Press Officer in London

This post can be based in London (1 Horse Guards Road) or Darlington (Feethams House).

If you are interested in making a difference to people's lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a cross-government hub bringing people together to tackle key national issues while working closer to the communities we serve.

We currently have a Press Officer position on our newly expanded reactive News desk – the frontline of HM Treasury's media operation. You will be operating at the very heart of government, shaping how the biggest stories are reported and helping people understand issues that affect their daily lives. In this fun and fast-paced role, you will be helping to lead and develop a team handling daily media queries from journalists, ensuring responses and advice are of the highest standard alongside overseeing timely media monitoring, updates and evaluations.

Responsibilities Include:

• Reactive media management - dealing with breaking stories, quickly drafting and providing well-written statements and information to journalists, and keeping the department updated on news coverage.
• News management - the ability to quickly spot both potential problems and opportunities to insert a positive government voice.
• Providing regular and timely media monitoring and insight of departmental issues for the department.
• Providing regular media handling advice to Ministers, officials and colleagues on sensitive, complex and high-profile issues.
• Creating summaries of the day's coverage and expected stories for the wider department.
• Working at pace with policy and wider HMT comms to create sharp, insightful media lines.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with Ministers, officials, journalists, stakeholders and colleagues in other departments.
• Media operations - assisting on ministerial media visits, including issuing operational notes and assisting with media on the day.

Alongside these responsibilities, you will also take part in our out-of-hours duty rota. This will involve proactively monitoring for breaking news and coverage that might require correction or clarification, providing swift and effective responses to requests for comment and keeping the department updated.

Candidate Drop-In Session

The hiring manager will be running a candidate drop-in session to give you greater insight about the role and HM Treasury and ask any questions you might have. If you would like to join us, use the link below to join the call at the right time.

Tuesday 17th February 2026 @ 10:30

If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact Daniel Lapedus.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Application Stage

Applications should consist of a CV including your employment history, and a 250-word statement demonstrating evidence of each of the below shortlisting criteria. Your CV and employment history won't be scored. It's used to give context to your application and support discussions at interview.

The panel will review applications and invite those that best demonstrate evidence of the shortlisting criteria below for interview. Please keep this in mind when writing your application.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Eligibility Statement

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this.

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Counter Terrorist Check (CTC).

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.