Communications Officer

**Organisation** **-** LICENCING, REGULATION AND CHARGING

**Job** **-** Administration

**Position Type** **-** Full Time

**Salary - up to £34,000, depending on skills, knowledge and experience**
**Location - Stratford, London E20 with hybrid working**
**Contract Type - TfL**

**Overview of project/role**

London’s taxi and private hire industries play a vital role in our city’s transport network, providing crucial services at times and places where other public transport modes are often unavailable. Transport for London (TfL) works hard on how it engages with taxi & private hire stakeholders.

**Taxi & Private Hire (TPH)** now has opportunities in our busy communications team as a **Communications Officer**, supporting and developing TfL’s relationship with crucial partners, both internally and externally.

Working flexibly; and employing your broad range of communication and engagement skills, you’ll respond to VIP correspondence on behalf of TfL, owning the associated research, and collating and drafting materials. Whether drafting responses to political stakeholders such as Members of Parliament and Assembly Members, or internally, you’ll ensure your written communications are timely, accurate and of high quality.

You’ll handle responses to sensitive Freedom of Information (FOI) requests; and you’ll develop strategic papers and presentations that will be used by senior Taxi & Private Hire colleagues for effective engagement with senior taxi & private hire trade stakeholders.

**Key Accountabilities**

Your duties will include, but not be limited to:

- Managing all activities involved in collating, investigating and providing high quality responses to significant levels of correspondence from senior VIP stakeholders such as Members of Parliament, Assembly Members, senior taxi and private hire trade representatives, providing accurate and timely replies to requests for sensitive information - including licensing updates for constituents as well as strategic responses to a range of enquiries
- Build and maintain an accurate database of correspondence received and responded to, monitor performance, identify and highlight where delays are occurring. In line with TfL Style Guide, develop standard paragraphs to be used within the team and across TfL to ensure joined up and consistent messaging
- Responsible for identifying potential risks and sensitivities and suggest mitigation and the approach to take to the taxi and private hire senior managers, other stakeholders and communications colleagues for mitigation planning
- Contribute to the development of appropriate processes to improve high priority correspondence and stakeholder management and work with relevant colleagues and managers so as to minimise reputational risk to TfL
- Support the taxi and private hire senior managers by co-ordinating engagement activities and meetings, preparing strategic papers and presentations for discussion with stakeholders and ensure actions are followed up and closed
- Develop action plans, keep and maintain accurate records of actions agreed/conclusions in meetings with senior stakeholders and follow up with senior managers to ensure appropriate action is taken in a timely manner to enhance and protect Transport for London's (TfL's) reputation
- Monitoring social media and editing and maintaining web pages (training can be provided for this)

**Skills, Knowledge & Experience**

**Skills**
- Excellent writing and communication skills (essential)
- Computer literate, including Microsoft Office packages (essential)
- Excellent ability to organise and prioritise work in a fast-moving environment (essential)
- Ability to communicate confidently and credibly with a range of internal and external stakeholders (essential)
- Ability to draft high quality correspondence drawing on diverse sources of information (essential)
- Building excellent cross team relationships (essential)
- Good data management including evaluation of correspondence performance (desirable)

**Knowledge**
- Educated to degree level or relevant experience (essential)
- Excellent understanding of communications/public relations techniques and best practice (essential)
- Good understanding of transport issues, in particular taxi and private hire (highly desirable)
- Good knowledge of the political environment in which TPH operates (desirable)
- Good understanding of the public sector environment (desirable)

**Experience**
- Experience of working in a highly sensitive and political environment (essential)
- Experience in producing high quality, concise responses to politically and commercially sensitive enquiries (essential)
- Experience in corporate/internal communications, PR and/or customer communications, preferably in the public sector (essential)
- Experience in managing VIP correspondence in a Government Department or a comparable organisation (desirable)

**Equality, diversity and inclusion**

**Application Process**
- Think carefully