Communications Officer

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and is responsible for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficacy of veterinary medicines in the UK.

We have a vacancy for a Communications Officer.

We are looking for a Communications Officer to join our team and play a key role in supporting the Communications Team, and the wider organisation by acting as a primary point of contact for external enquiries. This includes managing the correspondence database, the public-facing mailbox, main telephone line and incoming post, ensuring all enquiries are accurately logged, appropriately triaged and resolved within agreed timelines.

You will provide internal communications support by coordinating information from across the VMD to create and deliver weekly staff newsletters, and maintain the reception PowerPoint slides. You will be responsible for publishing external communications on GOV.UK in line with style and accessibility guidelines, while maintaining accurate contact records and databases using Microsoft Office applications.

Main duties

You will provide efficient business support by:

• handling general enquiries and complaints, including phone calls into our mainline using MS Teams telephone.
• managing and maintaining our correspondence management system (eCase), ensuring enquiries and call-back requests are accurately recorded, assigned, tracked, and closed within set service standards.
• publishing website edits for VMD content on GOV.UK (training provided), ensuring adherence to style guides.
• managing our internal and external contact records.
• undertaking routine and ad hoc administrative tasks as required to support team objectives and delivery plans.
• contributing to wider business compliance activities, including quality management, information security, and data protection.
• complying with ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 27001 (information security) standards, as well as GDPR and record management requirements.
• acting corporately by meeting, role-modelling, embedding, and championing VMD corporate objectives.

You will be responsible for:

• Delivering internal communications by collating news items and publishing weekly staff bulletins on the Intranet using our in-house style, proactively sourcing content from across the organisation.
• Updating and maintaining Reception TV PowerPoint slides to ensure accurate and up-to-date messaging.

Person Specification

We’re looking for you to have experience:

• Following style guides and using best practice to deliver content utilising various channels.
• Working in websites and/or content management systems.
• Providing administrative support in a business environment with internal and external stakeholders.

We’re looking for someone that:

• Enjoys working collaboratively with different business areas; you are able to build working relationships and demonstrate an understanding of your audience and how to communicate with impact.
• Has good organisational skills and attention to detail; you will be able to prioritise your workload to achieve deadlines.
• Has good written English and can draft emails and internal communications.
• Is proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 packages, particularly Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and can learn in-house packages quickly.
• Is comfortable asking questions and seeking clarification when needed.

How to Apply

If you're interested in applying for this position, we would love to hear from you! Please submit your application

via the Civil Service Jobs website, where you will find a full job description including salary details.

The closing date for applications is 31 August 2026.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate is an Equal Opportunity employer.

No Recruitment Agency, Newspaper or Publication calls please.

Pay: £29,770.00 per year

Work Location: In person