Art Director - NMU - GCS

Job summary

The New Media Unit (NMU) is part of the Government Communication Service (GCS) and sits within the Cabinet Office. The NMU was established in November 2024 with the clear goal to reach, connect, and rebuild trust with audiences in the most effective way possible. Our aim is to provide the public with relevant, useful, and authentic content when and where they want to receive it and communicate in an entirely new way.

The government has signalled a clear intention to focus on ambitious, measurable, long-term objectives that deliver better outcomes for citizens. This requires a new way of doing government, which is more joined-up and better reaches the public to build awareness, understanding, and trust in the government’s missions. The NMU is a critical lever in achieving these long-term aims, bringing together the specialist skills required to reach citizens with content they want to consume at a time and place they want to consume it.

The team works in an agile way, proactively delivering on priority campaigns and responding to nationwide communications. We need people who think differently and who can respond to the ever-changing media landscape. At its core, this team is focused on flexibility and collaboration across the three pillars (Strategy, Campaign, and Creative), working closely with GCS Strategy & Campaigns, Applied Data and Insight teams, alongside No10 and across government departmental communication teams.

What we’re looking for

We need outstanding specialists in digital design, copywriting, and content production, who have a high level of expertise and will put audiences at the heart of everything they do. We're seeking innovative minds and creative talents to help craft our evolving vision. This is a unique opportunity to grow, learn and share your talent with a team of diverse experts with passion and a genuine curiosity to innovate government comms. Most importantly, we want people who care about delivering outstanding communication for the public.

We value colleagues who embrace change, think outside the box, and thrive in a dynamic environment where responsibilities evolve with our ambitions. We welcome applications from the widest range of people of different backgrounds, cultures and experiences. If you're passionate about making your mark and flourishing in an atmosphere that champions fresh thinking and adaptability, we want to hear from you.

For more information on how becoming a part of the Communications Profession can support your career and development, please visit our careers page.

Job description

Job Description

As an Art Director (SEO), you will be the visual and conceptual engine room of the NMU. You will work within a "Concept Team," partnered with a Concept Copywriter, to generate the big ideas that drive our campaigns.

We are welcoming applications from individual Art Directors looking for a new partner, or established creative teams (Art Director + Copywriter) who wish to join together.

In this role, you will move beyond simple execution to true ideation. You will be responsible for the "look and feel" of government priorities, turning dry policy into visually arresting social concepts. You will visualise ideas for paid social, creator briefs, and integrated campaigns, ensuring that every piece of content stops the scroll.

Responsibilities & Duties

• Conceptual Ideation: Work alongside a Senior Copywriter partner to brainstorm and develop "big ideas" for social-first campaigns. You will turn briefs into creative concepts that work across paid, organic, and creator channels.
• Visual Direction & Storyboarding: Create scamps, mood boards, and storyboards to visualize scripts and concepts. You will define the visual language of a video or static post before it goes into production.
• Social-First Art Direction: Ensure all output feels "native" to the platform. You understand that the visual aesthetic of a TikTok trend is different from a high-polish YouTube documentary, and you can direct the visual style for both.
• Creative Presentation: Mock up high-quality visuals for pitch decks and presentations. You will help "sell" brave creative concepts to senior stakeholders by showing them exactly what the idea will look like.
• Brand Guardianship: Act as the visual checkpoint for the unit. Whether it’s a creator-led video or a paid graphic, you ensure the art direction is consistent, high-quality, and aligned with the campaign identity.
• Production Oversight: Collaborate with designers, editors, motion designers, and videographers to ensure your vision is executed correctly during the production and post-production phases.
• Travel to London for team/client/stakeholder meetings and presentations will be required on a regular and ad-hoc basis
• The New Media Unit and Cabinet office cover all areas of government your role will require you to work across a variety of portfolios including but not limited to: economic growth, the NHS, safer streets, barriers to opportunity, clean energy, strong foundations and secure borders. Learn more: https://www.gov.uk/missions

Person specification

Experience / Ability

Skills/experience required

Essential:

• Portfolio: A strong portfolio of social-first campaigns and content. We want to see ideas, not just finished polish—show us how you solved a problem visually. (if you are invited to interview you will be asked to send this prior to your interview)
• Conceptual Thinking: Experience working in a creative team (or as a solo creative) generating concepts for integrated or social campaigns. You don't just design; you think.
• Visual Versatility: The ability to switch visual styles instantly—from lo-fi, authentic "UGC-style" aesthetics to polished, cinematic government messaging.
• Platform Fluency: You are obsessed with internet culture. You know the current visual trends, meme formats, and editing styles dominating the feeds right now.
• Experience in a fast-paced agency or newsroom environment.

Desirable:

• Experience working in a formal "creative pair" (AD/CW).
• Motion design or illustration skills.
• Channel Knowledge: Deep understanding of visual formats across platforms—from 9:16 vertical video composition and safe zones (TikTok/Reels/Shorts) to YouTube thumbnails and Reddit image trends.

Technical

We need an Art Director who can visualize ideas quickly and effectively using modern tools.

• Creative Suite Proficiency: High proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) for mocking up concepts and creating key visuals.
• Presentation Design: Advanced skills in Google Slides and PowerPoint. You must be able to design compelling decks that narrate a creative journey for stakeholders.
• Video Prototyping: Basic knowledge of Premiere Pro or CapCut/After Effects is desirable to create "rip-o-matics" or mood films to demonstrate a video concept.
• Collaboration Platforms: Proficiency in Google Workspace (Drive, Slides) and Figma (for collaborative design/whiteboarding).

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

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

• You will be asked to prepare a presentation if selected for an interview, details of which will be shared in advance of the interview
• You will be asked to send your portfolio before your interview. Details of where to send this will be provided when selected for interview.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £47,670, Cabinet Office contributes £13,809 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 which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

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 Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit a CV, and a maximum 500 word personal statement outlining any previous employment history, qualifications and skills that would make you suitable for this role.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using your experience from your CV.

Selection process

For your interview, you will be asked to go through your experience and share any recent work that you have been involved in. You will be asked about your portfolio work. You may also be asked to prepare a presentation for the interview details of which will be sent to you prior to the interview date.

You will be asked to share your portfolio prior to your interview, details of where to sent this will be sent to canidates invited to interview.

You will also be asked questions on the following behaviours

• Communicating and Influencing: You can articulate creative ideas clearly to non-creatives, using visuals to bridge the gap and influence decision-making. Similarly you are able to absorb feedback from policy or senior officials and make constructive compromises.
• Delivering at Pace: You can produce high-quality scamps and visual concepts rapidly to meet the demands of a reactive news cycle.
• Seeing the Big Picture: You understand how the visual tone of a campaign impacts public perception and aligns with the goal of rebuilding trust.
• Making effective decisions: You analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions and present strong recommendations in a timely manner, outlining the consideration of other options, costs, benefits and risks.

Technical Skills

You will also be asked to prepare a presentation if selected for an interview.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – tbc
Expected interview date/s – tbc
Interview location - in person at 1 Horseguards Road, London, where possible. if not your will be sent a link to join a vertual interview.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : nmu@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
• Email : nmu@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then in the first instance you should contact Government Recruitment Service by email at : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk. For further information on the Recruitment Principles and bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/.

Attachments

Cabinet-Office-Employee-Offer Opens in new window (docx, 762kB)Cabinet Office Terms and Conditions - External 2025-02-20 Opens in new window (docx, 83kB)