JOB SUMMARY

Are you passionate about the state of the environment?
Do you enjoy engaging with a broad range of groups, organisations and individuals to understand their views and share information?
Can you communicate complex ideas across different channels to different audiences, and develop communication and engagement plans to help organisations achieve their strategic goals?
Are you passionate about helping others to develop their engagement skills to help them achieve their aims?
If so, then we want to hear from you.
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) mission is to protect and improve the natural environment. Established by the Environment Act 2021, our role is to hold government and public bodies in England and Northern Ireland to account. We do this in several ways including reporting on progress towards environmental commitments, advising on changes to environmental laws and receiving complaints from the public, which can lead to us investigations and taking enforcement action.
Engaging with a wide range of stakeholders on diverse topics and for different purposes is essential for the OEP to achieve its objectives. This role will be focused on implementing, developing and expanding our approach to stakeholder engagement. The role sits within our Communications and Strategic Relations Team, reporting to the Head of Communications and Strategic Relations. The team has a wide remit, also covering media relations, internal communications and digital channels, so provides excellent access and insight into all areas of the organisation’s work.
With a total staff of just over 90, we are a dynamic, friendly and flexible organisation covering both England, Northern Ireland, and environmental matters reserved to the UK government. We offer flexible working arrangements, including part time and job share arrangements, high profile, dynamic work and the chance to have an impact on improving the state of the environment.
To find out more about the OEP, what we do, who we are and our current work, visit the OEP website .
The OEP is a non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra in England and DAERA in Northern Ireland which means it operates independently from Defra. Our employees are public servants and as part of the benefits package, employees have the opportunity to enrol in the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is an exciting opportunity to help the organisation develop its approach to stakeholder engagement, which is key to it achieving the impact and influence it needs to protect and improve the environment.
This Principal Communications and Engagement Manager is key role in the Communications and Strategic Relations team, and will focus on stakeholder engagement across the complex and diverse environment sector and beyond into all areas relevant to our work.
They will provide expert insight and knowledge to provide strategic and tactical advice to staff at all levels of the OEP, from the leadership team to our operational teams.
They will drive how we work with others at all levels of the organisation to achieve our mission, including how we plan and implement activity, how we coordinate across the organisation and how we capture and use the insights from our engagement to inform our decision making.
Being part of a small team means that this role will also have opportunity to work across and help shape our approach to media relations, public affairs, digital communications and internal communications.

The role-holder’s responsibilities will include:

• Developing and implementing an overall stakeholder engagement approach for the OEP and the tools, systems and processes to support the workforce to deliver this
• Leading work with teams across the organisation to develop stakeholder engagement and communications plans to support the OEP’s strategic priorities and key activities
• Co-ordinating stakeholder engagement activities across the organisation to manage risk and maximise opportunities for impact and influence.
• Managing information about the OEP’s stakeholder networks and leading on expanding our understanding into new areas related to our work
• Building strong relationships with external stakeholder networks and OEP colleagues to understand the stakeholder environment and provide expert advice to all levels of the organisation on engagement and communications, managing a number of key relationships directly
• Managing OEP’s response to complex, sensitive, and urgent stakeholder situations.
• Working alongside the other team members to ensure service delivery is maintained and appropriate support is provided to the Chair, Board, Chief Executive, and senior leadership team in any absence of the Head of Communications and Strategic Relations
• Support the team to deliver across range of its responsibilities, including media relations, public affairs, digital communications and internal communications. This may require some out-of-hours working.
• Support the Head of Communications and Strategic Relations in strategic planning for the team and ensuring delivery against business plans and budgets.

The above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• Managing the information required to co-ordinate and evaluate engagement across a diverse and complex stakeholder landscape, including the recording and dissemination of information exchanged.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The OEP uses the Civil Service Success Profile framework which is made up of five elements: Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. It is strongly recommend you have a look at the Success Profiles to enable you to make the best application possible.
When writing or presenting behaviours, the OEP recommends you use the STAR format to present your answers (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
For application, you will be asked to complete a CV detailing qualifications and work history; a 750 word statement of suitability answering the question:
“In your personal statement, please detail how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification providing examples to demonstrate your experience. In particular, we are looking for a focus on how you have coordinated and managed an organisation’s relationships within a complex and diverse stakeholder landscape. You have up to 750 words to provide the details requested.
If we receive a high number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift based on the specific focus outlined in the personal statement question.”
The personal statement is a very important part of your application. Review the person specification and essential experience and skills criteria on the job description and outline how you meet it providing specific and relevant examples. These could be from work, volunteering, training or education.
Further details are provided on the application form.

INTERVIEW AND ID VERIFICATION

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on experience, behaviours and Strengths outlined in the job description.
Interviews will be held online using MS Teams.

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

The role-holder’s responsibilities will include:

• Developing and implementing an overall stakeholder engagement approach for the OEP and the tools, systems and processes to support the workforce to deliver this
• Leading work with teams across the organisation to develop stakeholder engagement and communications plans to support the OEP’s strategic priorities and key activities
• Co-ordinating stakeholder engagement activities across the organisation to manage risk and maximise opportunities for impact and influence.
• Managing information about the OEP’s stakeholder networks and leading on expanding our understanding into new areas related to our work
• Building strong relationships with external stakeholder networks and OEP colleagues to understand the stakeholder environment and provide expert advice to all levels of the organisation on engagement and communications, managing a number of key relationships directly
• Managing OEP’s response to complex, sensitive, and urgent stakeholder situations.
• Working alongside the other team members to ensure service delivery is maintained and appropriate support is provided to the Chair, Board, Chief Executive, and senior leadership team in any absence of the Head of Communications and Strategic Relations
• Support the team to deliver across range of its responsibilities, including media relations, public affairs, digital communications and internal communications. This may require some out-of-hours working.
• Support the Head of Communications and Strategic Relations in strategic planning for the team and ensuring delivery against business plans and budgets