Deputy Head of Communications - Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Verified Company

Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

Details:

Reference number:

Salary:

- £49,403 - £61,392

National: £49,403 £55,823, London: £54,328 £61,392 For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading 'Salary'
Job grade:
Grade 7
Contract type:
Fixed Term
Length of employment:
2 Years
Business area:
DEFRA
S&C
Communications
Type of role:
Communications / Marketing
Working pattern:
Flexible working, Fulltime, Job share, Parttime
Number of jobs available:
1Contents

Location

About the job

Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

Bristol, London, NewcastleuponTyne, YorkAbout the job

Job summary:

This role sits at the heart of an ambitious woodland creation and tree planting programme to deliver the Government's ambitions on trees, including the manifesto commitment to plant 30,000ha per year across the UK by the end of the Parliament in 2024/25.

The programme is also central to HMG priorities to meet the UK's net zero commitments and the need to urgently tackle the biodiversity crisis.

As leader in Defra group's communications team, you will have a particular focus on managing and coordinating communications and engagement activity across a busy woodland creation programme.

This will include coordinating activity across press, social media, campaigns and policy teams to ensure effective and engaging content.

The role will also involve close working with the Forestry Commission to spot opportunities to join up on communication activity and minimise duplication.

The role will report into the Head of Communications for Operational and Local Communications (Environment).

Job description:

In this role you will be required to:

Set strategic direction for communications activity across a busy policy programme to support woodland creation in England.
Manage and deliver communication activity across the tree planting programme through communication strategies and multichannel handling plans to guide delivery across multiple teams to support policy announcement.
Manage a significant communications budget to support programme communications and engagement that represent value for money.
Develop evaluation frameworks and collect audience insights to measure the impact of communications.
Conduct horizon scan exercises to identify reputational issues ahead of time and develop handling plans to mitigate risks.
Champion the 'customer' perspective to ensure communications and engagement with stakeholders are relevant and delivered in a timely manner.
Project manage activity across multiple communication teams across the directorate to better align work around communications milestones and projects, minimise duplication of activity and spot opportunities for collaboration.
Forge strong relationships with senior officials, private office and colleagues across government, as well as a range of operational partners including the Forestry Commission, Natural England and Environment Agency.

Person specification:

Experience of leading across the communications mix including: press, digital, partnerships and events, with a strong track record on media engagement.
Experience of leading a communications team in a fastpaced environment with the ability to prioritise and manage competing demands, as well as being proactive, working on one's own initiative and problem solving where necessary.
A creative thinker able to deliver innovative solutions to achieve communication objectives on a lowcost/nocost budget.
Excellent written and oral communications skills as the role will require regular briefings to Ministers, senior colleagues and stakeholders.
Ability to horizon scan, identifying emerging risks and opportunities and responding to these as appropriate.
Strong influencing skills and the ability to build rapport with a range of stakeholders, complemented by the ability to priorities and manage competing demands.
Experience of managing the delivery of multiple communications strategies and budget across a portfolio of policy areas.
A track record of working collaboratively with colleagues at every level across an organisation and with external partners

Behaviours:

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