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Communications Manager
| Posting date: | 04 April 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £53,701 to £56,003 per year |
| Additional salary information: | (cost of living rise under review) |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 02 May 2025 |
| Location: | Horsham, West Sussex |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | Horsham District Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | CR1699 |
Summary
About the role:
We’re looking for a Communications Manager to be our all-round communications expert – ensuring high levels of public engagement and satisfaction with the Council and its services, and protecting and improving our reputation.
Preparing and implementing our communications strategies and corporate narrative, you’ll be expected to build strong relationships across the Council to identify innovation, best practice and positive messages to promote to the media and residents.
Your responsibilities will include supporting the Chief Executive with internal and external messaging, leading and managing the Communications department team in delivering corporate communications services, arranging specialist training in communications and marketing for councillors and senior officers, and providing planning for media and public information management in the event of a major incident or smaller civil emergency.
About you
To succeed as Communications Manager, you’ll need experience at senior communications practitioner level in a large, complex organisation, covering both internal and external communications. You’ll be a great communicator yourself, with a track record that demonstrates skill in handling complex and highly time sensitive media, social media, public relations and, ideally, emergency planning communications issues. An understanding of policies and issues affecting local government, and of working with partnerships and externalised services is also important, as is experience of staff management and working with senior managers and councillors or board members/trustees.
Experience and potential are what really matters, but as a guide we’d expect you to be educated to degree level, with a Chartered Institute of Marketing or Public Relations Diploma, NCTJ level 5 or equivalent, and either management qualifications to at least level 5 or willingness to study for ILM5.
For further queries about this role please email HR@horsham.gov.uk.
PPA
Applicants invited for interview will be asked to complete a Thomas’ Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) which provides a rapid and deep insight into behavioural preferences and communication style.
About us:
We’re well respected as a good local employer, with a friendly and supportive working environment – since we’re a smaller Council, you can really get to know everybody!
We encourage and support our employees to have a healthy work life balance by offering 28 days’ (207.2 hours) annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rata), and flexible/hybrid working options.
We offer a generous benefits package including an online platform offering discounts from online retailers and access to a car lease scheme. Staff are also eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), where the Council contributes circa 20% of pensionable salary.
To support professional development, we provide reimbursement for professional subscriptions and a range of training opportunities, including extensive in-house learning resources, short courses, Apprenticeships, and qualifications such as Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), Master of Business Administration (MBA).
To apply:
Find out more about this great environment and how well you would fit in. Visit our Jobs and careers page to read about Working for Horsham District Council and Our employment commitments.
When you apply for the role, we highly recommend you show clearly within the ‘Experience’ section of the application form how you meet the essential criteria detailed within the Role Profile when applying.
We’re looking for a Communications Manager to be our all-round communications expert – ensuring high levels of public engagement and satisfaction with the Council and its services, and protecting and improving our reputation.
Preparing and implementing our communications strategies and corporate narrative, you’ll be expected to build strong relationships across the Council to identify innovation, best practice and positive messages to promote to the media and residents.
Your responsibilities will include supporting the Chief Executive with internal and external messaging, leading and managing the Communications department team in delivering corporate communications services, arranging specialist training in communications and marketing for councillors and senior officers, and providing planning for media and public information management in the event of a major incident or smaller civil emergency.
About you
To succeed as Communications Manager, you’ll need experience at senior communications practitioner level in a large, complex organisation, covering both internal and external communications. You’ll be a great communicator yourself, with a track record that demonstrates skill in handling complex and highly time sensitive media, social media, public relations and, ideally, emergency planning communications issues. An understanding of policies and issues affecting local government, and of working with partnerships and externalised services is also important, as is experience of staff management and working with senior managers and councillors or board members/trustees.
Experience and potential are what really matters, but as a guide we’d expect you to be educated to degree level, with a Chartered Institute of Marketing or Public Relations Diploma, NCTJ level 5 or equivalent, and either management qualifications to at least level 5 or willingness to study for ILM5.
For further queries about this role please email HR@horsham.gov.uk.
PPA
Applicants invited for interview will be asked to complete a Thomas’ Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) which provides a rapid and deep insight into behavioural preferences and communication style.
About us:
We’re well respected as a good local employer, with a friendly and supportive working environment – since we’re a smaller Council, you can really get to know everybody!
We encourage and support our employees to have a healthy work life balance by offering 28 days’ (207.2 hours) annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rata), and flexible/hybrid working options.
We offer a generous benefits package including an online platform offering discounts from online retailers and access to a car lease scheme. Staff are also eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), where the Council contributes circa 20% of pensionable salary.
To support professional development, we provide reimbursement for professional subscriptions and a range of training opportunities, including extensive in-house learning resources, short courses, Apprenticeships, and qualifications such as Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), Master of Business Administration (MBA).
To apply:
Find out more about this great environment and how well you would fit in. Visit our Jobs and careers page to read about Working for Horsham District Council and Our employment commitments.
When you apply for the role, we highly recommend you show clearly within the ‘Experience’ section of the application form how you meet the essential criteria detailed within the Role Profile when applying.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.