Senior Digital Engagement Officer (Mat Cover)

Job summary

The Children’s Commissioner is looking to fill a role in the Communications team. The role will be based in Central London at 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP.

The role is suitable for hybrid working, with up to 2 days a week working from home. This is a voluntary non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work from home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to taking up your post.

Selection for appointment to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition.

We are looking for a wide variety of people to take on our roles, however we would particularly welcome applications from care leavers or individuals with experience of being ‘looked after’ by the state. We also actively encourage applicants from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds. We welcome applications from both inside and outside the Civil Service.

Job description

Purpose of the Job

As Senior Digital Engagement Officer, you will be responsible for creative multi-media content creation, management and curation across all the digital output of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and leading the exploration of new ways for the Commissioner and her team to communicate in the digital space especially with children and young people.

You will work as part of the communications team ensuring that the Children’s Commissioner is at the heart of dialogue about childhood and improving outcomes for children. You will report to the Deputy Director of Communications and work closely with the Deputy Director of External Affairs.

Key responsibilities

Digital development and leadership

• Gather and co-create multimedia content (videos, animations, audio, text, photographs, podcasts etc) directly with/from children including care leavers
• Own and manage a detailed content strategy and calendar
• Turn complex content into creative key messages and lead in the design, delivery and publishing of creative digital content to better engage audiences, including graphics, video and other multimedia content
• Explore new ways for the Commissioner to engage digitally across platforms using fresh and different tactics
• Explore new ways to engage digitally with harder to reach groups of children and young people with a specific focus on care leavers
• Upload content and support with maintenance and development of the Commissioner’s main website and social media.
• To monitor, nurture and report growth in online audiences on all platforms the Office engages on
• Share insights and learnings with all appropriate teams across the office

Brand management and design

Assist the Deputy Director of Comms and Corporate Services with:

• Graphics and design support: create social media graphics, in-publication graphics, draft and schedule banks of posts and tweets using Hootsuite. You may be asked to help produce presentation slides.
• Use digital editing skills for social media content (including videos, reels and podcasts).
• Source and edit photography, video footage and audio recordings
• Support the CCO team to ensure consistency of branding across the office
• Handle printing requests where necessary and help design and order merchandise as and when required

Communications support

• Attend events, occasionally out of hours and/or external events, to promote our work, create digital material sometimes with our Youth Ambassadors and other young people
• Provide support to the wider communications/participation team as and when required.
• Provide support with events as and when required.

Person specification

Successful applicants will:

• Have demonstrable knowledge of digital media including website management using a content management system, social media management, digital content production, digital analytical reporting, and how to create engaging digital content to further organisational aims and objectives
• Demonstrable knowledge of editing publications and writing digital newsletters and social media copy
• Experience of developing engaging digital content to further an organisation’s aims
• Experience of social media management
• Experience of multimedia content production (including videos and podcasts)
• Experience of commissioning or shooting and editing video and stills photography
• Experience of engaging digitally with communities
• Experience of managing and working with web developers
• Experience of building and managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of editing publications including reports and newsletters and laying them out using report templates.

Key Criteria

• Excellent written communications skills
• Excellent IT skills including in Microsoft Office; Adobe Creative Apps; Hootsuite; Wordpress based content management system; video editing software; social platforms; Graphics platforms such as Canva.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiating skills
• Open, articulate communicator, with both adults and children, with excellent verbal communication skills
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Able to turn complex content into creative key messages and infographics
• Able to find creative and cost-effective solutions to communications issues
• Attention to detail
• Ability to balance workload to tight deadlines under pressure
• Able to anticipate, innovate and challenge
• Comfortable working with people at all levels including children and young people and senior stakeholders
• Passionate about improving children’s lives by promoting and protecting their rights

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £46,971, Office of the Children's Commissioner contributes £13,607 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).

Some of our benefits include:

• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 27.97%. Benefits of the pension scheme - Civil Service Pension Scheme
• An Employee Assistance Programme.
• A comprehensive reward scheme.
• Generous holiday allowance starting at 25 days plus bank holidays and one privilege day.
• Flexible working options including full-time or part-time and hybrid working (amend as per role).
• A range of family friendly policies.
• Excellent learning and development opportunities.
• A culture encouraging inclusivity and diversity.

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

CV

Please upload your personal CV which will be anonymised by our Application Tracking System. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility, so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

Personal Statement

Please set out how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 500 words and upload this to our Applicant Tracking System. Ensure you tell us why you want the role and provide examples of your experience to evidence for how you meet each criteria, including transferable experience from any non-policy roles.

Sifting

Applications will be sifted against the essential criteria. If we receive a large number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift based on the lead criteria. The strongest candidates will be invited to interview to provide more information about their experience and skills.

Please note: 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Interviews

Candidates who are successful at the sifting stage will be invited for in person interviews

Interviews are expected to take place during the week of 3rd of August.

There may be a short task to prepare for the interview.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we will only provide feedback to people who attend an interview.

Reasonable Adjustments

We value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage applications from everyone, especially those that are under-represented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning difficulties, chronic medical conditions or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy or autism.

Please contact us at occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk to let us know what changes or help you might need to further on in the recruitment process.

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

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 : OCC Recruitment
• Email : occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk

Attachments

Senior Digital Engagement Officer JD Opens in new window (pdf, 227kB)