About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

DEPARTMENT    NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE
POST VACANT    Head of Digital - Grade 7 
Communications Team
LOCATION    London or Belfast
Occasional travel to Northern Ireland or London will be required
DURATION     Permanent
APPLICATIONS INVITED FROM    Existing civil servants and external candidates. 
PAY    London: £58,847- £66,670 National: £54,358- £61,585

SECURITY    Security to CTC level will be required for this role.

Inclusion and diversity 

The Northern Ireland Office is committed to being an inclusive employer with a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences.

We particularly welcome applications from ethnic minority candidates, as they are under-represented within the NIO at this level.

The Northern Ireland Office strives to be an inclusive employer and is recognised by its staff and externally as being an employer where Diversity and Inclusion are valued.

We are an accredited Disability Confident Leader organisation. We have an active D&I network supporting colleagues through D&I Advocates, championed by our Directors.

We want all our people to feel valued for who they are and we are confident that you will find the NIO a warm, welcoming and inclusive place to work.

What we do

The Northern Ireland Office represents Northern Ireland interests at a UK Government level and UK Government interests in Northern Ireland. 

We have a wide range of responsibilities, including: underpinning political stability in Northern Ireland; overseeing the Northern Ireland devolution settlement; leading on national security policy in Northern Ireland; delivering elections in Northern Ireland and playing a key role in rebalancing the NI economy. 

Our small size and diverse portfolio create a stimulating, fast-paced and challenging working environment, with regular engagement with a range of Ministers and senior officials. 

We support flexible working and have a modern, flexible IT system which helps enable this.

Summary

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic and highly motivated Head of Digital to work within the NIO’s communications team. This is a hands-on role, and the post-holder will be someone who can think strategically, write brilliantly and come up with innovative and creative approaches  to deliver the Northern Ireland Office’s message to our target audiences across its digital channels.

The NIO’s policy agenda is never far from the headlines. For a small department, we have a significant role in a number of areas that are at the heart of the UK government’s agenda: from supporting the political institutions at Stormont to helping to build a strong economic future for Northern Ireland. 

This post provides a great opportunity to work at the centre of government, on a fast-paced agenda to deliver tangible results for the people of Northern Ireland.

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing an insight-driven, audience-first digital strategy, and will work closely with others to incorporate this strategy into an overarching communications strategy for the department. 

They will manage an annual digital content calendar and be responsible for the creation and delivering of digital content and assets for use across our digital (gov.uk/nio) and social media channels. 

They will use their experience in digital media evaluation, and expertise in taking a multi-channel approach,  to effectively target key audiences.

The Head of Digital will also work with partners across the Territorial Offices and the wider Government Communication Service community to maintain a joined-up approach across the UK Government. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to work in an area demanding strategic oversight, leadership, and innovation. We can offer you a competitive package, an excellent range of training and development opportunities, a friendly and supportive team and, above all, the chance to play a key role in communicating on the most important issues in Northern Ireland today.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES

The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to: 

●    Design and deliver an insight-driven, creative and innovative digital communications strategy to grow audiences on NIO digital and social media channels, aligned to the Department’s wider organisational strategy and ensuring coherence in our external messaging;

●    Deliver an annual digital content calendar and digital campaign plan and manage the day-to-day handling of all social media channels such as LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram, adapting content to suit different channels and audiences;

●    Create and / or co-ordinate the creation of engaging multimedia content for use across multiple social platforms;

●    Provide overall editorial control to ensure appropriate content, messaging, tone and consistency in all communication;

●    Monitor, track, analyse and report on performance on social media platforms;

●    Review lessons learnt and compare with industry best practice to identify areas of improvement, taking an ongoing ‘test-and-learn’ approach;

●    Build collaborative relationships with colleagues across other UK Government Departments to share and harness best practice and innovation; 

●    Play a leading role in upskilling the wider communications team in digital communications to build resilience and capability;

●    Deputise when necessary for the Deputy Director of Communications. 

Personal attributes and skills

The successful candidate will have: 

Essential 

●    Proven experience working as part of a multi-functional team in a communications management role and managing multiple high profile social media accounts;
●    A track record of designing and implementing creative social media solutions, overseeing processes and projects and leading on evaluation;
●    Excellent written and oral communications skills, with the ability to distil complex messaging into digital content to reach a wide variety of audiences;
●    Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret and learn from digital performance data.
●    Strong planning, organisational and project management skills;
●    Deep understanding of media relations and the role of digital channels in managing news announcements. 
●    The ability  to develop strategic alliances with key external partners to amplify our messages and increase the reach and impact of our campaigns.

Desirable 

●    A strong understanding of the political and cultural landscape of Northern Ireland 

●    Experience of budget management and financial planning.

●    Active security clearance at CTC level

Other information:

●    Location can be either Belfast or London, with regular travel between the two.

●    Please note that a minimum of 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance. 

●    Where necessary, you may also be  expected to participate in a management back-up rota for the out-of-hours duty press officers, for which an allowance is paid. 

Selection process 

The selection process will consist of two stages:

Sift

You will be required to submit a statement of suitability no longer than 750 words. This should outline how you meet the essential and desirable criteria, as well as demonstrate what skills you will bring to the role and why it interests you.

Interview

The next stage will be an interview based on behaviours and those being assessed at interview will be:

Seeing the big picture
Communicating and influencing
Making effective decisions
Delivering at pace

Interviews are likely to be held in the week commencing 5 August, 2024. 

Contact Point for applicants

Job contact :
Name :         Darwin Templeton
Email :         darwin.templeton@nio.gov.uk
 
Recruitment team :
Email :         hrenquiriesnio@nio.gov.uk

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,358, Northern Ireland Office contributes £15,165 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.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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 counter-terrorist 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.