About the job

Job summary

Ofgem is dedicated to guaranteeing a reliable, cost-effective, and eco-friendly energy supply for all UK homes and businesses. Positioned at the forefront of progressing towards Net Zero and achieving a carbon-neutral energy system, our initiatives positively influence both consumers and the environment.

We’re actively seeking a seasoned Senior Public Relations Manager (Senior PR Manager) eager for a new opportunity in the public sector.

Working in our Media Office and collaborating with our Campaigns and Channels team, you will play a pivotal role in executing our most prominent and extensive campaigns, ensuring our messages reach the intended audiences.

This role involves leading our most impactful and widespread campaigns, aiming to reach key audiences with our messages using a range of channels, including media and digital to ensure consumers have the information they need to manage their energy bills and informing industry partners about sector changes.

Your role will involve innovative PR activities that are in sync with our overarching strategy and campaign plans. You will also build relationships across Ofgem to help you seek out interesting policies that can be turned into engaging content.

As a Senior PR Manager, you will develop a proactive PR strategy that seamlessly integrates with our other work strands and overarching communications strategy. This will include pitching stories and feature ideas to media desks to generate positive print, broadcast, and online coverage about Ofgem and its activities.

In this role, you will develop and manage public relations programs aligned with Ofgem’s key priorities. Responsibilities include overseeing PR plans and budgets and working with teams to assess the impact on Ofgem’s reputation.

You’ll help design consumer surveys and review promotional materials, while building and maintaining relationships with important stakeholders, including government officials, media, and partners.

You will ensure our content strategy aligns with PR activities. You will play a vital role in the Media Office leadership team, support senior leadership, and contribute to our thought leadership strategy, leveraging PR to enhance Ofgem's influence across various audiences.

Join Ofgem and be instrumental in shaping the future of energy regulation and sustainability. This is your chance to be part of a dynamic team that's making a significant impact. Don't miss this opportunity – apply now and make a difference.

Please outline in your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria in the accompanying attachment (not more than 1250 words).

Job description

The energy sector is going through an unprecedented period of change and transformation. In the near-term, with high and volatile gas prices, Ofgem must ensure that energy consumers are protected, and our energy system is reliable and resilient. Simultaneously, Ofgem must support the transformation to a net zero and data-enabled future. We’re on the lookout for an experienced Public Relations Manager (PR Manager) who is looking for a new challenge in the public sector.

You’ll be working on our most high-profile, wide-reaching campaigns to get our messages in front of the people we need to see them. Whether that’s helping consumers get information to support them with their energy bills, or industry partners we need to let know about changes to the sector.

You’ll be working within our Media Office but closely linked with our Campaigns and Channels team as you deliver forward-thinking PR activity that aligns to our top-level strategy and campaign plans.

You’ll also have an important role in analysing the success of our PR work as part of our bigger picture activity and be able to learn from what we do, iterate, and improve for future projects.

Much of the work you do will be to support low/no-cost projects so you will also need to be able to bring ingenuity and creativity to the role to make maximum impact.

We operate a Flexible Resourcing model. Longer term you may have the opportunity to work flexibly across Ofgem supporting on a range of projects or may have a longer deployment within a team where you have in-demand specialist skills, knowledge, and expertise.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

• Develop our proactive PR strategy, linking this to our other work strands and top-level communications strategy
• Pitching stories and feature ideas to media desks, generating positive print, broadcast and online coverage about Ofgem and its work.
• Plan, implement and manage public relations programs aligning to wider Ofgem priorities and campaigns
• Plan and budget for PR initiatives 
• Work with our campaign team to holistically assess the impact of our work and its impact on Ofgem’s reputation
• Help design our consumer testing surveys, working closely with our Consumer Research team
• Help to design and reviewing Ofgem’s promotional and marketing materials 
• Establish relationships with potential partners that can be used in the future to spread messaging
• Work closely with our Campaigns and Channels team to ensure content published on our own channels aligns to planned PR activity
• Build long-term relationships with all relevant stakeholders, such as local government, media people, politicians, etc.
• Play an active role in the Media Office leadership team, aligning your work with the wider team priorities
• Work closely with the Ofgem Speechwriter and Private Office to work out how we amplify our senior leadership engagements
• Feed in to our thought leadership strategy, identifying how we can use PR opportunities to grow our voice amongst various audiences

Essential Criteria

Please ensure you demonstrate clearly within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria below (not more than 1250 words). In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below.

• Extensive working experience as a Public Relations Specialist in a large, complex organisation (LEAD)
• A proven track record of running successful PR campaigns 
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Outstanding organizational and time management skills
• Excellent stakeholder and media management skills

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,650, OFGEM contributes £11,785 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.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.