Internal Communications Lead

Salary: National – ranging from £48,900 – £64,000 and London from £53,700 – £70,000 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 Internal Communications team is at the heart of the employee experience, managing employee communications across the FCA. The team provides expert advice and guidance to colleagues across the FCA who want to deliver important messages to stakeholders throughout the organisation. The team sits within the wider Communications directorate, which includes colleagues working on public affairs, news, our external website and publications.  

What you will be doing (the role)  

• Working with the Manager to lead the Internal Communications team, ensuring that the team works collectively to implement the internal comms strategy and deliver a range of engaging communications which inform and inspire colleagues

• Line management accountability for 1 or 2 Senior Associates in the team, setting objectives, providing advice and support, overseeing insight-led communications plans for individual announcements and assessing performance

• Working alongside colleagues in setting the strategy and with the implementation of high-profile projects

• Plan, deliver and respond to high-risk and complex internal communications issues, such as crisis response or large FCA-All announcements

• Being a trusted communications adviser, building relationships with internal stakeholders and providing strategic communications advice, including how to use communications to achieve business objectives 

• Represents internal comms on project boards and responsible for reviewing relevant committee papers where internal comms input is needed

• Oversee internal communications planning to ensure communications are delivered at the right time, to the right audience, using the right channel to maximise understanding and impact

• Identify opportunities and connections across the organisation for communications campaigns and initiatives

What you will get from the role  

• Opportunities to influence and encourage active participation in the FCA’s activities

• Regular engagement with ExCo and other senior leaders

• Experience of managing large-scale and high-profile internal and change projects with multiple stakeholders and audiences

• Experience of working in a dynamic and busy, multidisciplinary Communications directorate

• The Communications directorate prioritises professional development and you will have access to our communications academy and all the learning opportunities that offers

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. 

• Significant experience of creating and delivering internal communications strategies, including working on successful multi-channel communications or change programmes

• Proven experience of providing strategic communications advice to senior management  

• Previous line management experience and/or demonstrable experience of supporting and coaching more junior team members

Essential

• Experience of delivering organisation-wide or local internal comms plans on multiple issues

• Experience of producing clear, compelling, effective communications

• Advising executive level on corporate internal comms needs and approach

• Ability to communicate clearly, concisely and in a compelling way verbally and in writing, for diverse audiences

• Ability to build strong working relationships both internally and externally, to persuade and influence and gain credibility and respect from all areas of the organisation

• Strong planning and organisational skills and experience of working in a high-pressure environment, managing multiple project workstreams

• Ability to work as part of a team as well as exercise your own judgement and initiative

• Ability to balance, prioritise and manage competing demands

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 Lead Associate – 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 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.