Chief Communications and Public Diplomacy Officer

Chief Communications and Public Diplomacy Officer

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Washington, DC

$62,721 a year

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

Main purpose of job

The post holder will spend 50% of their time working on media engagement, and 50% working on the Embassy’s public diplomacy outreach, including supporting the Marshall Scholarship programme.

Roles and responsibilities

Act as day-to-day liaison for media on the UK’s prosperity brief. Work with policy leads and the wider network across the US to identify opportunities and communicate the UK’s leadership through proactive media engagement and social media. Provide press support on other areas when needed.

Build and maintain relationships with key media contacts and use creative and engaging ways to promote the strength of the UK-US relationship in the areas of science, energy and innovation

Lead on media arrangements for Ministerial visits from the UK, identifying opportunities and delivering on media engagement

Manage the Embassy’s public outreach and provide project and budget management and oversight of Embassy events and special projects, ensuring they are delivering on wider objectives. This includes leading on the Embassy’s efforts to develop activities and media opportunities highlighting our role as global leaders on clean growth and hosts of the upcoming COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow in November 2020.

Develop and strengthen relationships for the communication and public diplomacy team with key external stakeholders in government, business, media and media, which can help support and deliver our communications and public diplomacy messaging and objectives.

Support the Deputy Head of Public Diplomacy on wider strategy planning, including identifying and creatively developing new public diplomacy initiatives, events and digital campaigns to engage a US audience.

Oversee the Washington, DC region’s outreach and administration efforts for the Marshall Scholarship programme, including working with alumni groups and local universities to promote the scholarship to university students and further UK-US relations.

Develop and maintain a strong set of core material (facts, figures, etc) about the UK/US relationship as a resource for the UK’s activity across the US

Provide out of hours press support across other issues when necessary, including occasional weekends.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

Bachelors’ degree required.

Strong oral and written communication skills including the ability to effectively communicate with senior government leaders, journalists and members of the general public

Demonstrated success in project and budget management, including shepherding projects and events from conception to completion.

Proven ability to complete multiple tasks and high volume of work on deadline in a fast-paced work environment;

Attention to detail and ability to edit and proofread;

Demonstrated ability to follow through on assigned tasks with limited supervision;

Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office software. Knowledge of imaging and social networking software.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

Degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Political Science or International Affairs preferred;

Required competencies

Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering at Pace

Application deadline Application deadline - day Application deadline - month Application deadline - year

28 April 2020

Grade

C4 (L)

Type of Position

Permanent

Region

North America, Caribbean and British Overseas Territories

Country/Territory

United States

Location (City)

Washington

Type of Post

British Embassy

Starting yearly salary (USD)

62,721

Start Date Start Date - day Start Date - month Start Date - year

15 June 2020

Additional information

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed)

Opportunity to pursue learning & development courses or activities in UK and online intended to improve professional skills related to core responsibilities as approved by line manager and pending L&D funding availability.

Opportunity to travel/participate in conferences or other activities related to work activities as approved by line manager and L&D funding availability.

Working patterns

Full-time work schedule required (9:00am-5:30pm)

Flexibility to occasionally work from home pending approval from line manager.

Employee will be expected to staff or otherwise participate in embassy-supported events and activities as well as external events/activities with embassy partners in evenings as necessary

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Local Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.