Senior Marketing Manager – Maternity Cover

Salary: £45,900

Location: Birmingham or Leeds (hybrid)

Job type: Fixed term, 12 months (maternity cover)

Closing date: 8 November 2026

Reference number: 482537

Job grade: Senior Executive Officer

Business area: Group Communications

Type of role: Communications / Marketing

Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available: 1

Pension: A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Job summary

Can you manage fast-paced working across multiple areas?

Do you have experience working on behaviour change or multi-channel marketing campaigns?

Have you got excellent communication and influencing skills?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The Department for Transport is a high-profile department at the heart of Government. We pride ourselves on first-class, creative communication that tells compelling stories about transport through the people that use it.

We are an energetic, ambitious, and innovative team. This role requires someone with the skills, knowledge, and passion to develop insight-driven, audience-focused communications.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays, including a privilege day for the King's birthday.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Job description

We are looking for a talented and confident marketing professional to work on one or more of the Department's high profile campaigns across areas such as road safety and supporting the UK's transition to Electric Vehicles.

As a Senior Campaign Manager, you will provide expert marketing advice and project manage large budgets to deliver advertising, partnership marketing and PR activity. You'll work closely with creative, research, partnership and media planning agencies, and forge strong relationships with important stakeholders, policy officials and Ministers' offices.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren't limited to:

• Reviewing and analysing research and policy to extract and identify relevant insights to shape campaign strategy and activity, maintaining strong relationships with policy and analysis colleagues.
• Campaign planning and delivery across above and below the line channels including broadcast (e.g. radio, video on demand), PR, digital and social media platforms, and brand and media partnerships.
• Project managing complex campaign timelines and providing leadership and oversight on elements of campaign planning and delivery, working collaboratively with external commercial agencies to deliver high-quality, cost-effective collateral to agreed timescales and budget.
• Developing positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders to deliver communications through trusted intermediaries, and working closely with senior leadership, Special Advisers and Private Office to provide campaign updates and secure approvals.
• Managing marketing budgets and developing and delivering evaluation plans to assess impact and effectiveness of campaign activity, to ensure value for money and to apply learnings to future activity.
• Providing marketing expertise and advice to wider DfT communications and policy colleagues and providing oversight of brand channels such as social media, website and newsletters where necessary. Support responding to FOIs, PQs, TOs and other correspondence.
• People management, developing direct reports and managing teams to deliver campaigns.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• A strong track record in Marketing with a proven ability to deliver innovative and evidence-based behaviour change campaigns across the full marketing mix, including paid-for advertising, PR, partnerships, influencers, owned and earned.
• Using insight to develop highly targeted campaign strategy and media plans that support business objectives.
• Implementing multi-channel paid marketing campaigns, including managing budgets, working with external agencies, and demonstrating a strong understanding of a broad range of paid media channels.
• Experience of developing brand, influencer and media partnerships.
• A good understanding of the value of evaluation and experience of applying different methods to demonstrate the impact of paid campaigns.
• Managing self and others to meet deadlines and working effectively with external and internal stakeholders, including other communications teams, policy colleagues, Special Advisers and Private Office.
• Project and time management skills, being able to oversee multiple workstreams at pace, setting clear direction and ensuring deadlines are met and budgets are managed effectively.
• Being flexible to emerging priorities and demonstrating a willingness to get involved when required.
• Communicating clearly and concisely.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 29.6 hours (4 days) per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process.

This post is offered on a Fixed Term Appointment (FTA) basis to cover a member of the team on maternity leave.

Permanent Civil Servants will be appointed on an inward loan and subject to the terms of the agreed inward loan. You must have your home department's approval to return to them at the end of the loan before you apply. Internal candidates will return to their previous post at the end of the loan period, which will need to be agreed with your line manager in advance. If your home department cannot agree to release you on loan, there is the opportunity for you to move across to the department on a fixed term appointment. In this instance the Department for Transport would become your home department and if there is no role available for you at the end of this appointment, you would be subject to the redeployment and redundancy process.

If you're employed by a non-departmental public body (NDPB) by moving jobs this will involve a change of employer and you may break the statutory rules on continuity of employment.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,900, Department for Transport contributes £13,297 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King's birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

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.

Selection process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

The selection process for this role will be:

• Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement
• Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be asked to provide a CV and personal statement (500 word limit). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• Experience of developing the strategy, planning and implementation of insight-based multi-channel campaigns, including working with external agencies, and demonstrating a strong understanding of a broad range of paid media channels.
• A good understanding of the value of insight and evaluation and experience of applying different methods to demonstrate the impact of paid campaigns.
• Leadership skills, senior influencing and managing complex relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Project and time management skills, being able to oversee multiple workstreams at pace, setting clear direction and ensuring deadlines are met and budgets are managed effectively.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. The sift will take place from 9th November 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Seeing the Big Picture, and Making Effective Decisions.
• Experience – Track record of developing strong understanding of customer/audience insights and how these can drive behaviour change.
• Strengths

You will be required to deliver a presentation to assess Seeing the Big Picture and Making Effective Decisions. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place from 16th November 2026 and will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams.

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

Reasonable adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

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

Pre-employment checks

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). 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 review of your publicly available online activity across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram and others. It only considers content you have chosen to make public.

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

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. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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)
• 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 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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. 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.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction.