Job summary
Are you an experienced communications professional who'd like a new challenge, in a friendly, supportive and high-achieving team? Come and work with us in SW London - it's a great place to work with a variety of exciting challenges. This role is a strong next step for your career, with great opportunities for professional development and progression.
We are looking for a new Deputy Head of Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at a Band 8b. Have a look at the JD and you'll see that we are looking for a corporate communications specialist, with website, accessibility and stakeholder engagement expertise who is adept at developing and delivering supporting strategies.
You will have a clear track record of effective stakeholder engagement and management as well as proven experience in leading integrated communications and engagement plans to deliver help us deliver our organisational objectives. Submit an application today and take the next step to a great career move.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be a website, accessibility and stakeholder engagement specialist who is an expert in developing and delivering supporting strategies. Alongside a clear track record of effective stakeholder engagement and management, they will have proven experience in leading integrated communications and engagement plans to deliver organisational objectives. The post holder will have demonstrated a capacity for strong leadership, and the strategic and people skills needed to lead a team of specialists, while supporting and contributing to a flexible and a wider integrated team.
The post holder will collaborate and align work programmes with the wider team and be responsible for planning and delivering the full integrated communications and engagement mix for South West London programmes of work. The role is part of a flexible SW London communications and engagement team.
About us
On 1 July 2022, NHS South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) was established. The ICB, as part of South West London Integrated Care System (ICS), is a partnership of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services to improve the lives of people in our six boroughs: Croydon, Merton, Kingston, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth.
Each ICS consists of two statutory elements:
an Integrated Care Board, bringing the NHS together with its partners locally to improve health and care services
an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP): the broad alliance of organisations and representatives concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population, jointly convened by the ICB and local authorities in the area.
ICBs are statutory NHS bodies responsible for planning and allocating resources to meet the four core purposes of integrated care systems (ICSs):
to improve outcomes in population health and healthcare;
tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience and access;
enhance productivity and value for money and;
help the NHS support broader social and economic development.
NHS South West London Integrated Care Board decides how the South West London NHS budget is spent and develops plans to improve people's health, deliver higher quality care, and better value for money.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the job description and person specification
1. Duties and Responsibilities
Be the strategic lead for the corporate, internal, public affairs, stakeholder engagement, website and accessibility team leading the delivery of high quality and effective functions which are regularly evaluated for their effectiveness.
Responsibilities of both this role and the Deputy Head of Communications, Media and Engagement will ensure integrated communications and engagement for our South West London priority programmes.
Work closely with the Deputy Head of Communications, Media and Engagement within the strategic objectives of the programme to jointly provide strategic communications and engagement support and advice.
Together the postholders will lead each part of the team to work in close partnership with senior engagement colleagues and support the entire team to work effectively and flexibly towards shared objectives.
Deputise for the Head of Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at internal and external events and meetings as required.
Interpret national guidance from NHSE as well as best practice guidance from other respected bodies, such as communications professional bodies and other national research or policy organisations, to support and advise the team to implement this within the ICB and ICS accordingly.
Lead the communications specialist teams to deliver the high quality work which is of a consistently high standard, including public affairs and stakeholder management, content and issues management, internal and corporate communications, traditional media, social and digital media and EPRR communications management.
Jointly lead the implementation of a channel strategy to disseminate content across all our SW London owned-channels, to reach target audiences and to regularly evaluate and adapt to ensure its effectiveness. Support all team members to be skilled and able to create and upload targeted and appropriate content to all of our owned channels. This will include the ICB and ICP websites, social media channels, the ICB intranet and other staff engagement channels, stakeholder bulletins as well as wider partner and community networks.
Producing reports that analyse and demonstrate the effectiveness of our integrated communication and engagement programmes of work, including using evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work at ICB and ICP level.
Jointly lead on implementing an approach for south west London wide communication and engagement professional meetings with NHS providers and local authorities, chairing meetings as necessary.
The role will provide and ensure there is supportive line management for all our team and that our people feel valued.
Carry out all PDR appraisals with staff within timescales and in line with policy.
Keep up to date with best practice and trends in integrated communications and engagement and apply to the work of the team.
Participate in the out-of-hours on-call rota for communications and incident EPRR response and media calls outside normal working hours, briefing colleagues as appropriate. This will also involve taking part in a daily media monitoring rota.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the job description and person specification
1. Duties and Responsibilities
Be the strategic lead for the corporate, internal, public affairs, stakeholder engagement, website and accessibility team leading the delivery of high quality and effective functions which are regularly evaluated for their effectiveness.
Responsibilities of both this role and the Deputy Head of Communications, Media and Engagement will ensure integrated communications and engagement for our South West London priority programmes.
Work closely with the Deputy Head of Communications, Media and Engagement within the strategic objectives of the programme to jointly provide strategic communications and engagement support and advice.
Together the postholders will lead each part of the team to work in close partnership with senior engagement colleagues and support the entire team to work effectively and flexibly towards shared objectives.
Deputise for the Head of Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at internal and external events and meetings as required.
Interpret national guidance from NHSE as well as best practice guidance from other respected bodies, such as communications professional bodies and other national research or policy organisations, to support and advise the team to implement this within the ICB and ICS accordingly.
Lead the communications specialist teams to deliver the high quality work which is of a consistently high standard, including public affairs and stakeholder management, content and issues management, internal and corporate communications, traditional media, social and digital media and EPRR communications management.
Jointly lead the implementation of a channel strategy to disseminate content across all our SW London owned-channels, to reach target audiences and to regularly evaluate and adapt to ensure its effectiveness. Support all team members to be skilled and able to create and upload targeted and appropriate content to all of our owned channels. This will include the ICB and ICP websites, social media channels, the ICB intranet and other staff engagement channels, stakeholder bulletins as well as wider partner and community networks.
Producing reports that analyse and demonstrate the effectiveness of our integrated communication and engagement programmes of work, including using evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work at ICB and ICP level.
Jointly lead on implementing an approach for south west London wide communication and engagement professional meetings with NHS providers and local authorities, chairing meetings as necessary.
The role will provide and ensure there is supportive line management for all our team and that our people feel valued.
Carry out all PDR appraisals with staff within timescales and in line with policy.
Keep up to date with best practice and trends in integrated communications and engagement and apply to the work of the team.
Participate in the out-of-hours on-call rota for communications and incident EPRR response and media calls outside normal working hours, briefing colleagues as appropriate. This will also involve taking part in a daily media monitoring rota.
Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in public affairs, stakeholder management, internal or corporate communications.
- Extensive knowledge of specialist areas, acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge or experience to master's level equivalent - including for website development and stakeholder engagement
- Evidence of continued professional development
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Member of relevant professional body
- Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment and highly charged political environment, preferably at regional or national level
- Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands
- Previously responsible for a budget, involved in budget setting and working knowledge of financial processes
- Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures for digital engagement and web development, as well as stakeholder management
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources; e.g. evaluation data dashboards for paid media and programmatic advertising and Google Analytics
- Developed communication skills for delivering key messages to a range of stakeholders both internal and external (including outside the NHS) to the organisation, some at very senior level
- Good presentational skills for conveying complex concepts and use persuasion to influence others
- Ability to understand a broad range of highly complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution
- Advanced Keyboard skills - ability to use Microsoft Office package including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, design packages like Canva and Photoshop, CRM and intranet and website platforms at intermediate (or advanced) level.
- Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery
Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in public affairs, stakeholder management, internal or corporate communications.
- Extensive knowledge of specialist areas, acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge or experience to master's level equivalent - including for website development and stakeholder engagement
- Evidence of continued professional development
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Member of relevant professional body
- Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment and highly charged political environment, preferably at regional or national level
- Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands
- Previously responsible for a budget, involved in budget setting and working knowledge of financial processes
- Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures for digital engagement and web development, as well as stakeholder management
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources; e.g. evaluation data dashboards for paid media and programmatic advertising and Google Analytics
- Developed communication skills for delivering key messages to a range of stakeholders both internal and external (including outside the NHS) to the organisation, some at very senior level
- Good presentational skills for conveying complex concepts and use persuasion to influence others
- Ability to understand a broad range of highly complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution
- Advanced Keyboard skills - ability to use Microsoft Office package including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, design packages like Canva and Photoshop, CRM and intranet and website platforms at intermediate (or advanced) level.
- Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.