Media Lead in Walthamstow

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO4 £49,056 - £52,194

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 10/06/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): 18/06/2026

Reference: 2153

About Us: Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

We are a Home Office–licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require.

About the role: As Media Lead, you will deliver and co-ordinate the council’s day-to-day media relations, responding to media enquiries and proactively pitching stories to a broad range of local, regional, national and trade outlets, including in print, online and broadcast. You will produce engaging and accurate content and advise senior officers and Members on the full range of media-related matters. You will contribute to crisis communications, public awareness campaigns and integrated communications strategies, while ensuring press activity reflects Waltham Forest’s priorities, values and voice. You will ensure a good balance between timely, reactive interventions and planned, proactive coverage, particularly longer-lead packages and features, where the council’s narrative has greater likelihood of being carried unmediated and in full. You will ensure key messages and positioning narratives are present throughout all of our media activities, and produce press releases, spokesperson briefings and factual/data briefs for journalists. You will also organise photoshoots and press events as required. You will maintain and develop a strong network of media contacts, ensure monitoring and evaluation of key media moments, and produce copy of your own including for Waltham Forest News and Resident News.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support and deliver the Council’s media relations strategy, pitching broadcast packages, features and editorial, while ensuring timely, accurate, and politically sensitive responses to media enquiries across local, regional and national platforms.
• Prepare written and verbal content for multiple audiences.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key journalists, editors and media outlets to proactively promote the Council’s work and secure balanced coverage.
• Draft and produce high-quality written materials including press releases, media statements, Q&As, lines to take, op-eds and media briefings, as well as articles for council publications.
• Manage the Council’s press office forward planning grid and daily operations, including logging, triaging and tracking media activity.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the communications team to integrate media work into wider campaigns and corporate strategies.
• Apply audience insight, data, and evaluation findings to inform media strategy development.
• Ensure all media interventions are supported by a coherent narrative framework.
• Contribute to the Council’s crisis communication response, supporting reactive media campaigns and communications activity as required.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent standard.
• Ability to work in an agile fashion to respond to internal or external crises.
• Experience of leading high-profile campaigns that have supported the delivery of key strategic objectives.
• Knowledge of different media campaign approaches and methods.
• Experience in evaluating and reviewing media campaigns.
• Experience of using insight and data to create communications plans.
• Experience of crisis management.
• Experience of providing advice and briefing to senior managers and/or elected members on media and reputation issues.
• Experience of working in a highly pressured environment and delivering results to tight deadlines.
• Deep understanding of local and national media landscape.
• Strong awareness of political and reputational risk.
• Ability to analyse media performance and draw insights.
• Strong background in media relations, journalism or public sector communications.
• Proven ability to find solutions to public relations problems and take necessary action.
• A strong understanding and knowledge of national, regional, local and specialist press relevant to local government and Waltham Forest’s communities.
• An understanding of local government, the services provided by local councils, and the responsibilities a council has to its residents.
• Excellent writing skills with a clear, concise and lively prose style, and the ability to write for a range of different audiences.
• Excellent oral communications skills and the ability to maintain effective relationships at every level of an organisation.
• Ability to translate complex information into a clear and approachable format for a wide range of audiences.
• Excellent attention to detail, strong organisational skills and the ability to operate to tight deadlines in highly pressured environments.

Terms and conditions:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;

How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

Contact Information: If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Nick Dovey, Senior Media Manager at Nick.Dovey@walthamforest.gov.uk. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Fraud Awareness Notice: The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic). We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process. If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information. If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to: fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk.