About The Team

The successful candidate will be part of the further education and skills team – one of the most exciting policy areas in the Department for Education. Skills and training are at the heart of the government’s mission to not only recover post pandemic, but to thrive – giving individuals the opportunity to gain well paid jobs and giving employers the skills they need to grow. The team plan, create and deliver communications activity to support this skills revolution, which is underpinned by significant reforms to the further education sector.

The wider Directorate is made up of communication professionals across a whole range of specialisms, from insight and evaluation to external affairs and social media, based in London and Sheffield, who, between them, support all DfE priorities.

You will work very closely with the policy teams responsible for delivering the FE reform programme and will have contact with ministers and special advisors.

Your immediate team consists of a Strategic Communications Manager and Strategic Communications Lead for Further Education and skills, within the Strategic Communications and Campaigns team.

As a member of the Government Communication Service (GCS) you will champion best practice and adherence to the highest professional standards.

We are a supportive team and take the wellbeing and development of our staff seriously. There are lots of opportunities for training and professional development both within DfE and as part of the GCS.

About The Role

As a communicator with experience of working in a busy communication environment, you will help design and deliver strategic communication activities on complex briefs. Your communication activity will influence target audiences - including young people, change perceptions and attitudes and encourage adoption of new behaviours.

This is an exciting and complex brief, which is at the start of a long-term reform programme. As well as working on comprehensive communication strategies to support longer-term objectives (for example greater take up of technical education routes), you will also need to be able to react quickly and work on more short-term priorities (such as Secretary of State speeches or key announcements) or creative consumer media pitches, working with colleagues from across communications disciplines to deliver these.

This is an exciting policy area at the heart of government, and as such it essential that you are confident building proactive relationships with key external stakeholders, with strong interpersonal skills and an ability to develop partnerships and secure advocacy to support communications activity.