Overview
Senior Communications Manager – Belfast
About the job
Job summary
Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you’re seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.
The Communications Directorate delivers professional communications on behalf of HMRC and is recognised as running one of the largest and busiest communications teams in government.
We deliver through a host of functions including;
Internal and Change
Press and Digital
Brand and Campaigns
Strategic
External Affairs
New/changing tax policies
Customer Support and Compliance
Borders and Trade
Transformation
With a focus on building professional competence colleagues are expected to work across several skillsets including using data insights, digital channels, stakeholder and business partner relationships.
We are creative, fast-working and encourage collaboration. With a big job to do you’ll be joining a strong, motivated communications team. Striving for innovation and excellence no other department touches the lives of so many people.
Job description
We are recruiting four Communications Senior Manager roles:
Senior Communications Manager [Learning and Tax Professionalism ] x1
Senior Communications Manager [Change] x3
As a Senior Internal Communications Manager, you will play a key role in developing and delivering strategic communications that support the organisation’s priorities, ensuring colleagues are equipped, informed, and inspired to deliver against our strategic objectives.
You will work collaboratively across the communications function and with other stakeholders to deliver coherent strategic communications that support business objectives and contribute to HMRC’s transformation journey.
These roles involve managing relationships with key stakeholders, overseeing content and channels, and producing creative communications that engage the entire workforce whilst ensuring plans are delivered to the highest standard with proper evaluation.
Person specification
Job holders in this grade will carry out a range of activities across communications professional disciplines to support efficient running of the directorate. This may involve being deployed across any of the communications teams and functional areas to support emerging priority work.
Strategic planning and delivery: translate organisational strategic priorities into clear, engaging communications plans and content that resonate with leaders, managers, and colleagues across the organisation.
Stakeholder engagement: build and maintain effective working relationships with stakeholders across HMRC, providing expert advice and ensuring well-coordinated communications.
Content development: develop, draft, and commission high-quality communication products and activities, delivering these through appropriate channels and working with specialist delivery teams as required.
Leadership support: support organisational objectives by delivering targeted communications for senior leaders.
Evaluation and reporting: evaluate the effectiveness and impact of communications activity using the Government Communications Service’s evaluation framework and contribute to reporting against departmental communications plans.
Strategic internal communications and engagement plans that support organisational priorities and transformation objectives.
Strategic communications advice and recommendations for stakeholders across the organisation.
High-quality internal communications products including announcements, campaigns and colleague engagement materials.
Evaluation reports demonstrating impact and effectiveness of internal communications activities with actionable insights.
Essential Criteria
Strong track record of developing communications strategies that translate business priorities into SMART communications objectives and create communications plans for key people activity according to Government Communication Service (GCS) OASIS principles.
Experienced at planning, delivering and evaluating impactful communications that engage audiences, drive behaviour change and support business objectives, with regular contribution to evaluation dashboards and reporting.
Excellent stakeholder engagement skills with ability to develop networks, negotiate with and influence senior stakeholders, and understand business priorities and drivers.
Accurate and impactful written and verbal communication skills across all channels and formats.
Comfortable working at pace and managing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Experience of communications that support organisational change.
Transitional Sites Information
If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it’s important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.
For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window)
These sites are:
- Benton Park View, Newcastle – moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
- Lynx House, Portsmouth – moving to No.1 The Goodsyard, Portsmouth
You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
- Delivering at Pace
- Leadership
- Seeing the Big Picture
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £44,110, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £12,778 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Pension – We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
- Family friendly policies.
- Personal support.
- Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
How to Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A name-blind CV including your job history and previous experiences. This will be scored against the roles and responsibilities outlined in the advert.
- A 1000-word Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role, making reference to the essential criteria and Person Specification outlined in the advert.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Sift
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your CV.
At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed and you will also be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of.
Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days(Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via:
unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’.
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Merit List
After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.
Criminal Record Check
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact the UBS Recruitment team via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk as 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.
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to.
Terms and Conditions
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.
Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
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.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.
Please note that, if you are applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
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).
