Head of Communications

The Behavioural Insights Team

Location Westminster
Salary £50,000, plus benefits
  • Closing: 12:00pm, 15th Mar 2017 GMT

Job Description

The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is looking to recruit a Head of Communications to lead our communications activities across the team in the UK and globally. Based in London, you will work with the Senior Management Team to develop an overarching communications plan for the business.

The newly appointed Head of Communications will need to rapidly develop an understanding of what we do and how we apply behavioural insights to policy problems to improve the lives of citizens. Disseminating these findings helps encourage evidence-based policymaking and allows practitioners everywhere to build on BIT’s research.

The role will require the candidate to be comfortable with being hands on, from working with the senior management team to devise our communications strategy to proof reading and editing content for publications.

The Behavioural Insights Team

The then Prime Minister created BIT in 2010 to apply behavioural science to public policy in the UK. In February 2014 we became a social purpose company, owned by the Cabinet Office, Nesta (an innovation charity) and our employees.

The Behavioural Insights Team works with governments and organisations around the world in almost every area of policy. Whilst the subject and output of our projects varies considerably, there are common threads: we try to understand the contexts in which people make decisions; we notice small details; we find out what has and hasn’t worked before; we come up with innovative ideas for solving policy problems and we measure everything we do as robustly as we can.

As well as displaying professional excellence, BIT selects staff on the basis of our company values: always prioritising social impact; empiricism and humility; fresh thinking, collaboration; and public service.

Role and Responsibilities

As the Head of Communications you will oversee all BIT’s communications activities, including media handling, internal communications, publications, digital presence and managing the BIT brand.

You will help to write, edit and sign-off communications materials, which will include press releases and blog posts. You will also edit and manage the production of BIT’s policy papers, including our flagship Update Report. You will then engage external audiences to ensure that our publications and outputs get appropriate coverage in the media, both at a national level and in any relevant trade publications. And you will help to devise new ways of supporting BIT’s internal communications, across our offices in the UK, New York, Sydney and Singapore.

You will also support the management of the BIT brand. This will include proactively seeking opportunities to raise the profile of BIT, including through thought leadership, conferences, events (including the annual Behavioural Exchange conference) and think pieces. It will also involve responding to reports relating to BIT in the press, where these might impact upon BIT.

Essential
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex policy conclusions into clear, media-friendly prose
  • Experience of media relations management, including proven experience of working with journalists in a policy context
  • Experience of managing the production of written publications
  • Experience of proof-reading and editing publications
  • Experience of managing internal communications
  • Track record of managing social media presence, including using social media and blogging
  • Experience of managing website content, including uploading new content
  • Ability to lead reactive communications, in the event that BIT is in the news which needs responding to quickly
  • Experience managing multiple clients and interested parties
  • Experience managing the brand of an organisation
Desirable
  • Experience of working in a policy environment in the public sector, charity or think tank space

Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Wed 15th Mar 2017

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You won't need a CV to apply to this job

Applications closed Wed 15th Mar 2017