About the job

Job summary

The Corporate and Delivery (C&D) Communications, Business Change and Engagement Lead is a key member of the Director General’s Communications and Business Change Team, reporting to the G6 Head of Communications and Business Change. This is a challenging and fast paced role, positioned at the heart of a dynamic and varying area of the Home Office. You will work within a proactive team across a high paced environment as well as being integral to the vision and strategy setting for Corporate and Delivery Communications closely aligned to the Corporate Communications strategy. 

You will have deep expertise in communications and stakeholder engagement to ensure that business change communications are delivered effectively and consistently, liaising with Communication Leads across Corporate and Delivery and the Home Office. You will work with a diverse range of stakeholders and communities across the business, and will be responsible for ensuring colleagues feel consulted, and supportive, of our work, through clear and transparent communications and proven stakeholder engagement methods.

You will be responsible for contribution and maintenance of the C&D forward look of change and delivery, with responsibility for ensuring that key successes are drawn out and consistently shared across relevant channels including reporting to Ministers and Senior stakeholders across Home Office where required.

Job description

You will have line management responsibility for direct reports. You will work closely with the Head of C&D Communications and Business Change, tasking the team as appropriate, encompassing everything from coordinating and delivering staff events, article publishing, to delivering the overall C&D communications strategy.

You will be an experienced communicator, verbally and in writing, a skilled listener and will be able to transform complex information into compelling communications at pace. On any given day, you’ll be able to juggle competing and varied demands and be comfortable with working to multiple, and often urgent, deadlines. You’ll be a confident decision-maker, able to quickly grasp complicated issues whilst building and maintaining open and strong relationships with a wide range of senior stakeholders with differing agendas and needs.

You will have exceptional stakeholder management skills and will represent C&D communications across the business, deputising where necessary for Head of Communications and Business Change. 

You will also take responsibility for ‘bigger picture’ requirements beyond your immediate area, demonstrating willingness to adapt priorities and current activities to support broader C&D delivery objectives.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024.  Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Person specification

•    Working as part of a small team of communications and business change professionals focussing on coordinating and managing the creation of key leadership engagement products, both internally and externally, producing regular high-quality briefing products. 

•    Working with the Head of C&D Communications and Business Change to define and implement communication and engagement strategies across C&D which reflect Home Office organisational priorities and objectives.

•    Partnering with colleagues across the C&D community, working with the Communications Leads to ensure work of corporate and delivery directorates is accurately reflected in the C&D Forward Look. 

•    Ensuring that key successes are drawn out, shared and celebrated across relevant channels including reporting to Ministers and Senior stakeholders across Home Office. 

•    Being an active participant of the integrated, cross Home Office, Internal Communications Community of Practice (CoP).

•    Leading on the transformation of a centralised SharePoint communications site for Corporate and Delivery, promoting governance and collaboration.

Other day to day activities:

•    Advising on, and producing, effective stakeholder engagement and communication tools, to be used across the team to help deliver business change.

•    Evaluating the effectiveness of engagement and communication strategies against objectives, identifying areas for improvement in future work. 

•    Working with the Corporate and Delivery leadership team to plan and deliver events and engagement activities. 

•    Influencing and shaping senior leader messaging, contributing towards communicating organisational priorities, ensuring adherence to professional standards and considering wider reputational implications. 

Note: The post-holder may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training. 

Essential Criteria:

You will have a demonstrable passion for communications and change, with the following skills or proven experience in:

• Defining and designing communication strategies within a government context or environment, leading teams to implement them, and providing strategic communications advice to leaders. 
• Having significant experience in oral and written communication skills, and the ability to engage multiple stakeholders of all levels.
• Leading teams, mentoring, and coaching junior members of staff and building strong working relationships.
• Creating high quality, compelling content, for a variety of channels and audiences. 
• Having expert knowledge of SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, particularly permissions, creating and designing sites, creating channels/planners and with a strong focus on accessibility.
• Mapping and managing stakeholders, influencing leaders, and bringing them on a journey, receiving their buy-in.

Desirable Criteria

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

• Understanding of public sector processes and policies relating to business change.
• Qualified in, or willing to work towards Government. Communication Service (GCS) Advance: Expert level.
  
• Understanding of project management or business change principles and methodologies.

Benefits

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete: 

•    a CV detailing job history/qualifications/skills 
•    a statement of suitability (maximum 1000 words) 
•    provide evidence of the behaviour : Leadership (250 words maximum)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

The sift will be held on the Behaviour & statement of suitability. The CV is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of Technical skill & Behaviour based questions.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place from  12/04/2024. Interviews are expected to take place from 30/04/2024. We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change. 

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams
 
PLEASE NOTE: Due to time constraints we may not be able to offer alternative interview date(s). It is therefore expected that candidates who are successful at sift stage will make themselves available during the above time frame given.

Further Information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.  

Please note: If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

Visa sponsorship    

We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License. 

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office 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

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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) (opens in a new window)
• 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.