About the job

Job summary

As DWPs Director of Communications, you will be instrumental in promoting and supporting the Government’s agenda and acting as trusted adviser to the Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary to achieve their goals through communication and building DWP’s reputation. You will work directly to the Permanent Secretary and work closely with our Executive team, managing all public and internal communication, engagement to support welfare reform outcomes and driving some of the most significant behaviour change campaigns in government to support over 20 million customers.​

​You will enable the DWP senior leadership team to inform, inspire and mobilise the 80,000+ frontline DWP employees, without whom the public would not receive their benefits, gain the help they need to get back into employment, or draw the pension that rewards a lifetime of work. As group Head of Profession, you will connect government and public bodies with all parts of society through powerful, innovative and joined-up communication. You will be accountable for communications strategy, spend and professional standards across the department’s network of agencies and other bodies. ​

Job description

You will play an active corporate senior leadership role within DWP, leading 150 communications staff with a £17m budget, and as part of the wider Government Communications Service to:​

• Plan public communications to support the implementation of policy and change in this large delivery organisation​
• Manage communications responses to issues that incite significant media interest​
• Drive a high-quality communication and engagement programme. 

Person specification

Essential Criteria for the role which will be used to assess your application. ​

• You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Director level in the Senior Civil Service. ​
• The successful candidate must be able to evidence their expertise and experience in the following areas:​
• Proven success in leading the development and implementation of compelling and creative communication strategies in a large and complex organisation and the ability to enable and drive organisational priorities​
• Evidence of a broad range of communication skills and leadership across media relations, reputation management, corporate and internal communications on a large scale; proven ability to respond quickly, appropriately and imaginatively to controversial issues; be resilient and able to remain calm under pressure​
• Highly developed interpersonal and influencing skills, with the ability to establish credibility quickly with a diverse network of stakeholders up to Board and/or Ministerial (or equivalent) level, and to present complex issues simply and effectively​
• A track record of inspiring leadership, in particular evidence of creating an inclusive environment and acting as a thought-leader and source of expertise and innovation to set professional standards, future capabilities, strategies and driving continuous improvement in communication delivery​
• Proven sound management of resources and large budgets, including identifying and realising no- and low-cost ways of delivering communications.​

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

Application ​

To apply for this post please submit the following information no later than 28th January 2024 @ 23:55pm. All applications must be submitted via the following link: www.odgers.com/90674​

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years;​​
• A supporting statement (maximum 1250 words) explaining why you want to work for DWP in this role; how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification. ​​

Please note that when you make your application online, you will be asked to complete diversity monitoring information too.​​

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the  job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.​​

Your application will be acknowledged by Odgers Berndtson.​

For further information regarding the selection process, please see Candidate Pack attached.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.