Head of Creative Services

**About Us**:
**THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF SERENA’S VISION**

Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where innovative and open-minded people bring everything to the cause. Even expertise from surprising places.

Take Serena. She is an absolute force of nature at the heart of our Church Street regeneration. And she puts the residents first in everything. Serena’s vision is clear. Regeneration isn’t just about bricks and concrete. It’s about communities. It’s about the environment. It’s about the lives of people and how they feel about where they call home. Serena is their advocate, making sure residents’ voices aren’t just heard, but drive the changes we’re making. The future is safe in her hands.

Please view the extraordinary story of Serena’s Vision **here**.

**The Role**:
As Head of Creative Services you can make your own powerful contribution as you support the Director of Communications to develop and implement a communications strategy that engages the wider community in our vision. Developing a modern strategic communication team, it’ll be your job to set up and run a creative services function and procurement service for WCC, and ensure sound brand architecture is in place that supports the Fairer Westminster outcomes and narrative.

Providing multimedia content creation and coordination that drives a coherent message aimed at achieving our strategic objective, you’ll work with colleagues across the communications function to provide a swift, accurate service to senior stakeholders. Building and maintaining effective professional relationships with internal clients and partner organisations to ensure the Council’s messaging is given appropriate priority and its viewpoint is accurately reflected, you’ll also work to develop the team’s skills and confidence as the Council’s communications experts.

You’ll have a wide range of additional responsibilities - these will include monitoring the impact and reach of communications, driving continuous improvement and evaluating the effectiveness of communications strategies against objectives. We’ll expect you to review lessons learned, commission and draw on insights to inform the communications plan for the directorate, and present reports and findings in a strategic and effective way. You’ll also use your natural enthusiasm and expertise to inspire your team, and maintain a culture based on a respect for diversity, the promotion of inclusion and an encouragement of openness and constructive feedback.

Please refer to the **Job Description** for more information.

**About You**:
Educated to degree level or with a marketing/communications qualification or equivalent experience, you’ll have the practical skills to manage a team and recruit, supervise and appraise the performance of its members. We’ll also look for the ability to take the lead in creative services and coordinate significant communications activities linked to complex corporate decisions.

Politically astute and capable of identifying potential problems and taking the necessary action to mitigate risk, we’ll expect you to be ready to translate strategic objectives into operational plans. With experience of establishing and building productive working relationships with senior managers, councillors and partner organisations such as communities, public agencies and statutory bodies, you’ll also be capable of building collaborative connections across different areas of our business.

It's essential that you possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, and as a superb organiser, you’ll have the ability to work to tight deadlines while managing competing priorities. Capable of working on your own initiative and grasping complex issues, you’ll have a clear understanding and commitment to equality and diversity. We’ll also look for a good understanding of the full range of communications disciplines, well developed project management skills and the capacity to manage large scale projects.

The Council and its partners are committed to achieving diverse shortlists for all vacancies at Band 4 or above to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. As part of this ambition, if you are from a Global Majority (GM) you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

**What We Offer**:
Westminster is an amazing place. There are 250,000 diverse residents, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people working here every day. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, worke