Chief Speechwriter

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 262498**Salary**:

- £61,940 - £73,442- National Minimum - £61,940 - £68,959 London Minimum - £66,748 - £73,442**Job grade**:

- Grade 6**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- DFT - Corporate Delivery Group (CDG)**Type of role**:

- Communications / Marketing**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Birmingham, Leeds, LondonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Are you interested in current affairs, politics and the media?

Can you craft arguments to have maximum impact?

Do you write with enthusiasm and a passion to becoming a visible ambassador for high-quality writing across the department?

If so, we'd love to hear from you

This is an exciting high profile role where you have the opportunity to write and put your creative mark on your work and deliver interventions in pursuit of the government’s long term policy goals.

**Job description**:
The Department for Transport has a wide and varied agenda ranging from large infrastructure projects through to transport decarbonisation and levelling up Britain. One of the key ways it informs audiences of its policies and initiatives is through ministers’ speeches and articles, written by a small team sitting within Group Communications, itself part of the Corporate Delivery Group within the DfT. The team works closely with the rest of communications and supports five transport ministers. This is a great opportunity to work in a senior role at the heart of government communications at an important time for the department.

The Chief Speechwriter is a critical role at the Department for Transport, shaping and shepherding storytelling by creating and co-ordinating a range of written products for the Secretary of State for Transport, as well as the wider ministerial team.

**Person specification**:

- You will be an excellent writer and communicator, and understand the unique pace and rhythm of speechwriting.
- You will have experience working with national publications.
- You’ll be able to produce compelling, well-structured speeches and articles that reflect government policy and meet each minister’s requirements.
- You will be familiar with becoming someone else’s voice, and able to craft arguments to have maximum impact with a range of audiences.
- You’ll have a nose for a news story, and understand the interests of your audiences.
- You will be able to work quickly, and juggle several different pieces of work at one time.
- You will be a self-starter, keen to put your own creative mark on your work, and to take responsibility for your work from original commission to final delivery.
- You will be interested in current affairs, politics and the media.
- You will be comfortable and confident working in a high pressure environment, managing a variety of views and expectations.
- You’ll be a good team player, able to build contacts throughout the organisation.
- You’ll understand the strategic implications of your work, and the wider context of the issues you write about.
- You’ll be able to remain and calm and clear headed while working under pressure.
- You’ll be able to compromise when necessary, but also be confident in expressing your views and opinions.

**Responsibilities**

Key accountabilities of the role include:

- Devise and manage a long-term speaking strategy to maximise ministers’ speaking opportunities against the department’s policy priorities, as well as those of the wider government.
- Anticipate and react to speechmaking needs, as well as opportunities - so that the department can make the best use of both reactive and proactive speaking occasions.
- Oversee speechwriting advice to the Secretary of State for Transport, Ministers, senior officials and colleagues on complex and overlapping policy areas.
- Engage and communicate with internal and external stakeholders at all levels - with the ability to influence, challenge and collaborate across the transport landscape.
- Create original and engaging speeches, op-eds, ministerial forewords, presentations, digital content and more for our Ministerial team.
- Manage a dynamic speechwriting function as it produces content for the Secretary of State for Transport and the wider DfT ministerial team.
- Be a go-to authoritative voice on what high-quality writing should look like and upskill colleagues across the department to improve the quality of their written products.

For an in-depth insight into the role please refer to the Role Profile.

**Additional Information**

A minimum of 40% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance.

**Behaviours**:
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