Strategic Communications Manager (Office for Students)

We’re looking for someone with strong interpersonal skills and a proven ability to drive strategic communications to join our busy team.
You’ll work to drive forward and co-ordinate communications around key strategic projects, including our work around equality of opportunity and fair access and participation. As Strategic Communications Manager, you will:
+ Develop a coherent, comprehensive narrative that describes the OfS's role in ensuring access, participation and success in higher education.
+ Work across policy, media, digital and internal communications colleagues to ensure communications launches and campaigns are planned and delivered effectively.
+ Develop and implement strategic communications plans.

+ You have outstanding written communication skills, in particular the ability to present complex policy and technical information in a clear, accessible way tailored to specific audiences.
+ You can quickly build trusted, effective working relationships with senior OfS leaders and team members
+ You have strong organisational and project management skills, including identifying risks and building optimal processes.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England – we regulate higher education on behalf of all students. Our mission is to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling higher education experience that enriches their life and career.

Our Total Reward Framework offers a range of benefits to suit your way of life:
+ 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
+ Comprehensive learning and development – we’re invested in your future
+ Generous Civil Service pension scheme
+ Health-related benefits, Alongside your salary of £51,846, Office for Students contributes £15,019 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ 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%, We love working flexibly because we know that it helps us all to do our best work. We’ve created a set of principles to shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two days in a typical week.
Closing date for applications: Sunday 13 October
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.