Ministry of Justice

Communications Manager at the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner

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Background

The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales is a powerful and independent voice for victims. Their office is dedicated to improving how the criminal justice system works for all victims and witnesses.

Location:

Successful candidates will be based in London at the following location:

• 102 Petty France, London

We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France).

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
• Flexible working patterns

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.  

The role of the Victims’ Commissioner is to:

• Raise awareness of the common issues faced by victims and witnesses
• Monitor how criminal justice agencies and victim support agencies comply with the Victims’ Code and Witness Charter
• Use their independent voice to influence national policymaking and hold partner agencies to account
• Speak up about what works best for victims and witnesses, and especially the most vulnerable.

The Victims’ Commissioner occupies a privileged position in the media and public debate where they are able to use their voice to hold criminal justice agencies and the government to account. Through work in the media, the Victims’ Commissioner is able to speak up for victims, highlight inequality of treatment and the needs of vulnerable victims, speak to the victim’s experience of the criminal justice system and advocate for change.

Introduction and Job Summary

This is a high‑profile and demanding communications role in a small, fast‑paced team. The Communications Manager is responsible for day‑to‑day delivery across press, digital and stakeholder communications, and is expected to operate confidently and independently across all three.

The role requires excellent political and news judgement, confidence operating with minimal oversight, and the ability to translate complex criminal justice policy into clear, compelling public communications, particularly on digital platforms.

The postholder will personally lead and deliver multi‑channel communications activity, including hands‑on digital content creation and social media management, working closely with policy and research colleagues and reporting to the Head of Communications. All content, including digital content, is developed independently in‑house, often at low or no cost, requiring creativity, speed and strong editorial judgement.

This role is ideally suited to someone with experience working across multiple communications disciplines, who is equally comfortable setting direction and delivering at pace, and who is motivated by working on high‑profile issues with real public impact.

In return, the role offers a high level of trust, visibility and freedom to shape communications activity on nationally significant issues. The Communications Manager plays a central role in determining what the Victims’ Commissioner says, when and how, and will have direct exposure to senior stakeholders, journalists and decision‑makers. For the right candidate, this is an opportunity to deliver creative, high‑impact work and to build a strong personal profile in a unique and influential organisation.

Main responsibilities

• Lead and deliver multi‑channel communications activity across press, digital and stakeholder channels, taking responsibility for digital output and performance.
• Plan and deliver digital communications activity using a structured campaign planning approach e.g. OASIS, including managing organisational social media channels, developing digital narratives, creating visual and short‑form content, and responding to live issues in real time.
• Draft high‑quality communications products, including original digital assets (graphics, short videos, threads and posts) as well as press releases, statements, articles, opinion pieces and lines to take.
• Lead on multi‑channel communications planning, ensuring activity is informed by insight, evaluation and the emerging news agenda, and that evaluation is built in from the outset in line with the GCS Evaluation Cycle.
• Develop clear, accurate and engaging messaging on complex policy and criminal justice issues for public and stakeholder audiences, with particular attention to the needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups.
• Manage media engagement, including pitching stories, organising and briefing interviews, responding to reactive enquiries, and drafting statements and opinion pieces.
• Horizon scan for communications opportunities, anticipate emerging issues, and actively manage reputational risk.
• Provide media‑handling advice to the Victims’ Commissioner, Senior Leadership Team and colleagues on announcements, visits and speeches.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with journalists, stakeholders and relevant government departments.
• Act independently on day‑to‑day communications issues, using sound judgement where precedent or guidance is limited.

Use digital and social media data and insight to measure the effectiveness of communications activity and apply learning to future work.

Skills, experience and attributes

This role will suit someone who:

• Enjoys operating with a high degree of autonomy and responsibility
• Is comfortable being both strategist and deliverer
• Has directly managed digital channels in a high‑profile or sensitive environment

This role is unlikely to suit someone who:

• Has mainly overseen or commissioned digital work
• Is looking for a role with narrow responsibilities
• Prefers a slower‑paced or highly hierarchical working environment

Essential

• Proven hands‑on experience of delivering digital and social media communications, including managing organisational channels, creating original content, making real‑time editorial judgements, and using insight and data to measure and refine impact.
• Demonstrable experience of using digital platforms to reach, engage and influence public or stakeholder audiences on complex or sensitive issues, often at pace and with limited time to consult.
• Strong communications experience, with the ability to advise and influence senior stakeholders on complex or contentious issues.
• Experience of structured communications campaign planning, including setting objectives, identifying audiences, selecting channels and evaluating outcomes — for example using the OASIS framework or equivalent
• Ability to quickly research and analyse complex or technical policy issues and translate them for different audiences across a range of written outputs.
• Experience of developing innovative, multi‑channel communications plans and confidently presenting and defending proposals to senior colleagues.
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills, with the ability to brief, advise and challenge effectively.
• Strong analytical skills, including effective use of insight, data and evaluation to inform communications activity.
• Excellent political awareness and news judgement.
• A collaborative and resilient team player, comfortable working at pace in a high‑profile environment.

Desirable

• Experience handling high‑profile or sensitive media issues
• Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

Experience

As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit a CV and a statement of suitability of up to 500 words, explaining why you are interested in the role and how your experience meets the essential criteria.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviours (see Annex A for more information):

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact. Encourage the use of different communication methods, including digital resources and highlight the benefits, including ensuring cost effectiveness. Ensure communication has a clear purpose and takes into account people’s individual needs. Share information as appropriate and check understanding. Show positivity and enthusiasm towards work, encouraging others to do the same. Ensure that important messages are communicated with colleagues and stakeholders respectfully, taking into consideration the diversity of interests. 

Seeing the Big Picture

• Understand the strategic drivers for your area of work. Align activities to contribute to wider organisational priorities. Remain alert to emerging issues and trends which might impact your work area. Seek out and share experiences to develop knowledge of the team’s business area. Understand how the strategies and activities of the team create value and meet the diverse needs of all stakeholders.

Delivering at Pace

• Show a positive approach to keeping the whole team’s efforts focused on the top priorities. Promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation. Ensure the most appropriate resources are available for colleagues to use to do their job effectively. Regularly monitor your own and team’s work against milestones ensuring individual needs are considered when setting tasks. Act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance. Allow individuals the space and authority to meet objectives, providing additional support where necessary, whilst keeping overall responsibility

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and Technical skills

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of.

In addition to the Behaviour(s) listed in the application form, the interview panel will also assess Technical skills provided below

Candidates should expect to be asked about specific examples of digital or social media content they have personally delivered, including decisions made under pressure and lessons learned.

Technical skills 

• Insight- Review communication and media plans to ensure activities reflect policy developments and the emerging news agenda. Use data and research to inform planning and ensure communications reach diverse and hard-to-reach audiences.
• Ideas - Initiate and lead the development of both reactive and proactive, integrated media campaigns that build on insight and tracking data. Work constructively with policy colleagues and partners to gain expert opinions. Work constructively with policy colleagues and partners to develop expert-informed, accessible and inclusive content.
• Implementation - Handle high-profile and sensitive media issues. Adhere to confidentiality and provide a clear, trusted brief to media and other partners. Demonstrate strong editing skills to ensure quality and timely press releases, rebuttals and lines to take in response to developing stories.
• Impact - Analyse media monitoring results to assess the effectiveness of media strategies and inform future proactive and reactive media campaigns. Apply evaluation findings to inform and improve future proactive and reactive communications activity.

More details on these can be found in the Government Communication Professional Competency (Technical Skills) Framework (PDF). 

Candidates will be asked to prepare a written Exercise prior to interview.

Interviews are expected to take place early July.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team, please Thomas Cracknell, thomas.cracknell@victimscommissioner.org.uk

Annex A - The STAR method

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• Where are you?
• Who was there with you?
• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?
• What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?
• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.