Comms and Engagement Manager

Job summary

GDS

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Please note

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Job description

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) drives excellence in Engineering, Architecture and IT Ops across the public sector.

To drive these objectives, OCTO has established a new ‘Leading the Profession’ team, tasked with ensuring that public sector Engineering, Architecture and IT Ops functions have clear, centralised access to the rules, tools, methods and communities they need to do brilliant work. This depends on outstanding comms and engagement work – some delivered from ‘Leading the Profession’, some embedded directly in OCTO’s own Engineering, Architecture and IT Ops teams to support the needs of specific projects.

You will join OCTO’s new ‘Leading the Profession’ team, alongside other specialists in comms and engagement, content and community management.

You will spend some of your time supporting the establishment and core objectives of this team, helping to build an effective comms and engagement function to support the needs of the rest of OCTO. This may include tasks such as research and stakeholder mapping, comms forward looks and producing key comms and engagement products such as core briefs and pitch decks.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

Research, create and deliver multi-channel communication and engagement plans which support organisation objectives

Produce comms and engagement products such as briefings, blog posts, newsletters and presentations

Help translate complex technical ideas into clear, accessible and creative narratives

Manage communication and engagement channels, including production and scheduling content

Work with senior members of the organisation to support them on comms and engagement activities, such as events, meetings and international engagements, and record and disseminate readouts from senior engagements with teams.

Essential Criteria

A proactive self-starter, confident and positive communicator used to building productive relationships at all levels of an organisation, including with senior and technical stakeholders

Able to network and find information to create concise, clear and creative comms and engagement plans

Comfortable working in dynamic environments with lots of ambiguity and competing priorities, balancing short term and strategic requirements

Experienced at ‘translating’ complex or technical issues into easy-to-digest content, and confident at asking further questions when such an issue is unclear

Demonstrable experience of problem solving, being proactive about putting in place processes to make work efficient.

Desirable Criteria

Proven ability to quickly comprehend information about new topics, and produce content based on that information

Experience of communications and engagement within the public sector and the unique complexities that brings.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,620, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £12,926 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal