Head of Communications and Influence, Navy Command

This role is based at HMS Excellent, Portsmouth with regular travel to London. Lately, however, the team has been working at home in accordance with Government COVID-19 advice. A significant degree of remote working is likely to continue for the immediate foreseeable future.

This is an excellent opportunity to lead a high-profile team at the heart of the Royal Navy, responsible for managing proactive and reactive media and communications outputs, protecting the Royal Navy brand and promoting its reputation.

The Royal Navy Media and Communications team is responsible for creating and delivering the communications strategy for the Royal Navy, making best use of resources to promote understanding and influence our key target audiences.

The team is part of the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Directorate and is based at Navy Command Headquarters in Portsmouth.

The team, in line with the rest of Government, is expected to adopt the Modern Communications Operating Model (MCOM) to deliver effective communications outputs using the OASIS framework.

The Head of Communications and Influence is First Sea Lord and the Navy Board’s principal professional advisor on Royal Navy communications, media, brand and reputational issues.

The Head of Communications and Influence leads a team of civil servants and military personnel, including media operations specialists and professional communicators. They are a highly skilled team who work to demanding timelines to enable the Royal Navy to achieve its Command Plan priorities.

The role holder is responsible for ensuring that the team deliver high quality, insightful and timely outputs and advice on all Royal Navy communication issues.

They will work closely with the Directorate of Defence Communications on both Navy specific and defence wide communications issues/programmes. The successful candidate will be comfortable briefing to Secretary of State and other senior officials and ministers.

Critical to success in the post will be building and maintaining effective, relationships with a range of stakeholders across defence, both internally and externally.

The post reports to Second Sea Lord via the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff.
 

Responsibilities

· Leading and managing the Royal Navy Media and Communications Team – building a high performing, agile and diverse team that delivers high quality outputs and puts communication at the heart of decision making in the Royal Navy.

· Leading the planning and execution of the annual communications strategy planning cycle, assuring all activities undertaken by the enterprise.

· Leading proactive communication planning to increase understanding, promote reputation and build advocacy for the Royal Navy.

· Leadership of reactive and reputational issues, assessing threats and where appropriate advising on communications activity and responses.

· Act as First Sea Lord’s senior communications advisor, representing the Navy within the department and with key stakeholders both internal to government and from external organisations.

· As a member of Assistant Chief of Naval Staffs senior management team contribute to the leadership and management of the Directorate and as an Senior Civil Servant Communications Professional support Director Defence Communications to lead the communications function across MoD.

Please see attached the Candidate Information Pack for further details.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension