ensuring that they understand the requirement to meet UK and US policy regulations when undertaking their duties
• Represent the organisation at high‑level engagements, ceremonies, and events.
• Promote positive host‑nation relations and enhance the public understanding of the US Visiting Forces presence in the UK.
• Deliver and continue to enhance the leadership programme, Leadership Connect, for US and UK participants.

Policy, Governance, and Assurance

• Ensure community relations activity aligns with USVF policy, national regulations, and host‑nation expectations.
• Provide high‑quality reports, briefings, and recommendations to senior leaders.
• Act as a point of assurance for community issues across all UK USVF locations.

A key and vital role within the USVF Support Group, the successful candidate will have experience of leading a team, particularly managing multi-site or geographically dispersed teams, with strong interpersonal skills that support the development and fostering of positive working relationships. They will be highly organised, proactive and able to manage competing priorities. They will be able to work independently with autonomy, with the capacity to work at pace and under pressure to be able to complete tasks within short time frames, whilst maintaining strong collaboration across multiple organisations.

They will have proven experience in community relations, stakeholder engagement, diplomacy or public affairs, with a strong understanding of UK civics, cultural norms, protocol and etiquette.

This role is suited to someone who has developed communicating, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence and credibility to provide advice, guidance and reasonable challenge when required, across a range of grades and military ranks. They will be able to problem solve effectively, applying policies and guidance to make evidence-based decisions. They will have the ability to develop strategic engagement plans and deliver organisational‑level coordination and be experienced representing senior leaders or organisations in complex or sensitive environments.

The post holder works directly for Group Captain USVF Support Group, apprising the incumbent of the status of the UK-US community relations across the UK at a local, regional and national level.

Additional requirements for the role:

• Frequent UK travel.
  • A full driving licence is essential due to regular travel to the USVF sites across the UK, many of which are remote and not easily accessible via public transport.
  • Overnight stays will be necessary at times.
• Representative duties.
• Flexibility for short‑notice engagements.
• Requirements to work evenings, weekends or Bank Holidays on occasion