Strategic Communications Advisor

Requirements of the role

We have an opportunity for a Strategic Communications Advisor to join our Strategic Communications Team within The Office of the Chief Executive Directorate.

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We are at the source of everyday life. We help the sector build trust and confidence with customers, the environment and wider society: keeping water flowing, ensuring water bills don’t cost a penny more than needed, holding water companies to account. We push hard to improve day-to-day water company performance for customers, including on leakage, sewer flooding and customer service.

Our work is high-profile and fast-moving, within a dynamic and agile environment. The work that you’ll be involved in every day will help us to deliver our strategy, to make us the regulator we want to be and help the sector to deliver for customers and society.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

Job description
The Role

We are seeking a Strategic Communications Adviser to play a key role in ensuring that Ofwat delivers impactful and effective communications to a diverse range of audiences.

The Strategic Communications team is responsible for developing Ofwat’s communications strategy and annual communications plan, ensuring that all activity is appropriately planned and evaluated. The team also leads on the development and delivery of strategic communications plans for key projects.

You’ll work across a number of projects and areas, developing strong and collaborative working relationships with colleagues across Ofwat. You will develop a thorough understanding of key areas of the organisation’s work, enabling you to develop plans which communicate our work to a range of stakeholders. Working with communications colleagues across a range of disciplines – media, stakeholder and internal engagement, digital and design – you will draw on the strengths and capabilities of the whole team to produce top-quality work.

In addition to your project responsibilities, you will be required to contribute to other aspects of the communications team’s work, giving you the opportunity to operate in a range of disciplines and across varied priorities.

You will join two existing strategic communications advisers in the communications team. We regularly review the allocation of responsibilities between advisers to help give each person an engaging and exciting portfolio. It is expected that each role will have a specific area of responsibility which will form the core of their responsibilities – for example, oversight of planning or work linked to environmental protection.

Key deliverables:

In this role you will be expected to:

Develop an understanding of audiences, campaigns and channels to develop communications campaigns and plans.
Act as a business partner for colleagues across Ofwat, understanding the scope and objectives of their work and providing communications advice.
Develop and deliver communication plans which have clear objectives, targeted and effective tactics and specific measurable outcomes.
Devise creative approaches so that our work has impact.
Manage projects so that everyone involved understands the timeline and are clear on how and when they contribute.
Ensure that work is reviewed and signed off at an appropriate level and in a timely fashion.
Evaluate the outcome of all significant projects, identifying lessons learned.
Contribute to maintaining the forward planning communications grid.

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