Media & Communications Officer
- Have you excelled as part of a busy press office, providing a great service to journalists while building strong relationships internally?
- Are you an accomplished writer and communicator, able to accurately summarise complex information in ways that are engaging, and easy to understand?
- Are you confident working with stakeholders and partners to ensure our external messaging is accurate, consistent, and clear?
- Do you thrive in a busy team in a fast-paced environment but also have the confidence and tenacity to deliver outcomes with minimal supervision, and to tight deadlines?
The Media and Communications Officer is a crucial new role at the heart of the Commission’s external relations function. As a key member of our media team, you will lead on developing and delivering communications plans on policy related matters to media and the sector, proactively shaping and placing media stories, articles and interviews which help support the achievement of regulatory outcomes. You will also handle media enquiries on the full range of the Commission’s work, including case work and investigations.
This work matters: by ensuring the Commission’s work is visible and well understood, within the sector and beyond, you will play a direct role in building public trust and confidence in charities.
Job description
Initially, you will work primarily within the Press Office, this will include:
- Raise awareness within the sector and beyond of the Commission’s policy and guidance related outputs, including by producing thoughtful communications plans and placing articles, blogs, shaping press releases, as well as creating interview and other engagement opportunities.
- Handling incoming media enquiries swiftly and appropriately, where appropriate with the support of Senior Press Officers and the Head of News.
- Developing effective and measurable communications plans, identifying and achieving clear objectives using appropriate publications and media channels and building strong relationships with key media contacts.
- Supporting senior staff to act as media spokespeople on behalf of the Commission.
- Undertaking wider press office duties, including where needed preparing daily cuttings, and leading on monitoring and evaluation tasks.
- Taking part in the press office out-of-hours on-call duty rota.
This role is not limited to the Press Office, and will also involve the below responsibilities, with the potential of moving permanently to another team within the directorate, dependent on resourcing requirements:
- Providing wider communications support within the directorate, including by supporting our Digital and our Strategic Communications and Campaign functions, and supporting events.
- Acting as key liaison between the Commission’s various communications teams, ensuring they work together to inform the sector, and raise the Commission’s profile and reputation as a robust, supportive regulator.
Person specification
Ability
- Excellent written and oral communications skills, able to write and shape copy and capture the appropriate tone and voice
- Strong influencing and negotiating skills and the ability to build trust quickly
- A demonstrable ability to work flexibly and effectively under pressure and manage multiple deadlines
- Creative flair and ability to generate ideas
- Excellent ability to build effective relationships with staff across the Commission and with key external stakeholders
Experience
- Experience of working in the media, or a news or communications environment
- Experience of using a range of communications techniques and vehicles
- Experience of managing own workload independently and with minimal supervision
Technical
- Strong understanding of effective tools and techniques for evaluating communications activities
- Overview of current practice and trends in print and broadcast journalism and of successful techniques to create media coverage.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together