About the job

Job summary

The Head of Communication leads a busy multi-disciplinary team responsible for media relations, internal communication, digital communication, branding and public information.

SFO communication generates hundreds of national media reports and deals with over 1,000 media queries a year. The function runs a busy intranet and a full range of internal engagements, alongside managing sfo.gov.uk and a booming social media presence.

As the most senior communication professional in the organisation, you will have significant autonomy to shape the SFO’s communication strategy, and develop a strategic communication function which meets Government Communication Service best practice and is a great place to work.

You will advise the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, its Board and Senior Leadership Team on key external and internal communication matters, working closely with case teams within the SFO as well as communication counterparts in the Attorney General’s Office.

This is an 18-month fixed-term opportunity (August 2024 to February 2026), which is also available to existing Civil Servants or employees of public bodies as a loan or secondment.

Job description

As a Head of Communication you will be responsible for:

• Achieving 2024-2025 communication objectives, ensuring the communication strategy is adapted as appropriate, and – in time – setting a strategy for the year 2025-2026 based on the evaluation of existing efforts. This will include further development of:
  • The SFO brand, high-level narratives, top proactive communication opportunities, and media relations.
  • The communication skills and profile of the SFO’s spokespeople.
  • The SFO’s broadcast media capability.
  • The SFO’s digital channels including website and social media.
  • A professional internal communication function.
• Advising the Director, Board and Senior Leadership Team on emerging opportunities, and serving as a member of the Business Continuity Group and relevant Gold Groups to manage the response to potential incidents.
• Direct line management of the Deputy Head of Communication (Band B) and Head of Internal Communication (Band B), while fostering the most supportive environment for all members of a very busy team.
• Developing SFO communication and public information policies and processes, in the context of a changing organisation under Director Nick Ephgrave QPM’s new five-year strategy.

For more information about the role and for a full list of key responsibilities, please see attached Job Pack.

Person specification

See above and attached Job Pack.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,672, Serious Fraud Office contributes £18,271 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

Application stage

As part of the application process you will be required to provide:

• A personal statement of no more than 500 words that explains how your skills and experience meet each of the essential experience criteria as listed in the job pack.
• A supporting CV outlining your job history and qualifications.

It will not be possible to provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful at the application stage.

Interview stage

Experience criteria as outlined in the job pack will be tested at interview. 

Full details of the interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates in the invite to interview.

Sift to take place from 14 May 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place w/c 27 May 2024.

All dates are indicative and subject to change.

This is a fixed-term appointment for 18 months with a possibility of extension (subject to business need).

For permanent civil servants joining the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on a Fixed-term Appointment:

Please note if you accept a Fixed-term Appointment with the SFO the preferred option is for you to transfer from your home department on a loan basis to ensure you can return to your home department at the end of the Fixed-term Appointment. Exceptionally, if a transfer on a loan basis cannot be agreed by your home department, you would transfer to the SFO on the basis that you would lose your permanent Civil Service status but retain your continuity of employment. However, if you face a redundancy situation at the end of the Fixed-term Appointment you will be treated as a permanent civil servant for redundancy and redeployment purposes only. You must have two years’ service to be eligible for redundancy benefits under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Therefore you should be aware that when your Fixed-term Appointment at the SFO comes to an end, your employment in the Civil Service will end, unless:

• an extension to your Fixed-term Appointment has been agreed by the SFO.
• a conversion to permanent status has been agreed by the SFO.
• you are successfully redeployed into a suitable alternative post
• you secure another Civil Service post through a recruitment process.

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.