JOB SUMMARY

The Department for Education is looking for an exceptional leader in recruitment marketing to support its ambition of breaking down the barriers to opportunity and the link between young people’s backgrounds and their success.

JOB DESCRIPTION

You will be responsible for leading teams to develop and deliver the department’s flagship recruitment campaigns to inspire individuals to become schoolteachers, early years professionals, further education teachers, fosterers and adopters.
Alongside your Deputy Director colleagues, you will support the DfE Director of Communications to lead the communication strategy, planning, and delivery for the Opportunity Mission. This will involve working closely with other key government departments, including those responsible for health, work and pensions, culture, and local government. You will be responsible for creating a clear, consistent message and presenting the mission to the public in a compelling way.
Candidates will need to drive an innovative use of social media, campaigns, and cross-government approaches, leveraging AI and emerging technologies to maximise reach, insight, and impact.
This is a challenging, fast paced but hugely rewarding role, which was established a year ago in response to the growing importance of workforce recruitment within the department.
Different delivery models for recruitment campaigns exist in the department, and you will be responsible for matrix managing both embedded marketers and those from Central Communications.
As the department places greater emphasis on workforce retention, you will also lead teams to consider how communications can motivate professionals to remain in their roles.
Candidates should note that a process of wider reform to the Government Communications Service (GCS) could change and/or evolve some communications roles in government and that is likely to include this post’s responsibilities and objectives.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• You will build excellent working relationships across the department. You will work closely with the Deputy Director: Strategic Communications and Campaigns as well as key senior policy and digital leads to enhance campaign effectiveness and improve customer experience.
• You will be comfortable working with Ministers, including the Secretary of State and Special Advisers, and adept at building relationships with external stakeholders and advertising agencies.
• Overall, your leadership will enhance the department’s recruitment and retention marketing efforts through expert guidance; encouraging collaboration across campaigns; sharing best practice and audience insight; identifying opportunities to innovate and learn; and fostering a cross-department recruitment community.
• Leading high-performing recruitment marketing teams to deliver strategically rigorous outcome-focused recruitment campaigns with a multimillion-pound budget. You will spend c. 50% of your time on early years recruitment, 20% on schoolteacher recruitment, and 10% on further education recruitment. The rest of your time will be spent on other recruitment campaigns and Mission-campaigns.
• Overseeing business planning and professional assurance for all recruitment campaigns.
• Advising the Secretary of State, Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials on recruitment marketing campaigns, addressing both challenges and opportunities.
• Providing professional leadership for marketing activities within the Department, nurturing a vibrant recruitment marketing community, enhancing marketing capabilities and spearheading an innovation agenda.
• Supporting the wider Opportunity Mission bid development process across Best Start in Life, Achieving and Thriving and Opportunities for Skills and Growth.
• Playing a key leadership role in the Communications Directorate and Government Communications
• Service, developing influential working relationships with other government departments including No.10 and the Cabinet Office to ensure delivery of cross-government priorities.