NAO, Press Officer

Press Officer

Contract type: Permanent

Location: London

Salary: c£41,000 plus an out of hours call allowance £5,000 (higher base salaries may be considered for exceptional candidates) plus Civil Service Employer Pension Contribution of 27.1%

Main responsibilities

Promote NAO reports and work to external audiences via traditional and social media:

• Write press notices, pitches to journalists, op-eds and blog posts to explain our work


• Draft social media posts to promote our outputs, working alongside the design team to develop content for multimedia posts


• Brief journalists and producers on NAO reports to help secure in-depth, accurate and positive media coverage


• Arrange and participate in press briefings and media interviews


• Engage with stakeholders, including Parliament, government departments and audited bodies’ press offices


• Support audit teams and NAO spokespeople to communicate our work externally


• Develop communications plans that establish measurable, achievable and realistic objectives for our outputs, including achieving media coverage, engaging with audiences on social media and influencing our key stakeholders


• Help prepare spokespeople for media engagements by conducting practice interviews and developing support materials


• Accurately respond to time-sensitive, high-profile enquiries from journalists by drafting lines to take


• Brief NAO spokespeople and the media to protect the NAO’s reputation


• Respond appropriately to questions and comments on social media about our work


• Build relationships with press journalists (national, local and trade) and broadcast journalists and producers across all sectors of our work


• Be part of a rota with other team members for out-of-hours press office operations

Work with press team colleagues to help deliver a range of tasks:

• Support the senior press officers in compiling and sharing media coverage


• Assist in delivering internal media training for colleagues


• Maintain media databases compliantly


• Maintain and update documents and folders relating to reactive lines to take


• Compile internal reporting statistics

Essential skills

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to convey messages to a range of audiences using various techniques


• Knowledge of the UK media landscape


• Excellent writing skills and the ability to deliver accurate information effectively and on time


• Ability to translate complex and sensitive information and data into simple language


• A good grasp of digital and print media and the ability to pick up new tools quickly


• Ability to work well under pressure and respond to issues at short notice and out of hours


• Strong teamwork skills, with an understanding of other communications disciplines


• Proficiency in traditional and social media monitoring


• Experience working as a journalist, or in a press office or communications team

Desired skills

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Interest in and understanding of how government works

Additional information

The application deadline is 23:59 on Sunday 10 November. In-person interviews for shortlisted candidates will take place the week commencing 18 November. We will be in touch with exact times and dates once the shortlist is confirmed.

Candidates shortlisted for interview will be sent a pre-interview written task to complete 24 hours in advance.

How To Apply

Please upload a CV and a covering letter of no more than 2 pages of A4 clearly outlining how you meet the job requirements based on your knowledge, skills and experience. We will only accept completed applications via our careers site.

Contact

For any questions or queries on the application process please contact Kevin Carey (kevin.carey@nao.org.uk).

Disability and Reasonable Adjustments

Applicants with a disability who wish their application to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme should confirm this when submitting their application. Under this scheme we guarantee an interview to an applicant with a disability who meets the minimum requirements for the role. You should also let our HR team know if you wish us to consider any Reasonable Adjustments at any stage of the process (hrservicedesk@nao.org.uk).

Applicants will not be discriminated against on the grounds of any protected characteristic or any other extraneous factor.

We are open to considering candidates who wish to fill posts on a part-time basis or as a job share. Part-time candidates should indicate their proposed availability, and any flexibility they would either want to have or be able to offer.