We welcome applications from every part of the community, and we don’t discriminate against any gender identity. We’re especially interested to hear from underrepresented groups in the DfT such as gender diverse, BAME, LGBT+ and disabled candidates. 

Job Description

You’ll play a key role in delivering significant policy announcements for the Ministerial team, working to spot opportunities to promote the department’s work and securing high-profile media coverage on Ministerial priorities.

You’ll need to show flair for spotting and rebutting inaccurate stories quickly, building relationships with key journalists, shaping the narrative around breaking news, and defending and promoting the department’s reputation.

Whether leading government communications through the post-Covid travel arrangements, delivering our plan for rail or leading the world with our Transport Decarbonisation Plan, this is an exciting opportunity to broaden your career at a department at the forefront of some of the highest profile issues facing the country.

Duties and responsibilities

• You will play an important role in responding to media enquiries, working with policy and ministerial colleagues to inform and educate the public.
• You will also work proactively on government announcements on a range of significant transport policies.
• This will involve drawing up creative media handling and leading on ministerial visits 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.

About You

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. Be an enthusiastic team player with a can-do attitude - offering creative solutions to problems and leading the media agenda. You are someone who has the confidence to communicate effectively with a various stakeholders both internally and externally and have excellent influencing and persuasive skills. You have an active interest in the news and passion for media landscape and you enthusiastically seek out news from a variety of sources. You can prioritise conflicting tasks and deadlines.

For further information and for details on the assessment and selection process and to apply please visit: Press Officer - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK