Director of Communications

Salary: £120,000 (SCS Pay Band 2), plus Civil Service pension with 28.97% employer contribution

Location: Birmingham, Leeds or London (hybrid, 60% in the office)

Job type: Permanent; full-time, part-time or job share

Closing date: 11:55pm on Monday 23rd November 2026

Location

Birmingham, Leeds and London. With expectation of regular travel and to be present for in-person meetings with ministers where required. We currently work on a hybrid basis with 60% of our time working in an office location working

About the job

Job summary

The Director of Communications leads the Department’s communications team and is Head of Profession for communications staff across the group. You will join Directors of Communications across government leading a fundamental transformation in how the government informs and connects with citizens in an era of rapid technological change, evolving media consumption, and the critical challenge of building public trust.

You will be the Secretary of State’s senior official communications adviser. You will set communications strategy, ensure high performance delivery, and promote a culture of innovation and improve professional standards across the DfT Group. You will be responsible for a wide range of communications activity that supports the Department’s Strategic Outcomes and the Government’s agenda.

Audience-focused and insight-driven, you will bring consumer marketing and storytelling expertise to public service communication. You will boldly champion modern communications - leading the cultural shift from reactive, press-first communications to integrated always-on campaigns, embracing digital innovation, leveraging responsible AI and boldly putting citizens at the heart of our planning and delivery.

You will influence and inform stakeholders inside and outside of Government. You will be able to lead highly effective public and media relations activity, high impact campaign delivery, and targeted stakeholder engagement.

Across the Group you will be accountable for communications strategy, spend and professional standards across the Department’s network of agencies and other bodies, providing professional leadership to all communications staff across this network, and providing the transformational leadership required to keep pace with the rapidly changing media and communications landscape.

You will role model continuous professional development and make sure the Department for Transport’s communications function has the capability and skills it needs to deliver the communications strategy.

You will be part of a senior peer network of Government Communications leaders, collectively responsible for a Civil Service profession of 7,000 communicators across departments, agencies and arm’s-length bodies. As a leader within GCS you will play an active role in raising professional standards and improving efficiency more broadly, including by leading continuous improvement projects.

Job description

Government Directors of Communications come from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience, including digital and advertising agencies, journalism, television production, marketing, PR, as well as Corporate Public Affairs and not for profit and private sectors. We are less prescriptive about background and are more interested in the skills and behaviours you can bring, with focus on expertise and leadership.

What matters most is your ability to think strategically, lead transformation, champion innovation whilst navigating complexity, and deliver measurable impact through audience-first communications.

• Accomplished storyteller – articulate, intelligent, pragmatic and creative. Creating stories and narratives that speak to audiences. Knowing when and how to communicate to influence stakeholders, drive behaviour change and deliver impact.
• Influencer and shaper – Politically savvy, emotionally intelligent and tuned in to the needs of different stakeholder groups. Experience advising and influencing at the most senior levels (Board, Ministerial or equivalent).
• Strategic thinker – grasps the organisational mission and central priorities, building insight-informed strategies and plans. Results and impact focused, while alive to reputational risks and the need to be adaptable to changes around you.
• Audience advocate – in a rapidly evolving media landscape, recognises the importance of audience and how to harness the most effective digital platforms, traditional media, relationships and networks to build engagement and/or behaviour change.
• Team leader – collaborative, inclusive style. An inspiring leader who builds and develops multidisciplinary teams, fostering an environment of creativity, growth and high performance
• System leader – Commitment to collective impact across Government, not just departmental outcomes. Brings collaboration, compromise, pace and courage to cross-government working. Models behaviours that signal to teams that system-wide transformation is the future of the profession.

Person specification

You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Director level in the Senior Civil Service.

You will be an exceptional senior communications leader with a strong track record of delivery for large, complex organisations. You will be able to demonstrate your capability and potential against the following essential criteria:

• Marketing and storytelling mindset with demonstrable experience of audience-led, insight-driven campaigns. You understand segmentation, targeting and positioning. You have proven success developing multi-channel campaigns and creative content strategies with clear evaluation metrics and measurable impact—including large-scale behaviour-change or trust-building campaigns.
• Senior advisory and influencing skills – excellent interpersonal and influencing skills as a trusted adviser to diverse stakeholders internally and externally, including at Board, C-suite or ministerial (or equivalent) level. You have a track record of influencing senior decision-making, demonstrating political acuity, strategic judgement and emotional intelligence in highly visible and sensitive environments.
• Proven crisis management and transformation leadership - experience leading communications transformation with excellent judgement to manage crises, reputational risk and politically sensitive issues. An awareness of public sentiment and proven experience using this information to inform decision-making.
• Exceptional leadership of multi-disciplinary teams – a resilient and transformational leader with experience of building capability and fostering a creative, inclusive and impact-focussed team. You create a clear vision, inspire performance and lead teams through complexity and change.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £120,000, Department for Transport contributes £34,764 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service.

It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service values and supports all its employees.

We have strong and pro-active staff networks, special leave policies for hospital appointments, reasonable adjustments put in place for those who need them, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.

Pension

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package.

A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. Visit Civil Service Pension Scheme for more details. >

Generous Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance

25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service (allowance is pro rata for part-time employees). This is in addition to 8 public holidays.

This will be complimented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King’s Birthday.

Staff Wellbeing

Flexible working including part-time or term-time working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.

Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.

Childcare benefits (policy for new employees as of 5 April 2018): The government has introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers, so please check how the policy would work for you here. Any move to the DfT from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.

Onsite facilities Opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online form via Gatenby Sanderson. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Monday 23rd November 2026.

The application will include:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. Your CV should be no longer than two A4 pages at font size 12.
• A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’.

All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel.

Should you encounter any issues with your application please get in touch with us via devon.coates-leaning@gatenbysanderson.com

Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.

For a confidential discussion to help inform your application, please contact our recruitment advisors at Gatenby Sanderson:

Orla.Brennan@gatenbysanderson.com

Olivia.Robinson@gatenbysanderson.com

Selection Process and Shortlist​

Stephen Cohen, Civil Service Commissioner, will chair the process. More detailed information can be found at the Civil Service Commission website: Civil Service Commission ​

Stephen will be joined by:​

• Ross Gribbin, Director General, Decarbonisation, Technology and Strategy Group, DfT;
• A senior representative from the Government Communication Service;
• A member of the HR leadership team, DfT​.

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification.​

Candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview.​

Assessment

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include:

• Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across the DfT.

These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Informal Discussion

Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity to speak to Ross Gribbin prior to the final interview. This is an informal discussion to allow candidates to learn more about the role and is not part of the assessment process.

Ministerial Meeting

Prior to appointment, shortlisted candidates will be required to meet with Heidi Aleander, Secretary of State for Transport, further information will be provided.

Interview

You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

Interviews are expected to take place face to face in our London office, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.

Offer and Feedback

Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage. Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered verbal feedback from a member of the interview panel.

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter, and we will advise on any delays.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date: 23:55 Monday 23rd November 2026

Longlist: c30th November 2026

Shortlist: w/c 14th December 2026

Assessments/Ministerial Discussion : w/c 4th and 11th January 2027

Panel Interviews: w/c 18th January 2027

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments in order to support disabled job applicants and ensure that you are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and assessment process.

If you feel that you may need a reasonable adjustment to be made, or you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact:

olivia.robinson@gatenbysanderson.com in the first instance.

Further Information

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

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.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

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

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

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

Further information

Civil Service Commission Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact; scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk and more information can be found at www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk