About the job

Job summary

The MOD’s Directorate of Defence Communications is a dynamic, exciting and innovative organisation. DDC’s mission is to protect and enhance the reputation of the Department and Armed Forces both internally and externally. 

We are looking for an experienced and ambitious individual to help a senior colleague establish a new function overseeing Partnerships and the full range of Non-News media projects (NNMPs) that Defence enters into.   

You will report to a Chief Communications Officer and help ensure high-profile documentaries, and new and existing partnerships between industry, business and the third sector are fully utilised in order to strengthen Defence’s communications campaigns.  

This role will seize on the huge opportunity for Defence to engage with third parties and secure advocacy, working closely with the hundreds of signatories to the Armed Forces Covenant programme.  

The other half of the role will be focused on NNMPs, which play a prominent role in the communications output of Defence and the Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force. Recent high-profile examples have included BAFTA nominated productions and programmes that have featured on Channel 4, BBC Three and Netflix. 

The role will also involve close collaboration with the Cabinet Office on large-scale marketing campaigns. 
 
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. 

The MOD’s Directorate of Defence Communications (DDC) is a dynamic, exciting and innovative organisation, focussed on telling the Defence story through a creative approach and putting the development of its people right at the heart of everything it does.  
 
We need a dynamic communicator, proven at bringing the message to the heart of the target audience. Adept at building relationships at all levels, with outstanding stakeholder management skills and used to working with ministers and senior figures, you will promote the work of our Armed Forces and veterans to a domestic and global audience.

Job description

You will have experience of: 
 
Delivering continuous campaign communications, with skills in media ops, media relations and content creation. This includes working with journalists and broadcasters and ensuring widespread opportunities for coverage. 

Engaging with external stakeholders, you will need excellent relationship management skills to establish new ways of telling the stories of UK Defence and its Armed Forces. 
 
Using insight and evaluation to deliver your objectives, actively striving to understand what makes your audience tick and how best to engage with them. 
 
Working with a wide range of channels from news and features, podcasts, agencies and digital, social and local radio. Producing engaging content tailored to a range of social platforms. Specifically, you will be skilled at identifying opportunities and choosing the right channel mix to reach your audience. 
 
Operating in a politically charged and sensitive environment, adept at horizon scanning and spotting opportunities and threats

Person specification

Key responsibilities are:  

Ability to spot collaboration opportunities. Experience of working with private sector partners to deliver results. Building strong working relationships with digital and social platforms, broadcasters, production companies, journalists, feature writers and wider channel owners to maximise output and coverage;  

Reviewing Non-News media projects (NNMP) bids from production companies and broadcasters and working with Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force closely; 

Reporting on campaign progress to senior members of the team; 
 
Managing long-range, proactive, multichannel/multimedia no cost/low cost campaigns. Using the OASIS framework throughout;  

Assisting in social media output for the team. Ensuring a balance between owned, earned and paid-for content; 
 
Providing direct, face-to-face handling advice to senior officials, the military, agencies and colleagues on sensitive, complex and often high-profile campaigns-related issues; 
 
Working with the plans team to develop opportunities for the Ministerial team alongside news activity; 
 
Building strong relationships across MOD and wider Defence (the single Services, PJHQ, DBS, DSTL etc) and with key stakeholders, including other Government, No10, Royal Communications and veterans’ charities.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,080, Ministry of Defence contributes £11,631 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, Experience and Technical skills.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include: job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability.

At sift, you will be assessed against 

• CV
• Statement of suitability 

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• GCS Competency - Ideas
• GCS Competency - Impact 

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.
The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk 

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.