The Department for Education (DfE) is looking for a confident, experienced and innovative digital leader to work the Head of Digital Engagement and take our creative content, social channel management and digital engagement to the next level.

Home to some of the most important policy agendas in Government, DfE is committed to serving its audiences, which have a huge appetite for information and engagement, both online and through social media platforms.

We engage a diverse range of audiences including: parents and teachers on Facebook; young people choosing their next step in education or future career paths on Instagram; employers and sector professionals on LinkedIn and journalists, commentators, parliamentarians and key stakeholders on X.

Your work will have a far-reaching and significant impact on the reputation of DfE and the Government. Working with Ministers, special advisers, senior officials, No.10, comms colleagues and other departments across government, you will play an instrumental role in the effective delivery of our communications strategy.

Job description
Role Responsibilities:

Lead a team of seven social media experts, digital content producers and designers, creating and commissioning stories and ideas, co-ordinating the output and ensuring content is of a high standard.
Responsible for the ownership and management of DfE social media channels, content operations and production, helping to identify efficiencies and refine processes to improve output and delivery.
Build the team's reputation within the DfE, across government and externally as a centre of excellence, driving a culture of creativity and innovation and developing new approaches to insight and evaluation.
Together with the Head of Digital Engagement and Creative Content, develop and implement a refreshed DfE Digital Communications strategy, which aligns to the annual DfE and GCS communication strategies.
Cultivate a close working relationship with the web publishing and customer experience teams, supporting on digital strands of a new customer engagement strategy, helping people access the information they need online.
Stay abreast of developments and trends in digital publishing, helping to identify the publishing and social listening tools, and opportunities to utilise AI technology that will take the department's digital content to the next level.
Ensure that the team identifies and builds effective relationships with digital influencers and outlets, maintaining strong partnerships with key digital leaders across government and partner organisations.
Foster relationships at the highest levels (ministers, senior officials, special advisers, private offices, other government departments) and with peers across the Communications division to inspire confidence in our team's approach, and advise and ensure propriety with ministers' personal accounts.
Oversight of the ownership and procurement of new hardware and equipment that helps the team to continue to produce work of the highest quality and greatest impact.
You may be required to deputise for the Head of Digital Engagement and Creative Content at Senior Leadership Team meetings and take part in an out-of-hours duty rota.
Candidate Engagement Session

A candidate engagement session will be held on Friday 26 July at 2pm, chaired by Richard Moore, Head of Social Media. This session will provide you with more information on the role and your chance to ask any questions.

For the MS Teams link to this session please contact resourcing.businesspartners@education.gov.uk.

Person specification
Essential Criteria:

A social media native, with a passion for, and detailed knowledge of, digital communications and industry best practice.
Significant editorial experience, knowing what makes a compelling story or engaging piece of content.
A track record of leading social media or content production teams in a fast-paced communications environment and being a strong, visible and supportive leader.
Skilled in delivering innovative, creative and strategic solutions to challenging briefs and delivering engaging and audience-focused digital strategies and products.
Ability to quickly build strong relationships and deal confidently with senior individuals.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to turn complex policy issues into plain English in an engaging way and also provide clear, expert advice to very senior figures.
Good analytical skills, capable of interpreting and drawing lessons from audience insights and social media performance data.
Comfortable working either alone or collaboratively, bringing together colleagues from within your team or from different disciplines to work together effectively.
Proven ability to juggle multiple immediate priorities and long-term projects, work well under pressure and deliver at pace.
Experienced in writing for digital platforms and their audiences, creating and/or commissioning multimedia, multiplatform content including graphics, photography and video for consumption on digital channels.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Delivering at Pace
Leadership
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Ideas: Digital
Impact: Digital
Insight: Digital
Benefits
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, with an average employer contribution of 27%.

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 costs for 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.