About the job

Job summary

The Food Standards Agency (FSA)  is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Communications Manager to help protect public health, by working with colleagues to ensure informative, helpful and accessible messages are communicated to consumers and businesses across Wales.

As the public-facing representatives of the FSA’s work in Wales, the Communications Team shapes the public’s understanding of our work and fuels important conversations about food safety.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Job description

Delivering both proactive and reactive media relations and marketing campaigns in Wales, your work will help to maintain consistent messaging, building strong working relationships with a range of stakeholders, partners and other influencers to enable us to reach as wide an audience as possible. 

To this end, you will work to create content across the Wales focused areas of the FSA’s website and social media channels, and work alongside our Digital Team to ensure that all published content meets our content style guide as well as our accessibility standards.

As the FSA works across three nations, you will also work collaboratively to ensure that national priorities and activities are aligned and delivered effectively in Wales. You will have a demonstrable knowledge of the local media and political landscape to be able to support these areas. 

You should be capable of delivering high quality work and making effective decisions in a fast-paced environment. If you are excited by the opportunity to make a tangible impact in the health and food safety of Wales, be sure to apply for this exciting role. 

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,505, Food Standards Agency contributes £9,417 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack. 

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential and desirable criteria. (Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates).

Essential criteria

Experience

• Lead criteria: Proven experience in leading on projects in Communications, Marketing, PR or digital communications.
• Proven experience of writing effectively for a range of communication channels, adapting style appropriately to the channel and audience.
• Experience of using digital channels to make effective recommendations on use to achieve goals.
• Proven stakeholder management skills and evidence of establishing working relationships with a range of people (including the media / journalists) at all levels to secure successful outcomes.

Desirable criteria (Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates).

Technical

• The ability to communicate effectively in Welsh to strengthen the Agency’s commitment to providing a bilingual service across all teams.

Lead Criteria An initial sift may take place on just the identified Lead Criteria indicated.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience requirements of the role and Civil Service Behaviours Level 3.

Behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Experience

• Proven experience in leading on projects in Communications, Marketing, PR or digital communications.
• Experience of using digital channels to make effective recommendations on use to achieve goals.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 2 June 2024 (23:55)

Sift: Expected to take place during week commencing 3 June 2024

Final panel interview: Expected to take place during week commencing 10 June 2024

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application.)

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview, but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not hold a licence to sponsor any visa applications and we are unable to provide any advice about visas.

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.