Communications Manager and Internal Comms Lead
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Services
Location: Kempston
Salary: £43,693 per annum rising to £47,754 per annum (plus an additional allowance for on-call rota)
Contractual hours: 37
Basis: Full time
Package: 37 hours per week, Hybrid Working, Flexitime scheme, Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), Holiday allowance of 25 days (plus public holidays) on joining.
Job reference: REQ000338
Closing date: 19 February 2025
Attachments
Job Description - Communication Manager and Internal Comms Lead.pdfattachmentConditions of Service.pdf
We are looking for an experienced omni-competent communications professional to manage the Communication and Engagement Team and also lead the Service’s internal communications. A key part of this role is supporting the team in delivering the organisation’s communication and engagement strategy, which plays a crucial role in supporting the organisation both internally and externally, while also providing strategic and tactical communication support.
Working closely with the Head of Communication, you will play a vital role in enhancing engagement, driving improvement, and ensuring our communications are effective, impactful, and aligned with our goals.
About the role
You will be responsible for the communication team covering all facets of the communication disciplines, which is why we need someone who has straddled a range of disciplines. You will have to understand the wider communication needs of our clients as we develop plans, evaluate performance, manage workloads, develop team members, and ensure anyone who needs communication support, gets the best customer service and output.
You need to be passionate and knowledgeable about internal communication, as you will be the expert in the team, with responsibility for building and delivering the plans for internal communication, employee engagement and project communication. You will be a strategic advisor when it comes to supporting a range of organisational change projects as well as being on the ground delivering tactical needs.
You will have a passion for engaging colleagues and running colleague events, from award ceremonies to leader workshops, and you will have your finger on the pulse of internal engagement opportunities to ensure colleagues understand the direction of the organisation, feel engaged and listened to, and know about the hot topics.
Key Responsibilities
Manage the Communication and Engagement Team across all disciplines through owning the team plan and provide support to the Head of Communications to ensure an efficient and effective communication provision to the Service.
Proactively safeguard the organisation’s reputation, briefing senior managers on risks and issues, with mitigation strategies and actions.
Develop and implement the Internal Communication and Engagement Strategy, delivering engaging activities aligned with Service objectives.
Advise on and deliver communication for internal change projects, ensuring stakeholders are consulted and informed effectively.
Optimise communication channels to ensure effective two-way engagement, crafting clear messages and campaigns tailored for different audiences.
Measure and improve communication impact using key metrics, leading engagement initiatives such as forums, leadership engagement opportunities, newsletters, people surveys and collating colleague feedback.
Actively respond to major incidents, handling internal and external communication responses, media, social media, photography, video, website management, and stakeholder briefings, while collaborating with other agencies and adhering to the relevant procedures and legislation. This includes attending events and incidents to manage communication and as part of an out-of-hours evening and weekend on-call rota.
Develop and manage campaigns and content across multiple channels, working with teams to understand audience needs and deliver targeted messaging.
Support the creation of corporate materials, ensuring all digital and printed content aligns with the organisation’s brand and engagement goals.
About You
You will have:
A degree, equivalent qualification or equivalent experience in one of the following:
Public relations
Communications
Media
English
Significant experience in internal communication, change communication and employee engagement.
Significant experience creating multi-platform content and campaigns for a range of audiences using insight, industry best practice and evaluation.
In-depth experience of managing colleague engagement events, leadership forums, all hands events or similar tactics to promote two-way engagement.
Some experience in external communication, media management and crisis management.
Some experience managing people or a small team.
Ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English. Understanding and interpreting information, rewriting complex or technical/management information into plain English.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues from all areas of the organisation and at all levels.
High level of creativity and ability to demonstrate where this has been used to get messages across to different audiences, particularly internal audiences.
Good time management skills and an ability to manage conflicting demands and workloads, balancing reactive and proactive work.
Ability to drive change and meet objectives working collaboratively with others
Good working knowledge of Microsoft 365, especially Sharepoint, Teams, Outlook, and other M365 apps that support internal communication (Viva Engage, Sway etc) and design applications such as Canva and Adobe.
Current full driving licence with no pending issues.
In this role, you will participate in a 1 in 4 rota out of hours media service, dealing with requests for information from the media and advising Service personnel on communications with the media and other communications-related matters.
For more details on the essential criteria required for the role, please see the attached job description and person specification.
Why work with us
We recognise that you are looking for more than just a career. A few of our benefits include:
Hybrid working patterns
Flexi-time scheme including flexible start and finish times, variable lunch breaks and flexi-leave days
Local Government Pension Scheme
Holiday allowance of 25 days* (plus public holidays) on joining; increasing to 30 days* after 5 years' service and 32 days after 10 years' service (*pro rata if part time or irregular working pattern)
Free onsite parking
Instant access to ‘Lifestyle Savings’ platform includes a range of discount cards from well-known and independent retailers
Eligible to sign up to ‘Blue Light Card’ with access to thousands of amazing discounts online and on the high street.
Next steps
If this role is of interest, please visit our website https://www.bedsfire.gov.uk/careers/search for further information and to make a formal application. We ask that you include your full career history and reference your skills and experience in line with the job description and person specification within your application and supporting statement.
The interview / selection process will take place on Friday 28 February 2025
This is a public-facing role and it is essential to have the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English.
This post will be exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2023. Therefore, applicants are not entitled to withhold information about convictions which for other purposes are ‘spent’ under the provision of the Act.
The appointment will be made subject to satisfactory pre-employment clearances, including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance at the level required for the role.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is an equal opportunities employer that welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of Adults, Children, and Young People, and all staff and volunteers are expected to share this commitment.
