About the job

Job summary

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Our strategy for 2022-25 gives us a strong platform to show that we will use our powers to protect and promote equality and human rights, and that we have identified the main challenges in society where we can make a difference in our role as a regulator.

Job description

The Strategic Communications Business Partner is a key role in the Communications Directorate. You will work across the organisation to provide strategic communications advice to teams. You will lead/support the planning, delivery and evaluation of key projects.

Working as a Senior Associate at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, you will contribute to and/or lead work in support of the delivery of our Business Plan. Our Senior Associates have many opportunities for autonomy and responsibility and are able to work effectively across the Commission, contributing to the success of our projects and/or specialist areas of work. Working flexibly and collaboratively, you will be a self-starter who requires minimal supervision and oversight from senior colleagues. You will continue to hone your judgement and professional/technical skills, taking pride in your work and supporting/developing others.

As a Senior Associate, you will be a valued member of the Strategic Communications and Engagement Team. You will provide leadership on your areas of responsibility. You will have the opportunity to coach and mentor others, while also personally benefitting from coaching from others.

You will need to fulfil this role in a way that is in keeping with our values of fairness, dignity and respect, and display a high degree of flexibility, accountability and initiative.

You will:

• lead on short-term planning, including running a weekly grid check meeting and managing our forward look
• support the Head of Strategic Communications & Engagement with medium and longer-term planning and prioritisation, including gathering and sharing intelligence from other teams
• provide expert strategic communications advice across the Commission and identify opportunities to deliver regulatory impact through best-in-class communications campaigns
• plan, deliver and evaluate integrated communications activity to support high-profile and interesting projects (such as our work on human rights monitoring or to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace)
• provide the Director of Communications with a weekly update on high priority projects
• work on emerging projects/priorities under the supervision of the Senior Principal for Stakeholders and Insight or Head of Strategic Communications & Engagement.
  
  

Person specification

We are looking for a strategic communications expert who wants to use their knowledge, skills and experience to promote equality and human rights.

You must be able to think strategically and develop communications strategies that include clear objectives, audiences, implementation plans and success measures. You must be able to oversee the delivery and evaluation of these plans.

Collaborative working is a key feature of this role. You will work with all members of the Communications Directorate and with many colleagues across the organisation. You must be able to build strong relationships quickly, give trusted advice to other teams, and have strong influencing/negotiating skills.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills required include:

Essential

• Experience, knowledge and skills in strategic communications.
• Ability to plan, deliver and evaluate strategic communications plans to support our launches/announcements.
• Ability to lead on short-term planning of communications activity and to support our medium and longer-term planning.
• Ability to build strong relationships at pace with colleagues, including influencing/negotiating skills.
• Ability to provide expert strategic communications advice to colleagues, including on high-profile, complex and sensitive issues.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,228, Equality and Human Rights Commission contributes £11,401 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

How to apply

Please complete the online application before midnight on the closing date. No applications will be accepted after the closing time. We use an online application system called Applied to receive and process job applications. Applied is fully compliant with data protection legislation and rated highly in terms of accessibility (usable for the majority of candidates with or without disabilities). However, alternative accessible versions of the application form are available upon request – please contact us by email at peoplehelpdesk@equalityhumanrights.com if required.

At application, we will ask you 4-5 questions. Your answers will enable us to assess your suitability for the role and will help us decide whether to invite you to the next stage of the process. Please note however - if there is a high volume of applicants, an initial sift may take place on the essential criteria of ability to provide expert strategic communications advice to colleagues. If this takes place this means the recruiting panel will only screen the outlined criteria question and you may not receive feedback on your full application.

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.