Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

We have a fantastic opportunity for you to become Historic England's Communications Officer. You will contribute to the championing of England’s unique historic environment and promote awareness of the work of Historic England to both the general public, as well as specialist audiences such as archaeologists, planners, property developers, architects and heritage craftspeople. In this role you will play an important part in the delivery of Historic England’s communications with external audiences and our presence in the mainstream media.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth and Cambridge.

Salary

National salary range: £30,155 - £31,912 pro-rata

Greater London + salary range: £33,356 – £34,500 pro-rata

What you will be doing

You will:

Design and deliver communications plans for stories about Historic England’s work in line with the organisation’s purpose, vision and objectives.

Write media releases about Historic England’s work including stories about new listings, grant funding and archaeological discoveries, and assist with pitching to national and regional media as well as shaping the content for MP and stakeholder channels.

Maintain press office support systems including Vuelio media monitoring and media database, keeping our press contacts up to date.

Contribute to managing the running of a busy press office including organising the press office rotas and ensuring the press office enquiry log is up to date.

Support the management of media enquiries about Historic England from national, regional and specialist media.

Lead on the team’s evaluation reports of media coverage. 

Support the team’s procurement and invoicing, contributing to managing the Media Team’s budget and how it is allocated throughout the financial year.

Take part in the newspaper reading rota and the rota of producing summaries of coverage for the organisation.

Source images and create image galleries for media and social media use.

Engage with colleagues, teams and departments across Historic England to research stories.

Assist other members of the team in arranging media opportunities and stakeholder launches, as well as media training.

Provide expert support and advice to senior colleagues in preparation for media interviews.

Manage the news and statements sections of the Historic England website, creating the necessary content through the Content Management System and other digital channels.

Develop and maintain a working knowledge of media trends and available media monitoring/evaluation software to help Historic England make the most effective impact with our media work.

Take every opportunity for continuous professional training and improvement as recommended by the Government Communications Service.

Ensure our communications are mutually supportive of Historic England’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equality Strategy, including applying best practice.

Who we are looking for

• Must have worked in a Press Office or Communications team and have experience of working with the media

• Must have experience of writing either for media materials or social media outlets

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and high standard of written/verbal English including good proof-reading ability

• Knowledge of the media and ambition to progress in Communications and PR industry

• Strong organisational and time management skills with ability to prioritise and meet deadlines

• Interest in history and the diverse heritage of England

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 26% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Interview dates: week commencing 08th April 2024

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/eitc51m4/communications-officer.odt