4049 - Head of Communications, Engagement & Partnerships for the Disused Tips Authority

Job summary

Important: The Disused Tips Authority for Wales will be established as an independent Welsh Public Body and separate legal entity on 1 April 2027. Until then, these roles will be hosted by the Welsh Government, providing a unique opportunity to help create and shape a new national organisation from the outset.

Successful candidates will initially be employed by the Welsh Government before transferring to the Disused Tips Authority when it becomes operational on 1 April 2027, with continuity of employment maintained throughout.

The Disused Tips Authority is a separate organisation from the Welsh Government. Please disregard any Welsh Government guidance, policies or recruitment information linked within this advert and refer to the accompanying Candidate Information Pack for information relevant to this vacancy.

To learn more about the Authority's purpose, ambitions, culture, values, benefits and recruitment journey, please review the Candidate Information Pack and recruitment video.

Help build a new public body for Wales: Disused Tips Authority for Wales

General Candidate Information Pack - 2026 Recruitment CampaignThis is a unique opportunity to shape the voice, reputation and strategic direction of a new national organisation, helping establish the Disused Tips Authority as a trusted public body and a recognised centre of excellence in public safety, engagement and transparent communication.

Help shape the voice of one of Wales' newest public organisations.

The Disused Tips Authority for Wales is being established as the national public body responsible for overseeing the safety, management and regulation of disused tips across Wales. Operating in a high-profile, safety-critical environment, our success will depend not only on the quality of our technical work, but on the trust and confidence we build with the communities we serve, our partners and the wider public.

As Head of Communications & Partnerships, you will play a critical leadership role in establishing that trust from day one. You will shape how the Authority communicates, engages and builds relationships, ensuring people understand our purpose, our decisions and the actions we take to keep communities safe. Your work will help create confidence through clear, transparent and consistent communication, particularly when discussing complex issues and risk.

Job description

This is a broad strategic role. Alongside leading all aspects of communications, engagement and stakeholder partnerships, you will be responsible for translating the Board's strategic vision into the Authority's Corporate Plan, ensuring our priorities are clearly articulated and aligned across the organisation.

The role is both inward and outward facing:

• Internally, you will create a shared sense of purpose, helping colleagues understand our strategy, values and priorities.

• Externally, you will build trusted relationships with communities, partners, government and stakeholders, strengthening confidence in the Authority and its work.

Person specification

Key Tasks

Building trust through communication

You'll develop and lead the Authority's communications strategy, ensuring our internal and external communications are clear, accessible and consistent. You'll help explain complex technical issues in ways that build understanding, confidence and public trust.

Engaging communities and partners

You'll develop meaningful relationships with communities, local authorities, Welsh Government, industry, regulators and other partners, ensuring people feel informed, listened to and involved in the Authority's work.

Shaping our organisational identity

You'll help establish the Authority's reputation as a trusted, transparent and distinctively Welsh public organisation, developing our corporate narrative, brand and public profile from the outset.

Supporting strategic delivery

You'll lead the development, publication and communication of the Authority's Corporate Plan and operational plans, ensuring colleagues and stakeholders understand how our priorities translate into delivery and public outcomes.

Leading communications in a high-profile environment

You'll provide strategic communications advice to the Chief Executive, Executive Team and Board, supporting media relations, public affairs and stakeholder engagement in a politically sensitive and highly scrutinised environment.

Developing people and capability

You'll build and lead a high-performing Communications & Partnerships team, creating an environment where people can thrive, develop professionally and deliver excellent outcomes.

Successful candidates will demonstrate substantial senior-level experience in communications, engagement, public affairs, stakeholder relations, partnership management or closely related disciplines, with a proven track record of building stakeholder confidence and delivering organisational outcomes.

Technical Capabilities

Important: The technical capabilities listed below will be assessed throughout the selection process. Please refer to these capabilities when preparing your application and provide evidence of how you meet them through your qualifications, skills and experience.

Strategic Communications & Engagement

• Developing and delivering organisation-wide communications and engagement strategies.

• Translating complex or technical information into clear, accessible and engaging communications.

Stakeholder & Partnership Management

• Building trusted relationships with government, public bodies, communities and partner organisations.

• Influencing and collaborating across organisational boundaries to deliver shared outcomes.

Reputation & Public Confidence

• Protecting and enhancing organisational reputation.

• Leading communications within politically sensitive, high-profile or highly scrutinised environments.

Strategic Planning & Delivery

• Supporting the development and communication of organisational strategy, corporate plans or major programmes.

• Aligning communications activity to organisational priorities and measurable outcomes.

Leadership & Team Development

• Leading and developing communications or engagement teams.

• Creating a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and professional excellence.

Communication & Judgement

• Providing strategic advice to senior leaders on communications, stakeholder engagement and reputation.

• Exercising sound judgement when managing complex, sensitive or rapidly evolving issues.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Our Technical CapabilitiesImportant: Please find our Technical Capabilities noted under Key Tasks
• Please describe the qualifications, professional memberships, chartership and relevant experience you hold that demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for this role.

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

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Welsh Government, like all other Government Departments use Success Profiles when we recruit. For each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job. It raises performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

The selection process and stages are:

Number of Stages:2 stage processStage 1Application FormStage 2Interview

Assessment Weightings

Where more than one appointable candidate is identified, the following criteria will be applied in the order listed below:

1. Demonstration of our values, including trust-building and alignment with the organisation's purpose and culture.
2. Technical capability in communications, engagement and partnership development.
3. Relevant experience in leading teams, building stakeholder confidence and delivering successful outcomes.
4. Desirable criteria, including Chartered status or membership of a relevant professional body (or evidence of working towards this), together with experience of working within public sector or regulated environments.
5. Welsh language skills.

Additional Assessment Activities

Important: Technical Capabilities' are set out under Key Tasks.

A presentation on Technical Competence will be required at Interview. More information will be provided in the invitations to that stage.

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment criterion: technical capabilities. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Our Values

We assess candidates against our TIPS values: Trust-Building, Integrity-Led, Purpose-Driven and Skilled & Collaborative. Full details of our values and culture can be found in the Candidate Information Pack.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for these opportunities. Candidates offered reserve status will remain on the reserve list until the Disused Tips Authority is established in April 2027. Those placed on the reserve list will only be considered for opportunities within the Disused Tips Authority and will not be considered for Welsh Government vacancies.

Desirable

The following qualities are desirable and will only be considered where two or more candidates achieve the same score at the application or interview stage.

1. It would be desirable for candidates to hold, or be working towards, Chartered status or membership of a relevant professional body appropriate to the role, and to have demonstrable experience working within public sector or regulated environments.

2. Welsh Language Ability. The Disused Tips Authority is committed to operating as a bilingual organisation and providing services in both Welsh and English. We want our workforce to reflect the communities we serve and play an active role in promoting and normalising the use of Welsh in the workplace.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Disused Tips Authority
• Email : DisusedTipsAuthorityJobs@gov.wales

Recruitment team

• Email : SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales

Further information

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition. Please see the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles on the Commission's website.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and wish to make a complaint please email complaints@gov.wales. Please ensure that you refer to the vacancy reference number.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Welsh Government, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: info@csc.gov.uk