Head of Communications and Public Affairs

Job summary

About Us

We are an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education
• higher education including research and innovation;
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning; and local authority maintained school sixth forms.

We work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and accredited as a Living Wage employer.

Main Purpose of the Role

Working closely with the Chief Executive, you’ll shape and lead our approach to strategic communications; public affairs; and stakeholder engagement, developing and implementing effective communications strategies, activities and approaches.

This approach will look to enhance our reputation and build relationships with key stakeholders, working in a fast-paced and sensitive environment where priorities can shift rapidly.

You will have deep expertise across a broad range of communications functions and stakeholder engagement, acting as lead adviser to our Senior Leadership Team and Board. You will attend our weekly Senior Leadership Team meeting. You’ll also play an important role externally, developing effective working relationships with our partners and the media to champion our work as part of the tertiary education sector, bringing our vision and values to life.

As a strategic leader and a key member of our leadership team you will embrace and lead change; live our values and develop others to be their best selves.

Job description

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the communications and public affairs team; plan and deliver effective communications activities, materials and campaigns; and manage the team’s budget.
• Develop and implement our communications and brand approach aligned to our Strategic Plan.
• Lead our strategic approach to communications - putting data and audience insight front and centre in all our activity.
• Lead the development of multiple communication channels and promote a strategic approach to content management.
• Champion and deliver inclusive and bilingual (Welsh/English) communications.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with a wide range of tertiary education and research providers, partners and stakeholders in Wales and the UK, particularly the Welsh Government and representative bodies.
• Develop an effective relationship with the media, with lead responsibility for media handling, including proactive and reactive activity.
• Work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to shape and develop corporate voice, our brand and our external narrative.
• Develop and implement our internal communication approach to support our people and develop our culture.
• Collaborate with teams across Medr, building positive working relationships and providing professional advice on planned communications activity.
• Promote the Welsh language through all our communications activity, both internally and externally.
• Take an active part in the public sector communications profession in Wales (e.g. Comms Cymru, CIPR), engaging with opportunities to build connections with and learn from colleagues and best practice.
• Monitor and analyse media coverage and public opinion to identify opportunities and potential risks to our reputation.
• Advise the Senior Leadership Team on public policy, political and social trends.
• Oversight and management of Medr’s translation services and budget

Key Challenges

To be successful in the role, you’ll need to:

• see the big picture, aligning communications activities to our Strategic Plan and various different audiences.
• work in a fast-paced and sensitive environment, dealing with complex and shifting priorities.
• be adaptable and manage issues as they arise to ensure priorities are resolved and urgent matters taken forward.
• influence and communicate, internally and externally, to build positive relationships.
• be confident and capable dealing with both proactive and reactive communications across multiple channels.
• understand the Welsh political landscape, using this knowledge to provide credible and insightful communications advice.
• solve problems, mediate disputes and deal with issues before they reach the Chief Executive, using judgement to decide what needs escalating.
• lead a small team in the Chief Executive’s office.

About Your Team

You will lead and develop a small, multi-disciplinary team responsible for our communication strategy, public affairs, publications, activities and campaigns.

You will report directly to the Chief Executive.

About Your LineManager

James Owen, Chief Executive.

Person specification

What you will bring

Attributes

• Resilient: You navigate challenges and uncertainties with determination and optimism.
• Inspire People: You empower teams to innovate and take calculated risks, inspiring breakthrough results and driving the organisation forward.
• Agile: You champion change initiatives, creating a culture where innovation and adaptation are valued and encouraged.
• Empathetic: You drive a culture of understanding and collaboration where colleagues feel heard and understood.

Experience

• Senior level experience working in a strategic communication and/or public relations/marketing role with a proven track record of developing, implementing and evaluating effective communications strategies, activities and campaigns.

Technical

• Ability to apply a range of audience insight to the development of communications plans and assets.
• Ability to effectively manage and evaluate brand and communications work, establishing appropriate metrics and measurement approaches.

Languages

We have evaluated that the Welsh language requirements for this post are:

Essential

Welsh essential means that having Welsh language skills is considered a requirement for this post and will form part of the assessment criteria.

This means you need to be fully confident working in a bilingual environment – fluent speaking; can read/understand all work related material/conversations; and can prepare written materials for all work-related matters.

Welsh language requirements will be assessed at interview in a written test.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,128, Medr contributes £17,708 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Your Perks and Benefits

We recognise the importance of looking after ourselves in work and in life, so in recognition of this we provide:

• 34 days annual leave a year (pro rata)
• An environment that embraces work life balance.
• A culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone.
• Dedicated well-being time to all our people each week.
• A Cycle to Work Scheme to make owning a bicycle more affordable.

Additional Support when you need it

We know that sometimes you may face challenges or life events that mean you need additional support.

• We provide a comprehensive employee assistance programme with remote access to resources and in person support whenever required.
• We have a special leave policy ensuring everyone in the organisation receives the support they need during difficult times.

More than just a workplace

• You will be entitled to take 5 days paid leave per year to undertake voluntary work to support the communities we serve.
• We will encourage you to grow your networks across Wales, the UK and internationally.
• We have an active social committee who offer a range of activities for our people to come together outside the work setting. You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Personal and professional development

• Once you’re offered a post, we will get to know you and work with you to develop a personalised onboarding plan which considers your experience, skills, learning style and knowledge.
• We’ll help you shape your development plans with personalised career conversations and objectives, taking account of delivery goals alongside your career aspirations and helping you own your career.
• We support all our staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills.

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

We are really interested in you as an individual and what you will bring to our organisation.

Our assessment process is designed to help us get to know you better enabling us to appoint someone who will thrive in the role and who shares our organisational values.

If you are interested in working with us, please send us your application and personal statement through Civil Service Jobs.

The following attributes/experience/technical will be assessed at sift stage:

Attributes

• Resilient: You navigate challenges and uncertainties with determination and optimism.
• Inspire People: You empower teams to innovate and take calculated risks, inspiring breakthrough results and driving the organisation forward.
• Agile: You champion change initiatives, creating a culture where innovation and adaptation are valued and encouraged.

Experience

• Senior level experience working in a strategic communication and/or public relations/marketing role with a proven track record of developing, implementing and evaluating effective communications strategies, activities and campaigns.

Technical

• Ability to apply a range of audience insight to the development of communications plans and assets.

To be fair to everyone who applies, we won’t accept:

• Late applications
• Applications with missing or incomplete information
• Personal statements over 1,250 words

The deadline for application submission is Tuesday 7 July.

Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.

All applications will be notified of their outcomes via Civil Service Jobs at sift and interview stage.

Candidates who successfully navigate the sift stage will be required to complete an online exercise to enable us to determine their behavioural and personality preferences. Immediately on completion you will be given a report which highlights your strengths plus some development tips to help you prepare for interview. Candidates should note that the online exercise is not intended to eliminate anyone from consideration. Instead, it serves as a tool to aid in the decision-making process.

Following this, you will be required to participate in an interview, a presentation, and a written test (conducted in Welsh); all of which will be conducted on Tuesday 4 August.

In addition to the attributes/experience/technical assessed at sift stage, the remaining attribute/ technical will also be assessed at interview:

Attribute

• Empathetic: You drive a culture of understanding and collaboration where colleagues feel heard and understood.

Technical

• Ability to effectively manage and evaluate brand and communications work, establishing appropriate metrics and measurement approaches.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. We are happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments required to the recruitment process. Please contact swyddi@medr.cymru

We're looking forward to meeting everyone invited to interview at our headquarters in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff. We don’t usually pay travel expenses, but if this presents a real barrier to your attendance in person or if you require a reasonable adjustment, please let us know in advance by emailing swyddi@medr.cymru so we can discuss and agree arrangements prior to your interview.

Following interview we are committed to offering constructive and actionable feedback to support you on your future career journey.

Next Steps

Interested…? Want to find out more?

We know how important it is for you to find out more about us so we will be holding a virtual information session for candidates on Thursday 2 July at 13:30on Microsoft Teams. This session will not be recorded.

This will be an opportunity for you to hear more about our organisation; the role and how we invest in our people.

If you would like to attend, register by emailing swyddi@medr.cymru.

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.

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

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 : People and Culture Team
• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Recruitment team

• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Attachments

Canllaw i Ymgeiswyr ar Lunio Datganiad Personol Opens in new window (pdf, 112kB)A Candidate's guide to crafting a personal statement Opens in new window (docx, 55kB)Swydd Ddisgrifiad - Pennaeth Cyfathrebu a Materion Cyhoeddus Opens in new window (pdf, 337kB)Job description - Head of Communications and Public Relations Opens in new window (pdf, 214kB)