Chief Press Officer in Leeds

Are you a leader that can drive enthusiasm in a high performing team? Do you have a record of strong political understanding and news judgement, including in reactive and crisis communications? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Department for Transport (DfT) is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government. We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network, getting people and goods around the country. We plan and invest to make journeys better.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

The Department for Transport’s Press Office sits at the absolute heart of one of Whitehall’s most dynamic, exciting and newsworthy departments. It provides outstanding communications and advice on Secretary of State priorities, including driving up performance on the railways, improving bus services, and better integrating transport networks.

You will be joining an experienced communications team which never stops innovating. As a Chief Press Officer, you will play a key role in telling the transport story effectively to the media and wider public. You will manage a team and be expected to provide leadership for the wider office. Your experience will have given you regular contact with seniors and you should be able to confidently provide ministers with proactive media-handling advice on announcements, visits and speeches.

You will set up and manage media facilities, organise interviews, draft sharp reactive statements and brief journalists in order to generate and influence our coverage. You will also play a key role in our Senior Management Team. You will lead a team of press officers on one of our proactive briefs or our busy, reactive Newsdesk. You may also be required to lead our busy planning function, which works closely with No10 to plan our upcoming announcements.

We place a huge emphasis on learning & development and have worked hard to develop an inclusive culture where everyone’s opinion and insight are treated as important. Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Play an active role in the senior management team – thinking about the wellbeing and capability of the whole office, as well as your own team. You will have the confidence to bring your own ideas and challenge others to ensure sound decision-making.
• Coach your team to bring out the best in their ability and drive their continued development through regular objective setting.
• Manage a modern media team in developing proactive longer-term handling strategies that set the agenda across the full range of channels, including new media.
• Provide regular media-handling advice on policy briefs to the Transport Secretary, Ministers, senior officials and colleagues on sensitive, complex and high-profile issues.
• Develop strong relationships with journalists and brief them confidently and accurately, ensuring your team can do the same.
• Anticipate and spot breaking news stories and drive your team to issue swift, robust and appropriate responses.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process.