Social Media Manager

Job summary

IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Verbal test. The deadline for completing the test will be 2 working days before the advert closing date. Further information is available in the 'selection process details' section of this advert.

The Department for Education plays a central role in the Government's Plan For Change. As owner of the Opportunity Mission the DfE is committed to breaking down the barriers to opportunity for every child regardless of background or location.

The DfE Communications Directorate plays a central role within the department, helping to explain policy, protect the department's reputation, helping to change behaviour and supporting operational effectiveness. This is an incredibly exciting time for the Department for Education as it plays a central role in delivering the work of the UK Government.

Our team is vital in helping to connect the work of the Department for Education with the public and professional sectors it serves through multimedia storytelling formats, published across departmental and external social media channels.

About the Government Communication Service

By joining a communications team, you will become a member of the Government Communication Service (GCS), a well-established profession of communicators working across government departments, agencies and arm's-length bodies. You'll benefit from continuous professional development from our new learning and development curriculum, a network of skilled communicators sharing best practice, mentoring opportunities, and more!

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

We are looking for a creative, enthusiastic and skilled social media manager to join our team of content creators, producers and social media specialists working at the heart of government.

The Social Media Manager will play an important part in delivering the UK Government digital communications strategy. The strategy is focused on helping to build trust with public audiences through authentic and relevant voices that broaden our reach and connect with our priority audiences on owned and earned channels.

Working closely with the Head of Channels and Engagement and the wider social media team, the successful candidate will be responsible for day-to-day management and publishing of social media content across departmental channels. They will support an audience-first approach to content, ensuring content plans are reflective of our priority audiences.

You will contribute to the team's work with social media creators, influencers and digital media brands, researching potential collaborations and supporting distribution efforts. In addition you will play a role in embedding a culture of measurement within the team, using evaluation tools to review output and draw actionable insights from content performance data.

As an active and knowledgeable member of the team you will establish themselves as a go to for colleagues to approach for social media advice, best practice guidance and support. You will take ownership of their own development to build the skills required for progression.

Responsibilities will include, but not limited to:

• Support an audience-first approach to content ideas, creation, planning and handling across the News and Social Media teams.
• Support senior colleagues to execute the team's strategy, contributing to audience and platform-specific copy, content, ideas and style.
• Ensure content plans you work on, whether owned, earned or distributed, are reflective of the intended audience across drumbeat and hero content.
• Clearly explain the benefits of strategic approaches to content, demonstrating how audience-led planning improves outcomes compared to tactical responses.
• Work with channels colleagues to strengthen our roster of creators, collaborators and digital media brands in line with strategic goals.
• Review current creators and talent for audience alignment, making recommendations on who to continue working with and who should be de-prioritised.
• Research and identify new audience-first creators, talent and media partners for potential collaborations, ensuring due diligence is completed.
• Support colleagues in developing distribution plans with audience-first creators, talent and media brands for key policies.
• Contribute to embedding a culture of audience and platform-specific publishing, measurement and learning within the social media team.
• Become proficient and confident in using evaluation tools to review output, set meaningful KPIs for projects, and report performance and insights to stakeholders.
• Draw actionable insights from content performance data and share findings with the wider team to inform ideas, production and publishing efforts.
• Be an active and knowledgeable member of the Social Media team who colleagues can approach for advice, best practice guidance and support.
• Encourage an environment where colleagues feel comfortable offering and receiving constructive challenge, feedback, opinions and ideas.
• Proactively share ideas, inspiration, best practice and knowledge with colleagues to help raise standards and skills.
• Actively participate in weekly creative critique sessions to openly assess published work and offer constructive improvements.
• Take ownership of your own development to ensure you are building the skills, experience and behaviours required for progression to SEO.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Editorial skills aligned with social media best practice, with an understanding of what makes compelling content and where/when best to publish it
• Interest in working with social media creators and influencers
• Good analytical skills with experience using social media analytics to inform content decisions
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to write clear, engaging copy
• Comfortable working both independently and as part of a team to achieve results
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and work well under pressure
• A proactive approach to learning and development
• Willingness to produce content creation including trending formats.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• GCS Technical Skill - Implementation
• GCS Technical Skill - Insight
• GCS Technical Skill - Ideas

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,044, Department for Education contributes £11,600 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

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.

To apply for this role, please select 'Apply Now' at the top or bottom of this advert. CV details need to be included in the template within the application form; attached or emailed CVs will not be considered.

Please be advised there are five stages to the recruitment process for this role, these are outlined below.

Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)

When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. Achieving the minimum pass mark does not guarantee progression to Stage 4, the written application.

Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)

When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. Achieving the minimum pass mark does not guarantee progression to Stage 4, the written application.

Stage 3: Test score evaluation

At this stage, candidates who score below the 36th percentile in the verbal test and below the 38th percentile in the numerical test will be withdrawn from the process. The only exceptions are candidates applying under the DCS, RIS, and VET schemes.

IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Verbal test. The deadline for completing the test will be 2 working days before the advert closing date. Further information is available in the 'selection process details' section of this advert.

Stage 4: Application

At sift stage, you will be assessed on your Experience in line with the essential skills listed in the person specification section of the job advert.

To apply for this role, please provide:

1. A ShortCV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.
2. Your Statement of Suitability – In no more than 750 words, provide examples of how your personal skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not intended to be a cover letter, instead work through each essential criteria in turn. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 750 words. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 750 words will not be taken into account.

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the advert.

Should there be a high volume of applicants, candidates will be sifted on the Personal Statement only.

Please note, CV details must be contained within the template on the application form. Any CV or Statement of Suitability that has been emailed to our team will not be considered.

Application sifting will take place 20 April 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change.

If you are successful at application sift stage, your application will be progressed onto Stage 5 part of the Selection process.

Stage 5: Assessment/Interview

The interview will be a 2-part process:

Part 1: Prepare and deliver a short presentation (approx. 5 minutes) to the panel. Please be prepared to answer follow up questions on the presentation. Presentation brief "Describe a piece of social media content you've created or published that you are proud of and why". Please be prepared to answer follow up questions. You may want to facilitate your presentation by including a short video of your work / visual stimulus to support your presentation.

Part 2: The interview will last approximately 1 hour. You will be asked questions on the Behaviours and GCS Technical Skills listed above to determine your level of experience in these areas.

Interviews will take place toward the beginning of May 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Interviews will be held over video conferencing using MS Teams. If you are invited to interview, please ensure that you have access to this software and that you have your video turned on. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We receive many applications, and unfortunately we’re not able to provide feedback for candidates who aren’t shortlisted. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

All communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

Important Information

If you fail to complete the tests before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are untimed, administered via Civil Service Jobs, and applicant guidance is available during the test and online on GOV.UK Online Tests guidance.

Applicants must complete the test on their own, without help, and Departments reserve the right to retest applicants under supervised conditions at later stages of the selection process. Doing this can provide reassurance to recruiters who are concerned about the authenticity of one or more test results.

Please ensure you allow yourself sufficient time to complete both assessments and submit your application before the advertised deadline.

Reasonable adjustments & test accessibility:

See our reasonable adjustments guide for candidates (online tests), or some example case studies, to act as a guide. You can use these to help you decide whether to ask for help or take the test without help.

More information about online tests can be found here: Preparing for the Civil Service Verbal and Numerical tests - GOV.UK. You will also find practice tests on this page if you would find them helpful prior to completing the live test.

Other Information - IMPORTANT

In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe 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 circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

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.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs

Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

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 Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk 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.

Please refer to the attached ‘Reasonable Adjustments Guide 05_2025 – accessible version’ at the bottom of the advert, for further information.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

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.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.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 : Saffron Amis
• Email : Saffron.amis@education.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk

Further information

The Department for Education’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via CentralRecruitment.Operations@education.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages

Attachments

DFE Terms & Conditions - accessible version Opens in new window (pdf, 215kB)Reasonable Adjustments guide 05_2025 - accessible version Opens in new window (pdf, 723kB)OGD Transfer Supplementary information - accessible version (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 327kB)