Media Relations Manager

Are you looking for a new challenge? To help tell our story we need to deliver communications activity that showcases the positive impact of roads investment, and increases awareness about how to travel safely on our roads.

As a Media Relations Manager within our Press Office Team, you will be responsible for protecting, building and enhancing the reputation of National Highways by providing strategic communications advice, liaising with the media, and providing a proactive and reactive media relations service.

You should have excellent communication skills, a strong news sense, and excellent judgment. While prior experience in a Press Office is preferred, it is not a requirement. Experience in a Press Office or PR agency is a plus, but not essential.

This is a hybrid role requiring two days per week in either our Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Bedford or Guildford offices. The remaining days can be worked remotely. Some travel will also be required occasionally for team meetings or to facilitate media events.

Your key responsibilities will be:

• Delivering high quality written material, media briefings and communications activity to promote National Highways and enhance our reputation.
• Providing media handling advice, including developing and implementing communication plans to ensure that the most appropriate communication solutions and channels are being used.
• Working on high profile and often complex issues that will require you to use your specialist expertise to achieve balanced and accurate coverage for National Highways.
• Responding to media enquiries and briefing spokespeople, maintaining effective forward planning, and delivering and managing media events/activities.
• Developing relationships with colleagues across the business and journalists, and coordinating activity with the Department for Transport and other external stakeholders.

About you:

• A strategic thinker with political awareness
• Experience of working with teams across an organisation to engage with the public via the media
• Outstanding stakeholder relationship skills
• Experience in producing creative and impactful communications activity for a range of media outlets
• Experience of working with the media, and providing high quality written material

To apply, please submit your CV and a cover letter detailing your experience and how you meet the criteria for this role. Please also specify in the cover letter your preferred office location.

About us

Here at National Highways, we manage and improve England's motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys. Our priorities are safety, customers and delivery, and at the core of this, are our values of passion, integrity, safety, teamwork and ownership.

The Customer, Strategy, and Communications directorate is essential to National Highways. We guide the direction of the strategic road network, helping the company deliver economic and social benefits by meeting the needs of our customers, clients, and fulfilling regulatory requirements. As the central hub within National Highways, we provide the corporate strategic planning function for the organisation.

External candidates will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of the pay scale, while current employees will be appointed in accordance with our established pay policy.

We are committed to creating a diverse environment and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Why you should join us

At National Highways we believe in a connected country. We are passionate about creating a culture where colleagues feel connected, included and enjoy greater wellbeing to achieve this. We're proud that as an organisation we are continually striving to do better and actively encourage and support our colleagues to do the same with their careers.

So, if you put safety first, take ownership of your work, show passion for what you do, work effectively in a team, and demonstrate integrity in how you do it - then you'll be a great fit for our organisation.

A connected and sustainable working approach has been adopted across National Highways. For some roles, this means being able to work in a hybrid way spending up to 60% of time working from a remote location such as home.

We offer many different ways to work flexibly and we're open to discuss part-time working, job shares, and flexible start and finish times.

Please wait until the interview stage before asking us about flexibility, and we will explore what is possible.

Our benefits package:

• Our total reward package includes basic salary, the potential for a performance related bonus
• Contributory pension scheme with employer contribution of up to 10%
• Annual Leave starting at 26 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising by 1 day each year up to 31 days (plus Bank Holidays)
• Flexible hours and an approach driven by connected and sustainable working which includes hybrid working
• Life assurance of 4 times annual salary
• Health and wellbeing support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, available 24/7 365 days and network of mental health first aiders. Plus access to a wellbeing app to enhance your self-care 24/7, Occupational health service and flu vaccines
• A cycle to work scheme for the purchase of a bicycle and equipment for healthy, low carbon travel
• Significant investment in your career development, through learning and development, talent management, coaching, mentoring and on job experience

And we are:

• Family friendly with enhanced maternity leave and pay, paternity leave (15 days), shared parental leave, adoption leave. Plus access to financial support for holiday play schemes and paid special leave (up to 5 days pa), eg for caring responsibilities
• Money friendly with access to a discounts platform including over 3000 discounts for supermarkets, eating out, leisure, holidays. Alongside a financial wellbeing programme
• Community friendly - offering paid leave to volunteer, 3 days basic/year

If you are successful, it is key to know all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory completion of our pre-employment checks which include:

• Right to work check
• 3 year employment history references
• DBS criminal record check
• Social media and adverse journalism check
• Driving licence check (if applicable)
• Fit to work questionnaire (for all), followed by a medical check (if applicable)
• Qualifications and/or professional membership check (if applicable)

And finally

We reserve the right to close before the advertisement expires.