Deputy Head of Media - New Media

Job summary

Can you demonstrate exceptional leadership skills?

Do you thrive on pace?

Do you think in platforms and channels as naturally as you think in headlines?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

DfT is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government. We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network that helps businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest to make journeys better.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DfTc

The Department for Transport's Media Team provides outstanding communications and advice on Secretary of State priorities, including driving up performance on the railways and improving bus services.

As Deputy Head of Media, you will be a senior leader with a specific focus on new media — shaping how DfT tells its story in an environment where news breaks online first and public narratives can shift within hours. You will work in close partnership with the Digital Communications team, bringing media and digital functions together to deliver joined-up, campaign-led communications that cut through.

Job description

The Deputy Head of Media is one of two deputies reporting to the Head of Media, forming a tight-knit senior leadership team at the core of DfT's communications operation.

Alongside managing two Chief Media Officers on proactive or reactive desks, you will have a particular focus on the fast-moving world of digital media — monitoring emerging narratives, spotting issues gaining traction online before they become crises, and driving agile, coordinated responses across the full channel mix. You will be the bridge between the Media Team and the Digital Communications team, ensuring that media handling and digital activity are always aligned and mutually reinforcing.

You will also lead on embedding campaign ways of working across the Media Team — working with the Strategic Communications Team to bring structured planning, audience insight and measurable objectives to both proactive and reactive media work, and ensuring that earned media is fully integrated into wider campaign strategies.

Out-of-hours working is a core part of this role. You will participate in the management back-up rota for out-of-hours duty press officers, for which overtime payments are provided.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Act as deputy for the Head of News, including regular attendance at meetings with the Transport Secretary
• Lead the department's approach to new media
• Work closely with the Digital Communications team, ensuring media and digital activity are planned and delivered together
• Manage and develop a high-performing team of communications professionals

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards .

Flexible resourcing

Colleagues are expected to work with a degree of flexibility, meaning responsibilities may change to support priority delivery.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile which is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• You will have substantial experience in a senior media or communications role, ideally in a fast-paced and politically sensitive environment. You will be able to demonstrate a strong track record in new and digital media — understanding how stories move across platforms, how to build real-time monitoring and response capability, and how to bring structure and discipline to reactive work without losing pace.
• You will have hands-on experience of working in campaign ways of working, bringing together media, digital and other communications disciplines around shared plans, objectives and evaluation. You will have worked closely with digital teams and understand how earned media and owned channels can be used together to maximum effect.
• You will be resilient, calm under pressure and confident presenting to and advising Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials, including in high-pressure, time sensitive situations. You will have excellent political and news judgement, particularly in the context of social media where situations can escalate quickly.
• You will have a strong record of building and sustaining relationships across complex stakeholder environments, and of leading and developing teams to achieve high performance.

Additional Information

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

There is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work full time.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Sponsorship is not offered for this role. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the United Kingdom

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £74,535, Department for Transport contributes

£21,592 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).

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

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 and Experience.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your experience of the following:
• Demonstrate a strong track record in new and digital media — understanding how stories move across platforms, how to build real-time monitoring and response capability
• Experience of working in campaign ways of working, bringing together media, digital and other communications disciplines around shared plans, objectives and evaluation
• Confidence in presenting to and advising Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials, including in high-pressure, time sensitive situations
• A strong record of building and sustaining relationships across complex stakeholder environments, and of leading and developing teams

The sift will take place week commencing 21/09/2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – (Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Seeing the Big Picture)
• Experience

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation to assess the Behaviour Communicating and Influencing. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place week commencing 05/10/2026.

This interview will be conducted in person at our London office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12 -month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

Appointments for this position will be made in order of merit. If you are successful in the selection process but there are no further available posts for the advertised role, you may be contacted to discuss an offer for a lower graded role (with similar experience and responsibility requirements).

If you are unsuccessful in the selection process, your application may be considered for a lower graded position if your demonstrated skills and experience meet the requirements of the alternative position. Candidates will be considered in order of merit.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional re