Exports Strategy Comms Lead

Job summary

The Department for Business, Science, Innovation, and Trade (BIST) is responsible for driving sustainable economic growth and connecting investment, trade, innovation and place to create opportunities for people and communities across the whole of the UK. The Department works closely with partners across government, devolved government, industry bodies, and businesses to deliver the UK’s trade and economic priorities.

The Domestic and International Markets and Export (DIME) Group within BIST plays a vital role in advising, supporting, and promoting UK businesses to grow and export, delivering economic growth through our services and policy interventions across the UK and overseas.

The Exports Strategy team, within DIME, works closely with policy, ministerial, and delivery colleagues to translate complex policy into accessible and compelling messaging for a range of audiences, including businesses and trade associations. Through targeted engagement activity, the team builds and maintains relationships with key stakeholders across the UK and internationally, ensuring that BIST’s work is informed by business insight and that stakeholders are equipped to benefit from government support. The team also contributes to cross-government communications, ensuring alignment and coherence in messaging on economic growth and trade.

By combining strategic communications with proactive stakeholder engagement, the team supports the Department in increasing awareness, understanding, and uptake of its services, ultimately contributing to the UK’s economic growth, global competitiveness, and trade ambitions.

Job description

• Strategy: Design and implement a low-cost exports communications strategy for the Exports Directorate and wider Department, working collaboratively with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science, and Trade (BIST)'s Comms and Marketing (C&M) Directorate to ensure complementarity
• Relationship building: Establish and maintain a network of external stakeholders in the comms space, ensuring effective delivery of DIME messaging through the right channels.
• Communications: Work with the Exports Strategy Head of Comms and Engagement to develop a strategic messaging framework and core narrative that is fit for purpose
• Improvement: Strive to find innovative ways to improve DIME’s comms outputs to better achieve our objectives
• Collaboration: Work collegiately across the Department to maximise resource and initiatives where appropriate, ensuring communications activity of Exports is aligned with C&M, and other comms teams, particularly DIME’s Briefing Hub and Post.
• Leadership: Motivate colleagues and provide support to enable effective communications across the Directorate.
• Act at all times in line with the Civil Service code, with BIST’s performance and behavioural standards, and putting responsibilities as a UK Civil Servant at the forefront of everyday performance and behaviour.
• Undertake continuous personal development, including 100% compliance with Minimum standards and mandatory learning, office attendance, and the BIST learning academy to meet role-specific requirements but keep abreast of wider economic, political and other environmental factors. To champion learning, value diversity, respect colleagues, and drive delivery of BIST and HMG objectives at all times. Have full responsibility for driving personal performance conversations and leading team members where applicable.
• Participation in wider-BIST corporate activities and be an active and energetic member of the BIST community, both more widely and in the hub location where you are based and have a vested interest in the leadership and success of the organisation and teams more widely as well as your own team.
• Additional duties may also be required in line with business need, these can include but are not restricted to assisting with local or national events, accompanying customers or Ministers on visits domestically or overseas, and attending events as BIST ambassadors, upholding professional standards and embodying a positive experience of the department internally and externally.

Person specification

Essential criteria

The below criteria are essential and will be assessed at application stage.

• Proven ability to develop and lead strategic communications strategies.
• Experience of advising senior leaders on communications strategy, exercising sound judgement to manage reputational, stakeholder and delivery considerations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex policy or strategic issues clearly to different audiences.
• Experience of developing strategic messaging and narratives that support organisational objectives and deliver measurable communications outcomes
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, prioritise competing demands and make effective decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrable experience of building effective relationships across organisational boundaries and aligning communications activity across multiple teams
• Ability to collaborate with a complex group of internal and external stakeholders to achieve shared objectives.
• Experience of creating a culture of continuous improvement, and leading teams to develop more efficient and effective ways of working.

Desirable criteria

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

• Experience and/or understanding of UK export and international trade policy.
• Experience of working in an international or internationally-facing team.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

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

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £60,732, Department for Business and Trade contributes £17,594 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).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

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 withdra