ACL Social Media & Communications Officer in Chelmsford

Permanent, Full Time

£29,468 up to £34,668 per annum

Location: Countywide

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

The Role

Adult Community Learning (ACL) Essex is Essex County Council’s provider of lifelong learning experiences for Essex residents. ACL Essex offers qualifications to help people move nearer to, enter or progress within the workplace or gain skills to enhance life chances. The service focuses many of its programmes and activities on the hardest to reach communities within Essex. ACL Essex learners have access to a diverse range of accredited and non-accredited courses which encourage creativity, healthy lifestyles, social inclusion and engagement.

The Opportunity

The Social Media and Communications Officer creates engaging, accessible content that builds ACL’s brand, community and lead generation. The role manages day-to-day social channels, monitors engagement and sentiment, and coordinates reactive and planned communications across internal and external audiences. Working across teams, the post holder tells compelling learner and employer stories, maintains a consistent tone of voice, and demonstrates measurable impact through clear objectives, data-informed decisions and continual improvement. The post holder will bring strong creative and digital communication skills, producing engaging, accessible content that enhances ACL’s brand and community reach. They will have experience managing daily social media activity, monitoring engagement and sentiment and coordinating reactive and planned communications. Collaborative and story focused, they will maintain a consistent tone of voice and use data, analytics and continual improvement to demonstrate clear impact.

Accountabilities

• Plan and publish content across priority channels (for example LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube), creating copy, visuals and short-form video with approvals coordinated and accessibility standards met, including alternative text and captions to increase brand awareness, engagement and lead generation.
• Engage with audiences, respond to enquiries and escalate safeguarding matters or complaints appropriately to enable the protection of learners and uphold service standards.
• Support paid social activity and implement tracking for measurement using Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters to measure reach, engagement and conversion performance.
• Maintain a content calendar aligned with recruitment cycles, national campaigns and local events to support timely and consistent communications.
• Gather learner and employer case studies for multi-channel use to promote ACL’s impact and success stories.
• Monitor analytics (reach, engagement and conversions) and produce monthly reports with recommendations to improve content effectiveness and audience engagement.
• Ensure brand consistency and compliance with ACL and council communications policies and public service protocols.
• Support internal communications for staff updates and service announcements when required.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF Level 4 in marketing, communications or a related discipline or equivalent experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development in digital communications, content creation or social media management.
• Demonstrable experience managing social‑media channels and producing accessible, engaging content across multiple platforms.
• Strong writing, editing and basic visual‑design and video‑editing skills, including use of tools such as Canva or Adobe products and effective captioning.
• Confident using analytics dashboards and publishing platforms, with an understanding of UTM tracking and conversion‑funnel metrics.
• Ability to work calmly under pressure, using sound judgement when responding publicly and escalating safeguarding or complaints appropriately.
• Commitment to inclusive communications, public‑sector values and maintaining brand consistency across all channels.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs. At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Further details can be found on our careers page.