Strategic Communications Partner

Salary: National – ranging from £39,100 – £47,000 and London from £41,600 – £50,000 per annum

The team/department 

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 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 communication plans from planning to delivery, communicating the FCA’s work to our external stakeholders. 

The Associate Strategic Communications Partner will work across two sub-teams, responding to media queries and helping to deliver proactive announcements.

What you will be doing (the role)  

• Triaging all reactive media queries and ensuring national queries are promptly fed through to relevant senior communications colleagues where appropriate

• Responding efficiently and effectively to trade media queries

• Building relationships with trade media journalists

• Supporting senior communications colleagues to deliver significant proactive announcements and leading on lower profile announcements where appropriate

• Monitoring media, social media and other commentary and producing updates on media coverage and stakeholder comment

• Supporting senior communications colleagues to engage relevant trade bodies, building relationships and attending industry events

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

What you will get from the role  

• This is an exciting role, providing the opportunity to strengthen your skills within a dynamic communications environment

• A strong grounding in dealing with the media and financial services stakeholders

• 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 dealing with media 

• Proven ability of being able to communicate clearly, concisely and in a compelling way, verbally and in writing, for diverse audiences

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

Essential

• Strong knowledge of traditional and social media   

• Strong written skills   

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

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

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 Wednesday 13th November 2024.

This role is graded as Associate Level 8 – Corporate.

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 Ifrah Azam at [email protected]

What to expect from our interview process  

The interview process will be one stage 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.