Senior Press Officer - London, United Kingdom - Department for Business and Trade

Department for Business and Trade
Department for Business and Trade
Verified Company
London, United Kingdom

6 days ago

Tom O´Connor

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Tom O´Connor

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Description

Details:


Reference number:


Salary:

- £41,553 - £45,345
  • London £ £45345 National £ £41,912
  • A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
    Job grade:
  • Senior Executive Officer
    Contract type:
  • Fixed Term
  • Loan
  • Secondment
    Length of employment:
  • 12 months with the possibility of extension in post
    Business area:
  • Business Services
    Type of role:
  • Communications / Marketing
  • Press Relations
    Working pattern:
  • Fulltime
    Number of jobs available:
  • 1Contents
Location

About the job


Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

  • Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London and Salford. If outside London, regular travel to London would be requiredAbout the job

Job summary:


  • CONTEXT: In 1999, Post Office Limited introduced Horizon software and hardware into their post office branches.
Over the lifecycle of Horizon, subpostmasters and subpostmistresses experienced discrepancies and shortfalls in their branch transaction data and accounting. Disputes between Post Office Limited and postmasters have occurred over the last two decades, and the lack of satisfactory resolution of the Horizon issues, the suspension and termination of postmasters' contracts with Post Office Limited and the prosecution and conviction of postmasters led ultimately to the launch of successful group litigation by postmasters against Post Office Limited. On 26 February 2020, the Prime Minister committed to an Independent Inquiry, and in September 2020 the Chairman, Sir Wyn Williams, was announced. It was converted to a statutory inquiry from 1 June 2021, following a request from Sir Wyn Williams.

  • The Inquiry is tasked with ensuring there is a public summary of the failings that occurred, as set out in its Terms of Reference.
  • The Sponsoring Department:
  • The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the sponsor department for the Inquiry. However, the Inquiry operates independently from DBT.

Job description:

As a senior member of the Communications team, your responsibilities will include:

  • Expertly handling day-to-day media enquiries.
  • Drafting and editing informative, engaging press releases, briefing materials and other communications products to tight deadlines.
  • Design and deliver high quality communications campaigns that reflect the Inquiry's priorities; evaluate these to measure success.
  • Assisting with and managing media operations and logistics on hearing days for a high profile public inquiry and around key events such as the Inquiry's final report launch. This may include anything from briefing spokespeople for interviews to liaising with technical teams and broadcasters to ensure broadcast feeds are available for news outlets.
  • Develop and maintain strong working relationships with senior internal stakeholders, across the Inquiry Team, providing expert communications advice.
  • Develop and maintain strong working relationships with external stakeholders such as journalists, other public inquiries, the Inquiry's website developers.
  • Overseeing and contributing to high quality media monitoring, capturing insight, sharing relevant information, and identifying communications opportunities.
  • Overseeing management of the Inquiry's website and social media channels, to ensure these are regularly updated with accessible, timely content.
  • Deputising for the Inquiry's Communications Lead.
  • Assisting other teams within the Inquiry's secretariat as required.
  • Participation in an out of hours press office rota.
  • The role may involve line management responsibilities.

Person specification:


Essential Criteria

  • Significant knowledge and experience of working within the press and communications field in teams of different sizes
  • Experience building and managing relationships with key stakeholders, particularly journalists
  • Ability to quickly understand and distil complex legal and policy information into media and publicfriendly language
  • Experience of designing and delivering communications plans involving multiple external stakeholders
  • Excellent writing skills

Desirable Criteria

  • Experience of media operations at largescale high profile events
  • An interest in the work of the Inquiry

Person Specification

  • Excellent political judgement and sharp news sense; ability to spot communications opportunities and handle sensitive issues thoughtfully
  • Strong internal and external collaboration skills and experience of working with external stakeholders and senior leaders
  • Ability to adapt and thrive in a changing environment

Behaviours:

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Delivering at Pace

Benefits:


  • Alongside your salary of £41,553, Department for Business and Trade contributes £11,220 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find ou
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