• Salary: £36,466
• Contract type: Permanent
• Location: London
• Reference number: 391035

Are you a confident and enthusiastic individual with experience of communications, journalism, news or PR?

Do you have excellent news sense and first-rate media handling skills?

Do you want to work at the heart of one the Governments most high-profile departments and shape the news agenda? If so, then we would love for you to apply!

We recognise the challenges that people with protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Role description

As a press officer you’ll be helping shape the news agenda every day, securing broadcast coverage across national news bulletins as well as front-page splashes on key Government announcements.

Whether it’s helping to promote our work to revolutionise the country’s bus and rail services, or encouraging the switch to electric – at the Department for Transport you will be working on some of the most important issues facing the country.

You’ll need to be a confident and talented writer and at ease working in a fast-paced environment. You’ll also need to show a flair for spotting when there are factual inaccuracies in stories and being proactive to get them corrected swiftly, building relationships with key journalists, shaping the narrative around breaking news, and defending and promoting the department’s reputation.

We believe that different perspectives and experiences improve the calibre of work we produce. Our press office represents a variety of backgrounds and previous careers, and those who join our team are supported every step of the way as they learn about government communications, develop their skills, and kickstart an exciting career with us.

Responsibilities

Key accountabilities of the role include:

• You will play an important role in responding to media enquiries, working with policy and ministerial teams to inform and educate the public.
• You will also work proactively on Government announcements on a range of significant transport policies and campaigns.
• This will involve drawing up creative media handling and leading on ministerial visits and planning interviews and opportunities in a way that maximises positive coverage.
• You will play an important role in a 24-hour press office and will be part of a duty rota able to respond to enquiries out-of-hours. This includes working weekends and evenings and comes with a competitive remuneration package and opportunities for flexible working.
• Our communications are based around campaigns and you will employ a range of skills and channels to deliver our messages. This includes working alongside strategic communication colleagues to set the direction for the department and creating social media content to tell our stories in the most effective way.
• All members of the Media Team are expected to take part in the out of hours duty rota, for which overtime is paid.

For an in-depth insight into the role please refer to the Role Profile (via the link below).

Person specification

• You will be creative when it comes to media opportunities, but also able to handle reactive media work, providing first-rate media advice and support to ministers, senior officials and stakeholders.
• You are a proactive, confident individual, with excellent organisational skills, to manage the department’s grid of upcoming announcements and forward planning activities.
• You are someone with a strong attention to detail, particularly when under pressure, have excellent communication skills and the ability to build good relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels.

Additional information

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance.

• Occasional travel to other DfT offices will be required.
• All members of the Media Team are expected to take part in the out of hours duty rota, for which overtime is paid.
• SC clearance require applicants to have lived in the UK consecutively for the past five years

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How to apply

To learn more about this role and apply. please click here.

Application deadline: Monday 31st March 2025 (11.55pm)

When submitting your application, please specify that you heard about the role through the Taylor Bennett Foundation.