Head Army Communications & Engagement
Ministry of Defence
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 3rd November 2024
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About the job
Job summary
Head Army Communications & Engagement sits at the heart of the British Army’s Strategic Centre and is responsible for managing proactive and reactive media and communications outputs, helping ensure the British Army is positively represented and the brand is managed. The post holder will orchestrate engagement and influence activity with the Army’s and Defence key strategic audiences and objectives. For the Army these strategic audience and objectives are: Allies respect us; Adversaries fear us; Government values us; Industry works with us; Society is proud of us, The best serve with us.
You will be accountable through the Assistant Chief of the General Staff (ACGS) to the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) and the Executive Committee of the Army Board (ECAB) as the principal professional advisor on communications and engagement and will be responsible for creating and delivering against both Defence’s and the British Army’s Communications and Engagement strategies.
Critical to success in the post will be building and maintaining effective and collaborative relationships with a range of stakeholders across defence, both internally and externally. These will include Head International, Industry and Prosperity within Army Headquarters in relation to achieving effects orientated to industry and allies/partners, as well as commander and staff in Headquarters Field Army, Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, Home Command, and Joint Aviation Command.
Job description
The current responsibilities of the role include:
- Leading and managing the British Army Media, Communications and Strategic Engagement Teams – building a high performing, agile and diverse team that delivers high quality outputs and puts strategic engagement and communications at the heart of decision making in the British Army.
- Leading the planning and execution of the annual communications and engagement strategy planning cycle, assuring all activities undertaken by the enterprise. Including ensuring that the strategy is aligned with the wider Defence communications strategy. Promote the British Army through a powerful brand (and branding) and build advocacy for the service.
- Leadership on reactive and reputational issues, assessing threats, seizing opportunities and where appropriate advising on activity and responses.
- Act as Government Commercial Service’s senior communications advisor, representing the Army within the Ministry Of Defence and with key stakeholders both internal to government and from external organisations.
- As a member of the Assistant Chief of the General Staff senior management team, contribute to the leadership, management and direction of the Army Strategic Centre.
- As a Senior Civil Servant Communications Professional, support Director Defence Communications to lead the communications function across the Ministry of Defence.
- Provide specialist communications and engagement input as a standing member of specific Defence boards and committees.
Person specification
The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:
- A proven track record, at Board Level, of communication management and managing reputational issues that could affect the favourability towards a team’s brand.
- Experience in making difficult decisions using sound communications judgement to provide strategic advice and constructive challenge and support to senior officials and subject matter experts.
- Strong leadership credentials with the ability to build, motivate and empower diverse and high performing teams, demonstrating your ability to develop individuals to their full potential whilst fostering an inclusive and continuous improvement culture.
- Proven experience of being able to build a strong network of relationships at all levels, with a strong collaborative approach. You will also need to demonstrate how you’ve been able to build successful relationships, with a strong vision of winning and retaining the trust of peers and senior stakeholders.
- A proven track record of engaging and influencing a wide variety of colleagues, especially at Board and senior executive level.
- Experience of working to deliver outputs with delegated budgets. You will need be able to demonstrate your ability to consider effective use of organisation’s money, whilst being able to drive value for money initiatives.
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application by no later than 23:55 on Sunday 3rd November 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:
- A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, in reference to the essential criteria.
Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
We will also be offering an online Q&A session on Wednesday 30th October between 10:00 - 10:45 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
