Events and Visits Officer

Posting date:	17 September 2025
Salary:	£34,765 to £41,375 per year
Additional salary information:	National: £34,765-£37,080. London: £38,795-£41,375. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’.
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	30 September 2025
Location:	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	427755/3

Summary

Everyone is affected by the work that Defra does. We deal with a vast range of issues that profoundly impact people’s lives. We are responsible for England’s environment, our countryside and rural economy, the food and farming sectors and have lead responsibility for protection from a wide range of natural threats and hazards. This is a particularly exciting time to work in Defra and this role will touch on a huge sweep of national policy.

Cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with our wide range of stakeholder groups will play a crucial role in delivering on the department’s ambitious objectives.

We are therefore delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and proven communications professional to support Defra’s creative and highly-respected Events and Visits team. The postholder will oversee the continued delivery of high-profile events and visits linked to the Secretary of State’s key policy areas.

This role requires travel around the UK, occasionally at short notice and overnight.

• Work as part of a talented team of people overseeing external engagement activity and Secretary of State visits and events.
• Work collaboratively with other comms and policy teams to ensure that there is a consistent approach to all stakeholder events and visits.
• Collaborate and build relationships with our external partners to facilitate high quality visits and events including agencies, photographers, businesses and other government departments.
• Build strong relationships with special advisers and Ministerial Private Offices and become a trusted adviser of outreach activity.
• Draft detailed itineraries and produce high quality briefings for events and visits.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

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.