Senior Media Officer

Job summary

IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Numerical and Verbal tests. The deadline for completing the tests is the same as the vacancy closing date. Please ensure you complete the tests with sufficient time to complete the written application.

We are recruiting for an exceptional Senior Media Officer to lead work on a high-profile policy portfolio or lead on relationships with consumer or digital media.

You will be at the forefront of driving a campaigning approach to media and communications, using the full breadth of earned media to tell the story of our work to improve children and young people’s lives.

As the department for opportunity, our work is guided by our desire to build an education system that works for everyone – regardless of their background and where they grew up.

We have a strong culture of inclusion and diversity and are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.

You will be joining a busy, high-performing communications team that is highly valued by, and works with, Ministers and senior officials to communicate key public policy and education priorities.

You will also work closely with the digital content team, campaigns, stakeholder management and wider colleagues in internal and strategic communications to deliver consistent, high quality content.

Job description

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Create and deliver creative and stretching media and communication handling plans and longer-term strategies that keep us on the front foot and build the public’s confidence.
• Lead creative ideation across teams to keep the Department’s stories in the news and media agenda, landing stories with outlets and channels where we will achieve maximum audience reach.
• Work closely with teams across the department to embed media and communications thinking throughout the policy making lifecycle from conception to delivery.
• Build relationships with a diverse group of journalists and stakeholders to maximise opportunities to tell the Department’s story through earned media channels.
• Provide advice - and constructive challenge where required - to policy teams, the Permanent Secretary, Ministers, and special advisers on the communication implications of policy and delivery.
• Represent the DfE in cross-government meetings, and work with external stakeholders to gain insight, to influence where necessary, to suggest joint initiatives where appropriate and to contribute to the existing or proposed initiatives of others.
• Work constructively across comms teams including social, digital, stakeholder and strategy, and act as a key part of the management team working alongside the other Senior Media Officers and with your Chief Media Officer.
• You may have line management responsibility, but if not you will have the ability to task manage and support the team on projects. Develop and coach the media officer(s) you work with, ensuring they are well-motivated, highly skilled and high-performing individuals aligned towards delivering engaging, accurate and timely content.
• Participate in the out-of-hours duty rota providing an on-call service to members of the media.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Have strong knowledge of the role of insight in all its forms in developing excellent communications plans, and be able to support your team to apply insight consistently in their work.
• Be a self-starter, able to motivate yourself and a team to keep ahead of the news agenda and communications trends, coming up with new ideas and ways to tell the Department’s priority stories.
• Demonstrate excellent written communication skills and ability to set standards to ensure appropriate content, messaging, tone and consistency in media communication.
• Have excellent traditional and digital media understanding and knowledge and be aware of spotting and reacting to emerging trends on the full range of channels.
• Show sound understanding of reputation management, including high quality reactive media handling and rebuttal, with the confidence to make rapid, well-judged decisions under pressure.
• Be skilled at relationship building, influencing and negotiating to drive brilliant communications outcomes.

In return, we will ensure that you are fully supported and have the opportunity to develop your career as a skilled communications professional.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Leadership

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GCS Competency - Insight
• GCS Competency - Implementation
• GCS Competency - Ideas
• GCS Competency - Impact

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £50,714, Department for Education contributes

£14,691 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply for this role, please select 'Apply Now' at the top or bottom of this advert. CV details need to be included in the template within the application form; attached or emailed CVs will not be considered.

Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)   

When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. 

Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)   

When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. 

It is important you allow enough time to complete the test online (within 24-48 hours is recommended), and obtain the results before you can complete your full application online prior to the test closing date and time.

Do not leave completing the tests until the last minute in case you experience any access or technical issues. There may not be technical support available after business hours.

While the tests should work on most operating systems and modern browsers with a good internet connection, we cannot guarantee that every combination will work. At the beginning, the test will check which browser you are using, and alert you if it is likely to be incompatible.

It is highly recommended that you complete the online tests on a desktop computer, not a mobile phone or tablet.

If candidates require reasonable adjustments during the application process, or online test process, please allow sufficient time (at least 5 working days prior to the closing date) to allow is to review and progress your application to the next stage of the process.

Please note that there is no candidate support available from Friday 5pm until Monday 9am.

If you are unsuccessful in passing the online tests you will be unable to continue any further in the application process. If you successfully pass the tests, you will then progress to stage 3 of completing the full application.

Stage 3: Application

At sift stage, you will be assessed on your Experience in line with the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job advert.

To apply for this role, please provide:

• A Short CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.
• Your Statement of Suitability – In no more than 750 words, provide examples of how your personal skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not intended to be a cover letter, instead work through each essential criteria in turn. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 750 words . Please adhere to this limit as anything over 750 words will not be taken into account.

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the advert.

When looking at your experience, we’re looking for examples of things you have previously achieved or your knowledge in a particular field, which are relevant to the job role. We’re not looking at how much time you spent in a particular field, but rather how you performed. Sometimes experience can be transferable from a non-work context. Skills gained through voluntary work or a hobby, such as teamwork or communication, can demonstrate the experience required for the role. 

Should there be a high volume of applicants, candidates will be sifted using the first three (3) Essential Skills criteria

We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.

Please note, CV details must be contained within the template on the application form. Any CV or Statement of Suitability that has been emailed to our team will not be considered.

We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished, answered all the relevant questions and reviewed the information entered.

Application sifting will take place from 14 September 2026 onwards. Please note these dates are subject to change.

If you are successful at application sift stage, your application will be progressed onto Stage 4 part of the Selection process.

Stage 4: As