D2/g7 Head of Media and External Communications

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

- 307843**Salary**:

- £51,518- Participating in the out of hours rota will be required, which will be compensated at an additional supplement of £2,200 pa.- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Grade 7- D2**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- Insolvency - People and Capability Directorate**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, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and NottinghamAbout the job

**Job summary**:

- The Insolvency Service is a leading Government agency which plays a crucial role in providing essential services to the public and to business. The work we do is important to the proper functioning of markets, the economy in general and support for thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty.- We offer full-time, part-time, job share and flexible ways of working. We value capability, technical skills and experience and we place great emphasis on lifetime development to support our people. We encourage our employees to become more involved in areas they feel strongly about, whether it be for the benefit of the agency, though our Engagement Network or in their own local communities via volunteering opportunities.
- The Insolvency Service is a great place to work, learn and grow your career.**Job description**:
We need someone to help us tell our story to the public and our partners, across all our media channels.

The media team is pivotal in building and protecting our reputation, and promoting our successes and the services we provide to the public.

We are looking for someone with an eye for a story, an appetite for creativity and a proactive approach to news management. You’ll understand the importance of our brand and have a wealth of ideas on how we can promote our work in a busy news agenda. You will be an experienced media lead who is confident working with national journalists, as well as coming up with innovative and impactive social media campaigns.

You’ll work with dedicated and highly experienced Official Receivers - a role steeped in history and which dates back to 1883 - telling their story and that of an organisation which prides itself on being a great place to work and which is highly regarded in its field.

You will manage a small but enthusiastic team of media specialists, ensuring they have the guidance, coaching and support they need to be a high-performing team. You will be able to shape a high-performing team, instigating new ways of working while creating an environment where you and your team thrives.

You’ll be a trusted advisor to the CEO and other senior leaders, so it’s important that you’re good at building a rapport with people across the agency to gain their trust and provide frank and expert communications advice. You will need to be comfortable balancing strategic oversight and forward planning with dealing with live issues.

The role requires someone who can proactively own and develop our media strategy, setting the agenda and shaping the debate, whilst aligning with our Insolvency Service five-year strategy and supporting agency plans.

This role will be expected to cover occasional out of hours work and to have a flexible approach. This will be appropriately compensated.

**Role Description**

Lead and develop a small team of media and external communications professionals across all media channels including social media and our gov.uk internet pages.

Lead the media team across multiple work areas to manage the Insolvency Service’s reputation through proactive and reactive methods, and crisis communications handling when necessary.

Plan, oversee and deliver a strategic work programme with deliverables for the Media team on time and to a high standard through effective project management and support of multidisciplinary team members.

Provide inclusive team leadership by supporting and developing team members and demonstrating commitment to the Insolvency Service’s values.

**Responsibilities**
- Support and advise senior leadership for spokespeople engagement. You will have an existing network of journalists that you can build upon, including consumer and political correspondents. You will be responsible for developing a programme of engagement with reporters and editors across relevant publications to help inform, educate, and enhance their understanding of the Insolvency Service and its purpose.
- You will anticipate and lead the delivery of the media team’s output, making sure that you set the standard for high-quality written materials and provide quality assurance and ongoing mentoring. You will identify and adopt ‘best in practice’ media handling tools and strategies.
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