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Press Officers

Salary: £33,692 – £38,067

Competitive Pension

30 days annual leave

Vacancy description

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is looking for a number of talented, energetic and confident press officers to communicate its work in higher education, further education and skills, science and research. Fundamental to the UK’s future economic and social success, our work is varied, challenging and never far from the media spotlight whether proactively or in response to breaking news and comment.

Currently, our work is at the forefront of the Government’s continuing response to current economic challenges. We are mobilising and expanding skills and training for the unemployed and those looking to get on at work; widening participation in higher education to enable the UK to win the highly skilled jobs of the future; and putting record investment into science and research, promoting its exploitation through innovation and supporting business.

Successful candidates will work on one of our three media teams in the press office – the Higher Education Desk, Science and Innovation Desk or Further Education and Skills Desk.

You will provide media support and advice to a Ministerial team comprising the Secretary of State and four Ministers – including the Science and Innovation Minister who attends Cabinet. The press office also looks after media handling for the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser who runs the Government Office for Science (GO Science) and Foresight, the Government’s futures think tank.

We have a large Ministerial team who want to engage with the media. Successful candidates can therefore expect to deal face-to-face with Ministers on an almost daily basis, providing advice and accompanying them on visits and facilitating media interviews.

Reporting to a Senior Press Officer, you will use a wide range of media to deliver strong, innovative media strategies communicating across a number of key subject areas to national, regional, specialist and new media. The Department, both through its agencies such as the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and in-house, runs a number of long term publicity campaigns including the current student finance TV and radio campaign and the award winning ‘Our Future, It’s In Our Hands’ campaign on skills.

Part of your role as a DIUS press officer would be to monitor these campaigns and build on their successes through the media, our delivery partners and stakeholders.

Organisational Background

DIUS was created by the Prime Minister on his first full day as Prime Minister. It brings together for the first time in Government education, skills, science, research and innovation - key factors in determining Britain’s future economic and social wellbeing.

We are working to coordinate the nation"s strengths in all these areas through our universities and colleges to build the UK a dynamic, knowledge-based economy for the 21st century.


Recent DIUS announcements include:

  • More than £300milion of UK investment in space exploration projects run by the European Space Agency (ESA) - benefiting UK businesses and advancing research and knowledge for future technologies;
  • Radical and expanded training and skills support for both businesses and individuals in the economic downturn - enabling UK firms to boost their productivity and competitive edge while empowering the unemployed and those looking to get a better job to get on in life;
  • The creation of 20 new centres of higher education and universities across England - increasing access to higher education, driving up student numbers and revitalising local economies.

More broadly, DIUS works to:

  • Raise and widen participation in Higher Education;
  • Raise participation and attainment by young people and adults in post-16 education and learning;
  • Sustain and develop a world-class science and research base;
  • Maximise the exploitation of the research base to support innovation across all sectors of the economy;
  • Increase the supply of people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

DIUS also has oversight of a range of agencies and organisations including The Student Loans Company, British National Space Centre, the Technology Strategy Board and the UK Intellectual Property Office. We work closely with a number of other Government departments including the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).

The Department is committed to being at the forefront of Government best practice and we want our media relations to reflect this.

Job Profile

You will work as part of a flexible team. Your role will include:

  • Working closely with ministers’ private offices, officials and other parts of the communications directorate to plan and implement media strategies across a broad range of media outlets including specialist, online and other new media;
  • Organising Ministerial interviews, visits, announcements and publicity around speeches and events;
  • Providing timely proactive and reactive media handling advice to ministers and senior officials;
  • Communicating often technical information to journalists in an accessible, concise and clear manner, using the most appropriate and effective communications techniques;
  • Developing an understanding of issues across the department enabling you play an effective part in a flexible team;
  • Working closely with colleagues from other areas of the policy directorate and relevant policy officials to ensure communications are fully integrated into policy delivery from the start;
  • Participating in an out-of-hours duty rota, for which overtime is paid.

Person Profile

You should have experience of working in a busy press office, journalism or PR with:

  • A good news sense and a proven track record of delivering effective proactive and reactive communications and experience of working in a press office or a media setting;
  • Ability to assimilate complex information and communicate it in an attractive and accessible manner, both in written and verbal form;
  • Skills to identify and be innovative in the use the most effective communications channels to reach target audiences;
  • Experience to build effective working relationships with colleagues beyond your own immediate area of responsibility;
  • Willingness to work as part of a team and committed to delivering shared goals;
  • Ability to develop, nurture and maintain excellent contacts with newspapers and broadcasters;
  • An understanding of propriety issues in media work;
  • Ability to deliver work to tight deadlines and juggle priorities in a fast moving environment;
  • A proven track record of providing effective media handling advice to senior figures within organisations.

Desirable criteria include:

  • A sound understanding of other communications disciplines and how they can join up with media work to deliver effective communications;
  • A creative approach to media communications and in particular is awareness of new technologies in the news media.

We are particularly interested to hear from communications professionals with experience of working in an educational or scientific environment.

The Department for Innovation Universities and Skills is an equal opportunities employer. Applications are welcomed from all suitably qualified people regardless of race, gender, religion, marital status, disability, age or sexual orientation. Under the Data Protection Act, the data provided or completed on application forms will be used for the specific purpose of Human Resource Management and will not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose.

How to apply

To apply for this post please send us:

  1. A full CV with your education and professional qualifications, full employment history and contact details for two referees.
  2. A covering letter, of no more than two sides of A4 in 12pt Arial briefly summarising your suitability for the role - including examples which illustrate the skills and experience you have relevant to the job information as follows below.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Monday 2 February 2009.


You can email applications to pressoffice@dius.gsi.gov.uk or post them to:


Mervyn Aranha

DIUS Press Office

Bay 550

Kingsgate House

66-74 Victoria Street

London

SW1E 6SW

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