Deputy Director of Strategy and Insight
| Posting date: | 11 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £81,000 to £130,000 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 29 March 2026 |
| Location: | Birmingham |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 452432/2 |
Summary
DBT's Communications and Marketing function is undergoing a bold transformation to meet the demands of the modern media landscape and deliver on our ambitious growth mission. We're moving from traditional discipline-based communications to an integrated, outcome-focused model that positions communications as a critical delivery enabler, not just a service function.
Our integrated approach
Working through matrix teams, we bring together multi disciplinary communications and engagement professionals to deliver priority campaigns under one strategy aligned to the growth mission. Our approach is built on three pillars:
- Targeted behaviour change: Hyper-focused campaigns driving business uptake of export support, employment rights compliance, and service-led communications linking policy to practical business support
- Real stories: Case study-driven campaigns featuring businesses creating jobs and workers benefiting from new rights, with local ministerial visits showcasing investment wins and peer-to-peer business advocacy
- Progress and delivery moments: Strategic use of set-piece events and milestones to demonstrate momentum and build trust through demonstrated impact
Mission-led approach
All our activities directly support the Growth Mission. We translate complex economic policies into clear narratives for target audiences across all DBT communications and engagement channels. Our communication outcomes contribute to the overall mission milestone of "higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom." We operate with SMART objectives, use insight to drive clear audience journeys from awareness to action, and measure impact through metrics aligned to the mission milestone.
By joining DBT Communications and Marketing, you'll be part of a team that's redefining how government communicates about economic growth – working collaboratively across disciplines, using evidence and insight to drive impact, and demonstrating how government partnership with business is creating jobs, driving investment, and improving living standards across the UK.
As Deputy Director for Strategy, Insight and Internal Communications, you will be the strategic centre of gravity for how the directorate works in partnership to plan, deliver and measure its priority campaigns — setting the direction, owning the evidence base, and ensuring that everything we do is rooted in a clear understanding of our audiences and responsive to the environment around us.
You will lead three teams — Strategic Communications, Insight and Evaluation, and Internal Communications — and serve as Senior Responsible Officer for one of DBT's four priority campaigns. But this role is about much more than leading your own teams. You will be a full and active member of the Communications and Marketing Senior Leadership Team, sharing collective responsibility for the performance of the whole directorate, the success of our integrated campaign model, and the professional development of our people. You will also play a significant role inthe department's wider strategy and growth leadership, working across DBT to ensure communications is embedded as a genuine delivery function — not an afterthought — in everything the department does to drive economic growth.
This role demands someone who combines deep strategic instinct with sharp political awareness. You will need to read the political landscape quickly and accurately, maintain a coherent long-term strategy while your team responds to the moments that matter, and build and sustain the relationships — with Ministers, Special Advisers, senior officials, and cross-Whitehall partners — that make things happen. You will be comfortable operating at pace and under pressure, and you will bring the credibility and judgement to be a trusted adviser at the most senior levels of the department.
Beyond your own team and priority campaign, you will champion professional standards and functional disciplines that underpin great communications, and invest in the capability and development of people across the directorate, not just your own teams. You will help shapeDBT’s contribution to cross-government communications priorities, represent the department in senior Whitehall forums, and build the external relationships and networks that allow us to punch above our weight in driving economic growth through impactful communications.
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