Senior Communications and Engagement Officer

Location - Remote Working and 1 day a month in Chichester

Hourly Rate - £17.36 

Full Time - Interim Position

Reference - 7860913

Background

This is a unique opportunity for a communications professional looking to make a difference. As a Senior Communications and Engagement Officer you will be responsible for establishing and delivering the communication strategies for several key technology and service transformation projects that are either underway or on the horizon. You will own, shape and deliver campaigns and engagement activities across a range of channels, focusing on internal and staff engagement, as well as including local and national media, digital, and social media. Working on several challenging and interrelated projects at one time, you will ensure that all communications activity is planned, monitored and evaluated to demonstrate impact. The job will involve extensive relationship building across the organisation and with a variety of internal and external teams, partners and stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading and co-ordinating communication and engagement activities for several key projects, managing the delivery of complex messages, guidance and progress updates via the most appropriate channels.
• Advising on the most efficient and effective way for the project sponsors to achieve their communication objectives.
• Coordinating and delivering high profile engagement activity both internally and externally.
• Developing campaigns for major behaviour change initiatives.
• Monitoring both the media and political landscape, looking for opportunities or risks which the wider team should be aware of.
• Producing accurate and timely reports and presentations for a range of audiences in a clear, concise and compelling manner that persuades recipients to accept recommended solutions.
• Providing creative input to the production of communication materials, including where necessary proofing and sense checking.
• Communicating and developing strong working relationships with a range of people, including senior managers, suppliers and other stakeholders, to provide campaign updates.
• Providing professional advice to the most senior members and officers of the Council on the best way to proactively present information in a way that promotes and defends the Council’s reputation. Providing advice to Members and Officers at all levels of the organisation, often dealing with highly confidential and sensitive issues.
• Working alongside members of the communications team to ensure that your activities complement and support other campaigns and engagement already live or in development.
• Ensuring that any communications comply with the Council’s brand values and enhance our reputation.
• Advising on and delivering paid for communications activity within agreed budgets, with advice and oversight from Communication and Engagement Leads as required.
• Keeping abreast of all relevant legislation, organisational procedures, policies and professional codes of conduct in order to uphold standards of best practice.

Key Skills

• Ability to work alone and take full ownership of the communications needs for simultaneous projects, with a ‘hands-on’ and ‘can-do’ approach.
• Highly computer literate with sound and accurate IT skills, capable of carrying out research, planning, reporting and presenting.
• Professional communication skills with the aptitude and confidence to provide clear advice and feedback to colleagues and senior managers.
• Excellent literacy and numeracy skills in order to understand and interpret research data, technical reports, customer feedback, policies and guidance.
• Highly developed negotiation skills that persuade others of the need to take a specific course of action. For example, negotiating opposing opinions and finding a mutually agreeable solution.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to quickly build relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and deliver concise presentations to senior managers.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to resolve issues independently, making sound pragmatic decisions.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree, or equivalent qualification or experience demonstrating a high level of applied knowledge in communications, particularly in a public sector environment.
• Post graduate professional qualification in a relevant field.
• Relevant advanced theoretical and organisational knowledge of communication platforms, procedures and policies and understanding how they may impact on the development and content of campaigns, for example, knowledge of drafting newsletters, website content, adverts and social media posts.
• Professional understanding of the latest communications and engagement methods, channels and metrics.
• Thorough working knowledge of the wider environment, the functions and structure of national and local government and of organisational policies, practices and procedures.
• In-depth and significant knowledge of effective solutions to meet changing customer needs and demands.
• Knowledge of and experience in managing consultations and surveys.
• Significant, demonstrable experience of designing, conducting, co-ordinating, implementing and evaluating engaging communication campaigns.
• Practical experience in analysing, interrogating and interpreting information from a variety of sources in order to inform communication campaign planning.
• Experience of working in partnership and networking, and of providing professional advice to a range of senior staff, peers and partner organisations.
• Experience and confidence in dealing with people, preferably including in a supervisory capacity, and the ability to establish credibility at all levels of theorganisation.

If you are interested in this role, please call 020 3641 9193 for further details or email your CV to apply@instajobsuk.com