Senior Communications Manager

Job Title: Senior Communications Manager
Starting Salary: 53,806 progressing to £59,496 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: minimum 18.5 per week; 3 days a week Wednesday - Friday
Location: Stevenage with hybrid working opportunities; minimum 1 day in the office
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Resources

About the team

Our award-winning communications team is a strategic partner to the Chief Executive, Executive Directors, and the political administration to deliver a service that directly supports the delivery of our new Corporate Plan.

You will be working in collaborative and evolving environment, advising the organisation’s most senior leaders. You will lead on communicating topics that make a real difference to our colleagues, residents and the communities we serve during a period of significant change for local government which will be both challenging and rewarding.

About the role

You will jointly lead a team focussed on delivering internal communications, change communications and high impact corporate campaigns to support Hertfordshire’s vision to create a ‘sustainable, inclusive and thriving Hertfordshire’.

Key areas of focus include:

• Leading on internal communications and engagement for approx. 8,000 colleagues across all council departments.
• Providing expert advice to the Chief Executive and senior directors across a broad range of subjects, including change comms and colleague engagement.
• Promoting and encouraging the early integration of strategic communication in wider corporate and service strategies and plans.
• Delivering high quality, complex integrated campaigns across varied channels.
• Leading the delivery of a transformation communications strategy for significant change programmes.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of communication against objectives. Review lessons learnt and compare with industry best practice to identify areas for improvement for future communication strategies.
• Accountable for setting the direction and ensuring consistency of the Hertfordshire County Council brand.
• Managing, supporting and developing a team (7FTE) specialising in internal.
• Communications and employee engagement, corporate campaigns and brand design;
• Taking a leadership role in a wider team of expert communicators as a member of the Communications Senior Management Team.

About you

Essential

• Proven track record of planning, delivering and evaluating integrated corporate campaigns (external and internal audiences).
• Experience of managing internal communications and employee engagement initiatives.
• Experience of developing excellent internal and external stakeholder relationships across. complex organisations, preferably within local government.
• Able to champion the communications service offer and negotiate with and influence senior leaders.
• Excellent understanding of transformation/change communications theories and principles. and experience of applying them to plan effective campaigns.
• Fantastic writing and editing skills.
• Energetic, driven and enjoys working as part of a team.
• Experience of managing and developing high performing teams.
• Excellent working knowledge of research and evaluation techniques, and innovative practices in communications.

Desirable

• Experience of managing people and teams through organisational change.
• Understanding and experience of marketing and branding best practice with experience of developing and managing corporate brands.
• Experience of commissioning and managing suppliers such as designers and content producers.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Corporate Services, level CORP13 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Corporate services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Nick.Henegan@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: week commencing 1st December 2025

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.