Head of Strategic Communications

As Head of Strategic Communications you will be responsible for producing Acass Annual Communications and External Affairs Plan and overseeing its progress, as part of the organisations overarching Acas Strategy and Business Plan.

You will develop strategy, oversee audience segmentation, and create compelling messages, evaluation frameworks and success measures. You will also oversee programme management, long-term campaign development and message development, in partnership with the Head of Media and Marketing.

You will be a trusted adviser to policy and operational colleagues, to understand their objectives and work collegiately with our Head of Media and Marketing to advise on the best communications approaches to fulfil those objectives, including income targets.

You will lead our communications and external affairs governance, being responsible for a steering group, managing consultation with the Acas Council and Chair and ensuring strong change control and risk management.

This is a highly collaborative influencing role you will be coordinating, facilitating and engaging with senior internal colleagues to ensure the whole organisation is focused on delivering our strategic communications and external affairs ambitions, messages and agreed outcomes.

The main accountabilities of this role are -

• External Communications and External Affairs Strategy and Planning - responsible for the broad communications approach across Acas. This includes: identifying priority audiences; developing objectives and desired outcomes, aligning with Government priorities where appropriate.
• Deliver an Annual Communications and External Affairs Strategic Plan, launch and campaign plans, quarterly forward look and fortnightly Grid. You will collaborate with senior leaders to align these strategies and each teams channel/functional plans.
• Strategic comms evaluation Lead formal annual evaluation and informal lessons learnt to drive impact, oversee occasional communications evaluative research.
• Insight and messaging - Lead research to understand our target audiences attitudes, habits and preferences to ensure Acas communications have impact, using data, personas and segmentations to target messages. Create compelling messages and manage occasional message research.
• Governance responsible for communications governance, managing a Comms Steering Group, overseeing performance reports, analysing campaign performance and progress against KPIs and ensuring good decision-making and change control. Coordinate external assurance, such as Council or Audit, and overseereporting and data to the CEO and Board as required.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion provide oversight to ensure Acas communications and external affairs represents the society served, is accessible and fulfils PSED obligations. Oversee team equality impact assessments.
• Effectively manage resources and budget for the team, which will have a small research and evaluation budget.

More broadly as a communications professional you will:

• Uphold good engagement and communications principles and best practice to improve the quality of external communications and stakeholder engagement across the organisation within GCS best practice.
• Ensure all activities are clear, simple and consistent with other Government organisations, managing duplication and minimising complexity.
• Keep processes simple, proportionate and user-focused, promote opportunities for continuous improvement, efficiency, innovation including use of AI, and transformation.
• Ensure good use of public money and value for money across all activities, flexing resources, making good use of AI and technology to deliver within limited budgets.

More broadly as a Strategy and External Affairs team Manager you will:

• Promote diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, respecting difference and external experience. This is a core value of the Directorate. Be self-aware and role-model continuous self-learning and development. Collaborate with others to achieve our goals.Work flexibly and collaboratively with those across the Directorate and wider Acas and live the Acas
• Uphold Civil Service Values, Public Service Codes of Conduct and Gov Comms propriety and ethics.
• Represent the function at internal forums.
• Role model Acas leadership behaviours.
• Effectively manage resources and budget for the team.

Who we are

Acas exists to make working life better for everyone in Britain. We are the experts in workplace matters, were impartial, so were not on anyones side. That means were working for everyone to help prevent, manage and resolve workplace issues.

Acas helps employers and employees by providing information, advice, training, conciliation and other services that prevent, manage or resolve workplace problems.

Acas: Britains Workplace Experts

Acas has been recognised for its Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion awards; it has been Disability Confident Highly Commended, a Pay Gap award winner, and an Overall winner for public sector organisations. Acas is committed to providing services and developing policies which embrace diversity, promote equality of opportunity and eliminate unlawful discrimination.

Essential Criteria

Experience:

• Communications Strategy - experience managing external communications/affairs/public affairs planning and influencing activity particularly media, marketing, external affairs, Government Affairs and influencing systems. (Lead criterion)
• Governance experience of programme/project management, working with Boards, co-ordinating reporting and decision-making.
• Relationships - Strong communication and negotiation skills having worked with senior leaders to understand businesses requirements and an ability to develop trusted and authoritative two-way relationships. Experience of working with external stakeholders on joint communications activity.
• Insight experience of using audience insight to develop communications plans. Experience using communications, audience, insight, channel or message research. Experience creating, using audience personas and segmentations. Experience commissioning or managing communications, audience, insight, channel or message research.
• Messaging excellent skills writing key messages and developing capability in others. Excellent written and verbal briefing skills with effective personal impact and confidence in verbal and written briefings to senior leaders.

Desirable Criteria - (the following will be assessed only in the event of tie-breaker scenarios):

Experience:

• Sector knowledge -Experience in strategic External Communications/Affairs in any of the following: government departments; Parliament; think tanks; non-profit; business and industry; and/or trade associations on issues relating to workplace policy, employment rights and challenges facing employers and employees in the GB market.

Qualification:

• Third level qualification in business strategy, Degree or Masters relevant to public policy, business management, communications or external affairs or equivalent experience at a senior level.
• Professional Communications Qualification.

Date: Tuesday 11 August

Time: 1PM - 2PM

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