About the job

Job summary

The Marketing & Communications (M&C) division plays a vital role in building the organisation’s awareness and reputation among audiences within and outside of government, in the UK and overseas. The team does this through a range of complementary specialisms, all of which work to four core communications competencies: insight, ideas, implementation, and impact.

The Press and Speechwriting Officer will directly work in M&C’s Press and Corporate Communications team, responsible for managing UKEF’s reputation and creating positive awareness among the public, the business community, government stakeholders and UKEF staff.

Job description

We are looking for a Press and Speechwriting Officer to join the team. In the role, you will be given the responsibility to work on high-profile marketing and communications content across the department. This includes writing speeches for the CEO and Ministers, as well as articles, blogs, and case studies. You will also be the editorial lead for the department’s Annual Report and Accounts and will help cultivate our core narrative.

You’ll need an eye for detail, excellent time management skills and a creative outlook. Outstanding writing and copy-editing skills are also essential.

In the role, you will work closely with the CEO and his Private Office to support his event calendar. This will include creating briefing documents for the CEO that include talking points and key messages.

Finally, the role holder will work with the wider Marketing and Communications team on communications planning, content creation, PR, and evaluation, which are the foundation of the division’s strategy.

Person specification

1. Work closely with the Senior Press Officer to plan, deliver, and evaluate media relations activities, including announcements, campaign activities and cross-government initiatives.
2. Lead on proactive PR, identifying and developing stories to generate positive coverage in regional, trade and stakeholder outlets to support UKEF’s marketing and communications campaigns.
3. Provide a speechwriting service to the CEO and ministers, owning the whole process from planning and drafting to sign off.
4. Respond to reactive media queries, draft responses, and manage sign-off.
5. Help manage UKEF’s core narrative and script, ensuring it is up to date and reflects the department’s wider messages.
6. Evaluate and monitor UKEF news and media coverage, identifying trends and key stories together with the Senior Press Officer.
7. Provide editorial, content and PR support to other communications, marketing, and business development activities, helping to ensure high-quality and consistently applied messaging across all channels.

This list is not exhaustive; the job holder may be required to carry out additional duties according to business need.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,000, UK Export Finance contributes £9,990 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, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.

You will be invited to complete the online application form.  The application form must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

All applications will be sifted against our minimum selection criteria outlined in the personal specification.

You will be asked in the relevant sections of the application form to provide examples of evidence against a range of the success profiles (refer to appendix 1).  Where applicants are asked to apply with a personal statement, you should fully articulate in 500 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience
2. Ability
3. Technical
4. Behaviours

In the event of a high volume of applications we will carry out an initial sift on the lead behaviour Managing a Quality Service.

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours/Technical/Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all four behaviours highlighted and your technical ability to successfully carry out the role.
2. Technical - a written exercise which will be sent out to you ahead of the interview slot, further details will be provided if you are successful at sift.
3. You will need to allow at 2 hours for your interview and written exercise - you will complete the written exercise first and your interview will follow straight after.

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview.

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.