JOB SUMMARY

The Ministry of Defence and the single services (Royal Navy, RAF and British Army) are subject to intense public, Parliamentary and media scrutiny. The Directorate of Defence Communications (DDC) communicates departmental and military activities externally to the media, stakeholders, and the public, and internally to our people.
The news team is within DDC and is responsible for communicating externally to media all Ministerial, departmental and senior military announcements and engagements. The news team is the front of house for journalists requesting comment from the department and protects and promotes the government’s reputation by maximising positive national and international media coverage, producing engaging digital content and rebutting inaccuracies.
The Chief Press Officer role is a key part of the news team’s senior management and will play an important role in planning and delivering proactive and reactive communications for Ministers and the department.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is a demanding and pressured role, requiring excellent communications skills and experience (both written and verbal), strong news judgement, political nous and the ability to engage effectively with the MOD Ministerial team, including the Secretary of State, and senior figures across the military and the civil service, including No.10.
Key responsibilities include:
• Play a full and proactive role in the Directorate’s leadership team
• Line manage a team of Press Officers, including a Senior Press Officer, to ensure a well-motivated, effectively functioning News team, which provides a high quality service for the Department.•
Ensure the news team can surge effectively to support major events or deal with crises including operational events.•
Work to lead, inspire and develop staff within the News team.•
Provide coaching/training and development by mentoring the news team
• Work closely with the Ministers, the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and other senior personnel on strategic and organisational issues, areas of reputation risk and specific news matters.
• Be involved in the strategic planning process from an early stage working with communications teams across the Directorate, policy teams, Private Offices and Special Advisors to produce robust delivery plans to inform communications activity.•
Engage proactively in high level and senior cross-Government news planning efforts including No.10 meetings and the work of partner departmental Media Teams.•
Proactively work with the wider management team to ensure coherence of message between external communications and sustained longer term pieces of work or campaigns.•
Work effectively with the campaigns, events and digital teams so day-to-day reactive and media management work is joined up with wider communications strategies and campaigns.
The post holder will also take part in a back-up rota to provide guidance to the out of hours duty press officers

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

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BENEFITS

Alongside your salary of £59,690, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,292 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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%
• London weighting of £3250 per annum
• Free use of gym at Main Building
• Season ticket advance to assist with travel costs to/from home and your permanent work location

The post does not offer relocation expenses.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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

Communications / Marketing