Responsibilities

• Build, develop and maximise the performance of the Media Team, ensuring it is delivering against strategic and departmental objectives and maximising opportunity, via communications, to keep people safe, prevent and detect crime and provide public reassurance.
• Maintain and nurture positive relationships with media organisations and other key stakeholders, both in personal interactions and the style and approach adopted by team members, maximising opportunities to promote policing activity that reinforces the Force’s values, or reassuring and explaining if activity falls short of them, whilst helping to deliver our corporate narrative themes.
• Direct and manage the media teams’ processes and people, ensuring sufficient capability, capacity and resilience to provide a 24/7 media and communications service including its ability to flex across communications disciplines.
• Provide direction and expertise to the media team and colleagues across the department; overseeing their day-to-day approach and longer-term development to ensure all our communications are lawful, consistent, innovative, and cost and operationally effective. Take personal responsibility for the highest risk issues.
• Oversee media training delivered by the department to others in the Force; working closely with the Learning and Development Department on a structured annual programme of courses and providing ad-hoc training when required.
• Provide expert communications advice to others in the Force, most often at senior levels. This includes providing advice on higher-risk reactive incidents, including at Gold Groups, and setting the communications approach for longer-term more complex planned issues.
• Act as Silver Communications (or Gold if required) in the context of a major or critical incident, develop and direct the implementation of communications tactics, working to the Gold strategy, often in liaison with several partners and external stakeholders, to ensure public safety and confidence under our statutory warning and informing requirements, and assist operational tactics.
• Represent the media team in relation to HMICFRS inspections and provide input on behalf of the department.
• Budgetary responsibility, reporting to the Head of Department.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to the grade and character or work as may be reasonably required, including specific duties of a similar or lesser graded post, including deputising for the Deputy Head of the department.

Requirements

• Degree and NCTJ qualification or equivalent professional experience in journalism, media relations or PR.
• Significant experience in managing a news media or media relations function in a high profile and fast paced environment.
• Detailed knowledge of media law as applied across offline and online communications.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering effective organisation-wide and localised corporate communications strategies.
• Experienced line manager with strong evidence of nurturing the professional and personal development of teams, motivating others and managing relevant business and HR processes.
• Ability to autonomously and creatively problem-solve to create and deliver strategic solutions.
• Excellent formal and interpersonal communications skills, both verbal and written.
• Proven ability to negotiate and influence at all levels – including senior colleagues and key external stakeholders – with an ability to persuade under time or other pressures.
• Proactive, self-disciplined approach to tasks, with an ability to be flexible and work under pressure with minimal management direction.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft products including Word, Excel and SharePoint.

Benefits

• career progression
• contributory pension scheme (LGPS)
• generous annual leave allowance
• discounts for everyday spend
• on-site gyms and a range of sports clubs
• generous and supportive parental leave
• financial and mental wellbeing guidance and support
• discounted contributory healthcare scheme