Job vacancy: Communications Team Leader - Campaigns and Media, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth

Job summary

Main area

Communications

Grade

NHS AfC: Band 7

Contract

Permanent

Hours

Full time
Flexible working

37.5 hours per week

Job ref

216-SF-A7014697

Employer: University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Derriford Hospital
Town: Plymouth
Salary: £46,148 - £52,809 Per Annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 23/06/2025 23:59

Communications Team Leader - Campaigns and Media

NHS AfC: Band 7

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Leading the Trust’s operational communications

You will be skilled in the planning and delivery of successful campaigns which drive behavioural and service change, as evaluated using frameworks such as AMEC and the Government Communications Service’s OASIS. Your responsibility will include oversight of all aspects of campaign planning, media relations, social media and internal communications. You will lead the operational communications hub, overseeing communications around the Trust’s services, including community sites and integrated care on a daily basis. You will be the lead for proactive and reactive media and social media work.

Leading the Communications and Engagement hub on a day-to-day basis

This includes line managing staff and providing advice and support to other team members. You will be a confident and skilled people manager and competent in the areas defined by the Trust’s Manager’s Passport. You will be required to purchase new equipment and maintain stock control.

Leading the Communications and Engagement Team work on internal and external campaigns

This includes planning and overseeing the delivery and evaluation of communication and engagement plans to support targeted campaigns focused on aspects such as wellbeing, winter, and operationally focussed work.

Leading the Communications and Engagement Team on proactive and reactive media work

The trust receives regular complex media enquiries from local and national titles. You will be skilled at leading the response on behalf of the trust, and be adept at landscape scanning for any potential enquiries that may arise and preparing for them e.g. Inquests. You will also be able to develop proactive media plans to help promote the work of the trust and look for ways to use your contacts with media partners to tell stories.

Using communication skills to support the organisation in delivering its strategic objectives

You will support the organisation to achieve its objectives using your skills in all areas of communications practice, including:

developing relationships with stakeholders
data analysis to understand audiences
research to gain and interpret insight
social media and media management
the theory and practice of behaviour change
storytelling using words, visuals and video to create great content
crisis and event management
using and developing online channels
Interpersonal skills in one-to-one communications and presenting

You will manage your own portfolio of specialist work in one or more of the above areas

As a skilled and qualified communications professional, you will be committed to best practice in communications and undertake Continuous Professional Development in the field. You will ensure your specialist field of knowledge is used to continually drive forward the Trust’s use of communications.

You will act as a trusted advisor to senior colleagues

You will act as a trusted advisor to colleagues, including senior leadership, and make recommendations on listening to and communicating complex, sensitive and often contentious information with a wide range of stakeholders. You will provide highly specialist and highly complex advice, including crisis communications advice and guidance to all staff, in particular to Directors and senior management. In a complex, large and specialist Trust this happens on a daily basis and involves working in pressured, complex and sensitive situations. Often this involves making sense of complex information where expert opinions may differ and using judgement to influence decisions and outcomes. You will also provide guidance and support to on-call managers and on-call Executive Directors on untoward or crisis communications.

Major Incident

You will assist in planning and preparing for major incidents and participate in them as needed or as directed by the Head of Communications.

Person specification

Qualifications or equivalent

Essential criteria

Masters level qualification in Communications or a related field (such as marketing) or post graduate diploma plus relevant demonstrable experience or highly specialist proven knowledge in PR/Communications equivalent to Master’s Level.
Educated to degree level in a relevant subject, giving rise to critical thinking capability in this area or equivalent demonstrable experience to demonstrate required knowledge and capability

Desirable criteria

• Membership of CIPR, CIM or PRCA

Knowledge and experience

Essential criteria

Significant demonstrable experience in PR/Communications, including in the public sector, giving rise to a thorough and highly developed specialist knowledge of communications, public relations and marketing techniques, theory and practice
Significant demonstrable experience of planning, implementing and evaluating successful communications campaigns and projects
A track record in media and social management and can demonstrate innovative use of social media, including analytics across campaigns

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY INCLUDING YOUR JUNK FOLDER.

If you need support with the online application process or require reasonable adjustments with the application and/or interview process please contact the Recruiting Manager for this post.

We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants about less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. We recommend contacting the manager of the role prior to applying and we commit to giving requests full consideration.

We welcome and encourage applicants who identify with all protected characteristics to apply for our roles. We believe that diversity strengthens our teams and improves our patients' experience. At UHP we aim to create an inclusive workplace and hospital where everyone feels they belong and included.

It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.

Providing false information is an offence & could result in the application being rejected or summary dismissal/police action if an applicant is successful.

Please note that if you are successful in your application & accept the position you agree that the Staff Health and Wellbeing Department can access your health records from your current/previous employer in order to check the status of your inoculations & screening tests. This is an automated process & the information will only be used for these purposes prior to your taking up the position with us.

For Doctors Roles:

Unsolicited CVs and Candidate Profiles/Details
University Hospitals Plymouth has a commitment to sourcing candidates directly and as such we do not accept speculative CVs from agencies.

We do, however, work with a defined list of preferred HTE Framework suppliers who may be invited to support us in sourcing candidates for particular roles.

In line with our preferred supplier list, we only pay agency fees where we have a signed agreement in place and an agency has been instructed by a member of the Trust’s Medical Workforce team.

We do not pay agency fees where speculative and unsolicited CVs are submitted to the Trust or Trust employees by any other means than the official route above. Where this is not observed the Trust reserves the right to contact these candidates directly and initiate discussions without payment of any agency fee.

Any candidate details (whether written or spoken) or CVs that are referred directly will not constitute an introduction. The Trust will under no circumstances be responsible for any recruitment fees in relation to these contacts.

Submission of any unsolicited CVs, candidate’s details and/or proposals to the Trust will not be considered further and will be deemed evidence of full and unlimited acceptance of this Agency Protocol.

In order to establish and maintain good working relationships with the Trust’s agency suppliers, we ask that this Protocol is adhered to and thank you for your co-operation.