JOB DESCRIPTION. Senior Communications Officer. Date Prepared: March 2015 PURPOSE

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1 JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Location: Reports To: Job Level: Senior Communications Officer Leeds or London Communications Manager Professional Prepared: March 2015 PURPOSE The senior communications officer provides communications support primarily to NHS Employers programme teams, to raise awareness of the organisation s work and role in supporting employers on workforce issues but also supports the wider work of the external affairs directorate by deploying their skills across all our work priorities and NHSC-wide programmes. NATURE & SCOPE Including dimensions As a senior communications officer, you will provide communications support for a number of work areas and successfully deliver a broad range of communication activity, not only for NHSE-focused work areas but also areas of work across the NHS Confederation group. Your role will include drafting content for our communication channels, projectmanaging products such as publications and events which will be delivered by specialists in the wider communications team, and working closely with the external relations team to support the management of a complex group of stakeholders, and to deliver effective issues handing strategies and to build our media profile. You will play a key role in sharing good practice on workforce issues with NHS organisations, and be actively involved in our corporate communications work, like the staff flu immunisation campaign, and the annual NHS Confederation conference. You will follow standardised processes and good practice and ensure that all communications and employer engagement activities reflect the corporate aims and objectives of the NHS Confederation and its constituent parts. The successful candidate will have experience of a range of communications techniques and will be looking to build on this experience in a varied and challenging role. They will have strong communications and project management skills, have good influencing skills, excellent writing skills, be experienced in issues management and be able to develop strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.

2 STRUCTURE CHART To follow. ACCOUNTABILITIES Provide hands-on communications support to communications managers, other team members and programme teams to ensure proactive communication activity, to raise awareness amongst our key audiences of our work. Act as a communications link between the programme teams and the wider communications team on specific areas/projects, to deliver a wide-ranging programme of high quality communications activity. Project manage and deliver a range of communications activities to support the programme and policy teams including: o drafting copy for online resources including the website, intranet and social media resources o working with colleagues from the events team to develop and deliver events o working with colleagues from the publishing and editorial team to develop and publish hard copy documents o working with colleagues from the media relations team to develop and deliver stakeholder activities and media relations. Help to deliver the organisation s database of good practice including identifying/sharing good practice with employers, to support them on key workforce issues. Maintain and support good working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to support workforce projects. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE Experience of delivering communications activities such as PR, marketing, media, communications planning, risk analysis, and evaluation skills Knowledge of project management and budget management processes Strong experience of working in an online environment Experience of working on national communications/pr campaigns Excellent written and oral communications skills Experience of assisting in the development and delivery of PR, marketing and media plans and strategies Experience of writing across online media and hard copy publications

3 An interest in the health agenda and experience of working in the health or public sector is desirable. The job holder must be self-motivated and able to work flexibly and act on their own initiative, while being part of a larger team. SAFETY Health and Safety at Work Act The jobholder is required to take reasonable care for the safety and health of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts; and to co-ordinate with management in the promotion and maintenance of health and safety measures. SIGNATURES Jobholder Name Manager Name Director Name...

4 PERSON SPECIFICATION: Senior Communications Officer ATTRIBUTES ESSENTIAL CRITERIA DESIRABLE CRITERIA DEMONSTRATED BY Experience Knowledge Experience of a working in a PR/marketing/media relations environment Experience of delivering a portfolio of communications activities to support a service Experience of working on national communications/marketing/pr campaigns Experience of writing for publication for all media and online Knowledge of media, PR, marketing and communications techniques Knowledge of project management processes Experience of working with or in the health/public sector Understanding of online communications methods IT literacy Application Skills Self-motivate and able to act on their own initiative Good judgement and risk management Excellent oral and written skills Interview Interview Exercise and application

5 Ability to grasp complex issues quickly and to interpret them for a variety of audiences Good organisational and time management skills Other information An interest in the health agenda Interview Application, exercise and interview Exercise and interview