Media and Communications Officer

Background

The House of Lords plays an important role as the second chamber of the UK Parliament. It has approximately 800 members and is independent from, and complements the work of, the elected House of Commons. The Lords has three main roles: helping to make laws; investigating public policy, especially through its select committee work; and holding government to account through questions and debates. There are considerable challenges for the UK Parliament as a whole, and the Lords specifically, and the House is very much in the public eye.

The Role

The key objective of this role is to play an active part in the Media Team and wider Communications Office in planning and delivering communication activities that promote the House of Lords to the media and to other external stakeholders.

This includes supporting the work of the Head of Press and Media, responsibility for leading on the planning and delivery of proactive communication strategies for a selection of House of Lords committees, developing stakeholder mapping and engagement opportunities for those committees and other House activity, and acting as a spokesperson for the House, including as part of an out-of-hours media service.

The Person

The successful candidate will have the following skills/experience:

• A track record of proactive and reactive media planning and delivery, working with national, regional and international media and dealing with complex issues for a high-profile organisation;
• Experience of acting as a media spokesperson with honesty and integrity for a high-profile organisation, dealing with challenging issues, anticipating risks and taking steps to mitigate them. The ability to effectively brief the media on a proactive and reactive basis including as part of an out of hours media service
• Excellent tact, diplomacy and influencing skills, and the capacity to balance the sometimes conflicting demands of different stakeholders and to build alliances;

More information can be found in the job description.