Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Policy & Political roles)
Communications, Press and Media
Main purpose of job:
Working at the British High Commission in Freetown offers unrivalled opportunity to be part of the strong and historic relationship between the UK and Sierra Leone. The Political and Communications team at the High Commission plays a crucial role in maintaining and developing that relationship.
We are looking for an innovative and energetic Communications and Campaigns Officer to develop digital and traditional media outreach in Sierra Leone on behalf of the British High Commission.
Working at the British High Commission in Freetown offers unrivalled opportunity to be part of the strong and historic relationship between the UK and Sierra Leone. The Communications and Campaigns role provides an essential function, leading communications for the entire mission. You will be using communications in a creative and strategic way to support delivery of all the activity which supports the bilateral relationship between the UK and Sierra Leone.
The successful candidate will report to the Head of Communications and support the whole mission in the delivery of strategic communications in Sierra Leone in line with UK government priorities in Sierra Leone and across the world.
You will be supported by the whole political section, but have responsibility for and lead the digital communication strategy, using evidence and analysis to drive forward activity. You will work closely alongside the British High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, Development Partners, British Council, Defence Advisors, and BHC Political Section to support our campaigns, programmes and soft power initiatives providing a cross-coordinating role for the whole mission. You will nurture and cultivate media partnerships to promote our activity at the British High Commission, building our UK in Sierra Leone brand.
The post holder will have a creative and challenging role responsible for coordinating all aspects of our traditional and online media outreach in Sierra Leone. They will develop eye-catching and innovative content for the High Commission’s social media pages and website in Sierra Leone, develop dedicated digital channels, draft social media plans and messaging, develop calendars, and creating engaging online material (e.g. infographics, GIF, HTML5).
The successful candidate will be a confident and proactive person, having a proven track record and the skills to identify and engage a range of target audiences via traditional media, PR and online. A flexible and cooperative team approach and good interpersonal and communication skills are essential.
This role will provide a breadth experience into a range of communications, it would suit someone who is creative but results driven with an interest in politics and international relations, excellent communication skills and a positive, flexible, can-do attitude.
Roles and responsibilities:
The job holder will work closely with the whole HMG team focusing on developing and maintaining communications activities, including the High Commissions media presence, official website, social media channels and PR efforts.
These activities would include (but not be limited to):
- Engaging collaboratively with key media partners and developing joint approaches for teams across the High Commission and developing the UK in Sierra Leone brand. You will need to work collaboratively as our main point of contact for all communications information from London and Africa communications team.
- Lead on digital media strategy for the High Commission to drive forward and support our political and development objectives. Include, but will not be limited to website and social media administration, photo and video production, creative graphic design, research and content gathering and forward communications planning.
- Produce high quality creative digital contents such as videos, graphics and photos. Manage the day-to-day administration of UK in Sierra Leone’s official social media accounts including Facebook and Twitter and gov.uk website.
- Providing data analysis and monthly evaluation of our digital and other media activities.
- Support events and visits organised by the High Commission by shooting live videos and photography as well as creating social media content for the UK in Sierra Leone social media channels.
- Leading the communications calendar and forward look for campaigns and priorities across HMG colleagues including Defence, Development and the British Council.
- With support from the Political Team, evolve a communications strategy for the Mission, aligning to the one HMG strategy refreshed earlier this year.
- Ad hoc tasks in support of the political team, and wider High Commission team, including organising meetings, and logistics for events. Represent the British High Commission at all times with professionalism and respect.
Resources managed (staff and expenditure):
- A small dedicated communications and PR budget is available to be deployed.
- Flexible, adaptable and proactive with good problem-solving and organisational skills
- Good IT skills – MS Office: Outlook, Excel, Word, MS Teams
- Good communication skills both written and oral
- Digital and social media experience
- Fluent English
Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering at Pace
6 October 2020
B3 (L)
Permanent
35
Africa
Sierra Leone
Freetown
British High Commission
1
SLL 4,047,709.53 (paid 13 times per year)
1 November 2020
Learning and development opportunities:
The British High Commission has an active approach to learning and development. We value and prioritise learning and development as part of everyone’s job role. It is is expected that you will undertake a personal development plan, where we will support your continuous professional development.
There are a wide range of options available for personal development including training courses, coaching and mentoring, job-shadowing, presentations and learning sets. Staff have access to a wide variety of online resources through the Diplomatic Academy and Civil Service Learning. Staff are strongly encouraged to take advantage of all the available opportunities. The job-holder will be required to take some specific training courses related to their role. All new staff undertake a workplace induction and there are a number of mandatory e-learning courses covering areas such as diversity, health and safety, and information management.
- The British High Commission in Sierra Leone maintains and develops relations between the UK and Sierra Leone. The political section is at the forefront of developing those relations and is an exciting and rewarding place to work. It is a small but busy team team enabling us to work closely and collaboratively across the the High Commission. Being a proactive, enthusiastic team player is essential for the role. It also offers the chance to be innovative, build networks, represent the UK and work strategically with colleagues to design programmes and events that will take forward our bilateral relationship with Sierra Leone.
- The role also offers the chance to learn about the workings of a High Commission and an opportunity to work strategically with colleagues to take forward our bilateral relationship with Sierra Leone. It would suit someone with an interest in politics and international relations and a positive, flexible, can-do attitude.
- Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
- Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
- The British High Commission will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
- Employees recruited locally by the British High Commission in Freetown are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Sierra Leone.
- All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit.
- The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to;
- Obtain the relevant permit
- Pay the fees for the permit
- Make arrangements to relocate
- Meet the costs to relocation
- Employees who are not eligible to pay local income tax: e.g. certain third-country nationals and spouses/partners of UK diplomats will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.
- Information about the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Competency Framework can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-frameworkPlease note: Job grade AA=A1, AO=A2, EO=B3, HEO=C4, SEO=C5.
- Reference and security clearances checks will be conducted.
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