Job Title:   Internal Engagement Manager

Location:   KFRS Headquarters, The Godlands, Straw Mill Hill, Tovil, Maidstone, ME15 6XB with hybrid working

Salary:       Grade 7 £40,523 to £46,008 per annum, plus additional on-call payment of £3,684.95 per annum  

Pension:    Career average pension scheme with 17.5% employer contribution 

Holidays:   In addition to entitlement to bank/public holidays you will receive 31 days holiday 

Hours:       Full time – 37 hours per week (Monday to Friday) 

Ref:           VR1312

Being a part of Kent Fire and Rescue Service

Everyone is unique. Everyone has value. Everyone helps to make Kent Fire and Rescue Service a great place to work. We are one team. Together with our customers we are creating a safer future for Kent and Medway. 

Being an Internal Engagement Manager

You’ll enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, implementing effective employee engagement strategies, and collaborating seamlessly with teams across the organisation. Playing an essential role in internal projects and campaigns, covering a broad range of topics from operational guidance to culture, inclusion, and business change.

You will be skilled in the development and execution of internal communications plans and marketing initiatives, devising compelling and innovative content tailored to enthuse operational and non-operational employees.

Central to your role is the management of all internal channels, including the intranet, and keeping colleagues and volunteers well informed with excellent written communications.

What you’ll do:

Cultivate strong business partner relationships with colleagues across the organisation, providing guidance and support to enhance their communication effectiveness. Create and deliver compelling content across various channels including the intranet, newsletters and other digital tools to ensure employees are informed, engaged, and strategically aligned. Oversee and maintain KFRS’ internal communication platforms, ensuring they reflect an inclusive culture and are user-friendly. Manage effective and timely delivery of audience focused and segmented internal engagement messages. Collaborate closely with senior leaders, department heads, and cross-functional teams to gather insights, fostering an inclusive approach to communication planning. Employ data-driven insights to measure and analyse the effectiveness of communication and engagement strategies, recommending continuous improvements. Remain aware of industry trends, best practices, culture change and behaviour change science to introduce innovative communication strategies that KFRS can benefit from. Be part of KFRS’ out of hours on-call press officer rota (one week in six), and where required provide additional emergency out of hours cover to assist with significant or major incident statutory communications.

What you’ll bring:

• Degree level or equivalent experience in relevant areas of communications. Extensive experience of managing internal communications and employee engagement. Extensive experience of advising on internal engagement and working with leaders and staff at all levels. Extensive experience of delivering internal communications and engagement plans for complex projects acting as a business partner to multiple stakeholders. Demonstrable experience in managing intranet or website content. Ability to take complex information and create clear content and stories relevant to specific audiences, both for online and print. Demonstrate collaborative and business partner approaches to support colleagues with strategic thinking and in communicating change. Understanding of internal communications and engagement best practice and principles. Knowledge of content management systems to manage intranet content. Experience of using a wide range of tools and channels for internal engagement in a diverse organisation, and measuring communication metrics for evaluation.

Benefits   

• Automatic membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme 

• Blue Light Card discount scheme 

• A range of family friendly policies including promoting work-life balance 

• Access to health and wellbeing services and advice 

• Access LinkedIn Learning online training  

• Free parking 

• Above all you’ll become part of a service that is committed to the safety of our community 

How to apply:

If you feel have the skills and experience to be our Internal Engagement Manager, please complete an online application and CV by midnight on 18 August 2024.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview which will include a 10 minute presentation and a written assessment.

We reserve the right to close applications at any time prior to the closing date.

Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. We know that great minds don’t think alike, so we rely on diverse thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and backgrounds to create the best working environment that we can possibly offer.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service, its employees, and volunteers are committed to safeguarding, protecting, and supporting children, young people, and adults at risk. As part of our safer recruitment process, we will undertake pre-employment checks to verify your suitability for the role. These checks will include your references and a standard or enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Enhanced DBS check with barred lists are carried out for roles with direct and unsupervised access to children, young people, and adults at risk. Risk assessments will be undertaken on any disclosures identified as part of the pre-employment checks.

As a Public Sector organisation with added responsibilities under the Equality Act, 2010 the candidate must demonstrate an understanding of what is meant by Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion and how this fits in with their everyday work.