Social Media Manager

Department for Education

Jul 10

Applications are closed

Job
Full-time
Senior & Expert Level
London

Details

Reference number

360186

Salary

£48,701

Job grade

Senior Executive Officer

Senior Information Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

DFE - Strategy Group - Communications Directorate

Type of role

Communications / Marketing
Digital

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available

Contents

Location

About the job

Benefits

Things you need to know

Apply and further information

Location

City of Westminster, London (region), SW1P 3BT

About the job

Job summary

The Department for Education is looking for an experienced social media manager to join our Digital Engagement and Creative Content (Social Media) team.

The Senior Social Media Manager will play a central role in the management and publishing of departmental and ministerial social content. They will work closely with the team’s content creators, other communications teams, key stakeholders within the DfE including ministers, Special Advisors, and other government departments to assist in growing our audiences and engagement. They will also line manage a digital content producer.

The ideal candidate will be a social media native with strong experience in digital and social publishing who is able to think strategically and creatively around specific audiences and advise on the best ways to reach and engage them.

Fascinated by people, obsessed with platforms and a social post perfectionist, the Senior Social Media Manager will be well versed in analytics, have the ability to plan ahead, react in the moment and spot opportunities to further engage our key audiences.

Highly organised, results driven, resourceful, an exceptional collaborator, copywriter, and communicator, they will be looking for a unique challenge that makes a genuine difference to people.

This is a unique opportunity to join a highly skilled team that sits at the heart of government.

Job description

Job Description:

Managing the content output on DfE organic, owned social media channels and supporting ministerial channels.
Taking the lead on reactive, proactive and calendar specific projects.
Owning and managing key social projects and initiatives.
Helping to shape content and social strategy with the ability to translate these goals into effective tactics and publishing plans.
Forming a deep understanding of the key audiences for the DfE in order to set clear objectives for all projects.
Advising content creators, other teams and private offices on platform-specific best practice and trends.
Ensuring the right tone of voice for the DfE and ministers as required.
Creating, managing and maintaining the DfE social publishing schedule.
Feeding into our wider social/digital strategy.
Contributing to creative development and production of assets.
Analysing and reporting on content performance.

Candidate Engagement Session

A candidate engagement session will be held on Friday 12 July at 2:30pm, chaired by Richard Moore, Head of Social Media. This session will provide you with more information on the role and your chance to ask any questions.

For the MS Teams link to this session please contact resourcing.businesspartners@education.gov.uk.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

Experience of taking ownership of a suite of social media platforms within a large organisation, preferably in media, publishing or an equivalent government body.
Experience of working in a fast-paced environment with the ability to adapt and flex to ongoing developments.
Experience of managing and influencing multiple stakeholders in senior positions.
Experience of connecting with audiences through organic and paid social activities.
In-depth knowledge of the major social platforms and how to utilise them effectively to deliver comms that speak to key audiences.
Turn complex information, plans and ideas into simple, easy-to-understand formats to ensure stakeholder engagement and buy-in.
Able to articulate and action the latest best-practice for the benefit of the wider team.
Experience of using a variety of publishing and analytics platforms.
Utilise data to effectively inform strategies, plans and bring others ‘on the journey’.
Strong copywriting experience.
Effective planning and publishing experience.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Implementation (Digital)
Insight (Digital)
Ideas (Digital)
Impact (Digital)

Benefits

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK, with an average employer contribution of 27%.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application

To apply for this role, you will be required to provide a CV and Personal Statement (statement max word count 500 words). We will use your CV and statement to assess your experience and suitability for the role against the essential criteria listed in the person specification section above.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the personal statement is 500 words. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 500 words will not be taken into account.

More guidance on personal statements can be found here – completing your application.

Interview

If successful at sift, candidates will be assessed via interview. The interview will involve assessing Behaviours, Technical and Experience.

At interview you will be asked questions to assess your experience in line with the essential criteria listed above.

Behaviours are the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job. We want to get an understanding of the actions and activities that you have done (or would do) that result in effective performance.

We will assess you on the following behaviours during the interview:

Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace

We will also assess on these technical areas during the interview:

GCS Implementation: Digital
GCS Insight: Digital
GCS Ideas: Digital
GCS Impact: Digital

Further information on the technical skills can be found here: GCS Technical Specifications.

Candidates will be required to prepare a presentation to be delivered at the start of the interview. This will be to assess the Technical skill - GCS Impact: Digital. Further information will be provided if you are successful following the sift.

Other Information

In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

name/title

educational institutions

gender

email address

postal address

phone number

nationality/immigration status

We understand that you might use AI and other resources for your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. This is so that your application is authentically and credibly your own.

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs

Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name :

Resourcing Business Partners

Email :

resourcing.businesspartners@education.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :

AdvertsRecruitment.DFE@education.gov.uk

Further information

The Department for Education’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via CentralRecruitment.Operations@education.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages

Department for Education

Covering education, children’s services, higher education, further education, apprenticeships and skills in England.

Government

Industry

5001-10,000

Employees

Mission & Purpose

Help us achieve world-class education, training and care for everyone, whatever their background. Whether you're just starting out, or an experienced professional, we have what you are looking for. Jobs include administration, policy advisers, digital, finance, commercial specialists and many more. You'll help shape the future of education, training and social care, by working with industry and education leaders to develop policies and services. We have offices across England, including in Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Gatehead, Cambridge, London, Darlington, Nottingham and Coventry. We offer part-time, term-time and flexible working patterns, including working from home. You'll be able to shape your own learning and development with plenty of options available, and get involved with work across government, as well as in your local community. You can use your paid volunteer days to take on projects that matter to you.