About the job

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an exceptional communications leader to join the Ministry of Justice’s Communications Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in a new role as Deputy Director, Recruitment and Retention Communications, reporting into the Director of Communications.

In this senior leadership position, you will deal with some of the department’s highest priority issues. You will lead two teams in the Communications Directorate, which both play a critical role in the department’s delivery of frontline services.

Firstly, you will lead the Recruitment Marketing Team - setting the direction for recruitment marketing campaigns across our portfolio. These can range from multi-million-pound campaigns to recruit thousands of staff, such as our prison and probation officer recruitment campaigns, to smaller campaigns to recruit niche, hard-to-fill roles. The team’s work is critical to making sure that MoJ can deliver its priorities of delivering swift access to justice, protecting the public and reducing reoffending.

Secondly, you will lead the Prisons Resourcing Communications Team which delivers high-impact communications to help build recognition for the work professionals do in prisons and support the retention of critical frontline staff. The team has a central hub, as well as dispersed regional teams charged with building positive PR for prisons at a national, local and hyper-local level; supporting prisons in their local outreach and candidate communications; and working with HMPPS Communications to help prisons to improve their local internal communications and engagement activity.

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

For full details about the Role, Key Responsibilities and Person Specification, please download and review the Candidate Information pack

Person specification

Responsibilities 

• Lead the Recruitment Marketing Team, setting the direction for recruitment marketing campaigns across our portfolio;
• Develop campaigns which, as well as, driving the right number of applications, focus on delivering numbers in the right locations in the country, and that diversity of applicants is representative of the communities we serve;
• Lead the procurement and management of a number of agencies who we work with on elements of campaign activity, including creative, channel planning and media buying. You will ensure these agencies are being held to account for delivering against our objectives, and delivering value for money for the taxpayer;
• Lead the Prisons Resourcing Communications Team which delivers high-impact communications to help build recognition for the work professionals do in prisons and support the retention of critical frontline staff;
• Lead on advice to seniors and Ministers, developing the team’s strategic approach, advising on budget breakdown, and ensuring evaluation is in place to ensure you can learn from what’s working and adapt your approach accordingly, as well as showcasing the team’s ROI;
• Ensure necessary approvals are in place for communications spend, both within the department and from Cabinet Office where required;
• Ensure the work of your team is executed to brilliant standards, fostering a culture of improvement and innovation, and evaluating performance on an ongoing basis;
• Develop strong networks, including engaging across the Government Communications Service; and
• Lead a team of approximately 35 people, setting direction and ensuring high standards are met.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Additional Information

Please view our candidate information pack for full details about the role, key responsibilities person specification, and the criteria you will be assessed against throughout the recruitment process. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity, and feel that you meet the criteria, we would welcome your application.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £80,000, Ministry of Justice contributes £24,240 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 and Experience.For full details of the Selection Process and Recruitment Timeline, please view the Candidate Information pack.

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.