Senior Strategic Communications Partner

Senior Strategic Communications Partner

Salary: National – ranging from £43,300 – £57,000 and London from £46,400 – £60,000 per annum

In the Communications directorate at the FCA we change opinions and behaviours to enable a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy. It’s an exciting time as we’re expanding our team and changing how we do things to deliver more engaging, insight-led, audience focused communications. If you want to be part of a supportive and fun team, work across a wide range of issues and are ready to be challenged, curious and creative then come and join us.

The team/department 

The Strategic Communications and News team is new to the FCA’s Communications directorate. This team is at the heart of what and how the organisation communicates – working with the strategy team to help set and deliver the FCA’s external communication objectives and ensuring that our communication is clear, concise and compelling. The team is split into three: strategic communication partners, editorial and speechwriting, and social media. 

The Strategic Communication Partner team is organised into six sub-teams, each of which aligns with parts of the organisation and are responsible for taking communications plans from planning to delivery, communicating the FCA’s work to our external stakeholders. Strategic Communications Partners are also responsible for the FCA’s interaction with the media both reactively and proactively. 

What you will be doing (the role)

• Being a trusted communication adviser. The role will involve building relationships with business stakeholders and providing strategic communication advice, including how to use communication to achieve business objectives

• Developing the strategic approach for each priority, setting out how we will achieve the outcomes defined in the FCA communication plan

• Preparing communication plans to support key announcements, including key messages and approach. Developing content and key communication products including press releases, social media content, internal comms and stakeholder emails. Working effectively with specialist teams across communications to, for example, plan speeches and events

• Identifying key external stakeholders and engaging relevant media, trade bodies and consumer groups to create advocacy for our work and reach target audiences

• Taking personal accountability for individual projects and ensuring the quality of the end product is high

• Leading colleagues from across Communications and the business, using project management principles and tools to ensure announcements are delivered smoothly

• Evaluating key activity, sharing success and lessons learned

• Responding effectively to media requests. Being part of the out-of-hours rota for media queries

What you will get from the role

This is an exciting role, providing the opportunity to strengthen your skills across a broad range of communication channels.

You will be responsible for developing the strategic approach for your subject areas. You will be dealing with the most senior colleagues in the organisation providing top quality strategic advice and support.

The role presents the opportunity to become a subject matter expert in specific areas of financial regulation.

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role. 

• Previous experience of managing communication projects and/or managing high profile press announcements

• Experience of developing communication plans and products, including turning complex business goals and information into communication objectives, clear key messages and engaging content 

Essential

• Able to confidently deal with journalists and other stakeholders, both internal and external

• Strong knowledge of traditional and social media

• Strong written skills

• Ability to turn complex information into clear, compelling, concise messages

• Knowledge of best practice in creating engaging content including op eds, blogs and digital content

• Familiar with relevant communication tools used for media and social media monitoring 

• Although not a public affairs role it would be helpful to have a good knowledge of the political environment and demonstrate good judgement on how to deal with political stakeholders

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multi-location

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Useful information

Applications for this role close at 23:59 on Thursday 5th September 2024.

This role is graded as Senior Associate – Corporate.

There are two Senior Strategic Communications Partner roles available.

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact: 

• For internal applicants, please contact Melanie Dubock at [email protected]

• For external applicants, please contact Rosie-Grace Ford at [email protected]

What to expect from our interview process

The interview process will be over one or two stages where your core competencies will be assessed.

Application support

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.