External Communications Manager

We are seeking an enthusiastic External Communications Manager to advocate for Capita, our clients, and claimants, ensuring better outcomes throughout the benefits assessment process.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing sector with high-profile contracts in the Midlands and Wales with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and in Northern Ireland with the Department for Communities (DfC) and the Victims’ Payments Board (VPB). You will be working on two contracts: the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) with DWP and DfC, and the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme (TPDPS) with the VPB.
Reporting to the Head of Communications, you will handle a variety of external communications tasks. Your responsibilities will include making sure our claimant communications are clear, informative, and consistent, as well as building and maintaining collaborative relationships with external stakeholders such as clients, local political offices, clinical experts, disability charities, and claimant/customer representative groups.
In this role, you will provide valuable feedback to internal teams on potential improvements, queries, trends, and risks. You will also initiate, develop, and deliver proactive communications while tracking their performance.
If you are passionate about communication and making a positive impact, we would love to hear from you!
This is a remote-working position, but occasional travel will be required for stakeholder meetings.
As part of our commitment to building an inclusive and diverse workforce, we would particularly welcome applications from people who are from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.

Job title:

External Communications Manager

Job Description:

What you’ll be doing:

• Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders and pro-actively contribute to our engagement programme, including arranging and developing materials for forums/briefings and arranging internal awareness sessions.

• Work collaboratively with client advocacy teams and clinical specialists to align engagement plans and share knowledge.

• Proactively identify opportunities to leverage relationships with stakeholders to help support our colleagues or enhance our reputation externally.

• Input to strategic communications calendar.

• Own the development and rollout of external communications including print collateral, website management, podcasts and videos, ensuring they are clear, consistent and appropriate for the audience and in line with brand quality standards.

• Input to internal communications cascades or materials to keep our employees informed of activity, trends and share feedback.

• Support on operational programmes, acting as the ‘voice of the claimant’ to ensure we offer a claimant friendly and empathetic service.

• Build relationships with other internal teams such as designers, Public Affairs and our press office.

• Identify and raise potential risks and issues, and support mitigation through proactive and reactive communications.

• Assist in investigation and response to media queries, and draft key communications to politicians and stakeholders.

• Work with your manager to monitor external affairs, for instance, questions being asked in Government, press coverage and media queries into Capita, and deliver an insightful weekly update.

• Continually review communications collateral for continuous improvement opportunities.

• Proactively seek out opportunities to enhance our reputation.

What we are looking for:

• At least five years’ relevant experience in communications and engagement.

• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, adept at communicating effectively with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels of seniority.

• Strong planning and organisational skills.

• Knowledge of and interest in the political landscape.

• A self-starter who can initiate and independently progress opportunities for engagement and improvement.

• Excellent understanding of marketing/communication asset production process, such as printed collateral and video

• Strong creativity and solid judgement skills to enable the delivery of complex messages in an easy-to-understand manner.

• Ability to build positive relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and clients.

• Experience of using insight and analysis to shape plans and evaluate impact.

• Strong team player focused on working together to build on each other’s strengths and be willing to flex support across activities as needed.

• Attention to detail and focused on producing quality work.

What’s in it for you?

• 25 days’ holiday (rising to 27) with the opportunity to buy extra leave

• The opportunity to take a paid day out of the office, volunteering for our charity partners or a cause of your choice

• Auto-enrolment to our company pension, life assurance, a cycle2work scheme, 15 weeks’ fully paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave, paternity pay of two weeks…and plenty more

• Voluntary benefits designed to suit your lifestyle – from discounts on retail and socialising, to health & wellbeing, travel and technology

• Access to our Employee Network Groups, which represent every strand of diversity and allow colleagues to connect and learn from each other on an open, inclusive platform

• You’ll get the chance to follow your chosen career path anywhere in Capita. You’ll be joining a network of experienced, innovative and dedicated individuals across multiple disciplines and sectors. There are countless opportunities to learn new skills and develop in your career, and we’ll provide the support you need to do just that. Our purpose is to create a better outcome for you.

What we hope you’ll do next:

Choose ‘Apply now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

Equal Opportunities

At Capita, we’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment process and working environment for everyone. We want everyone to have the best chance of succeeding as they move through their application and start their career with us. We are an equal opportunity and Disability Confident employer, we want to hear from you if you’d like to discuss any adjustments you might need during your recruitment process. Please email [email protected] or call 07784 237318 and we’ll get back to you to discuss. For more information about equal opportunities and the types of adjustments we can offer, please visit the Capita Careers website.

If you have a question that does not relate to adjustments during your recruitment process, please email our Talent Acquisition team - [email protected]

Location:

Home-Based - GBR

,

United Kingdom

Time Type:

Full time

Contract Type:

Permanent