Senior Communications Planning Associate

Salary: National - ranging from £43,300 - £57,000 and London from £46,400 - £60,000 per annum

In the Communications directorate at the FCA we change opinions and behaviours to enable a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy. It's an exciting time as we're expanding our team and changing how we do things to deliver more engaging, insight-led, audience focused communications. If you want to be part of a supportive and fun team, work across a wide range of issues and are ready to be challenged, curious and creative then come and join us.

The team/department

The Strategy and Planning team drives the overall strategic direction of our Communications directorate. This team plays a crucial role in ensuring that all communications activities are coordinated and aligned with our Business and Communications Plan. By leveraging and sharing insight and evaluation, we continuously refine and enhance the effectiveness of our communications efforts.

What you will be doing (the role)

Line management of two Associates, responsible for performance management and developing team skills

Chairing of divisional grid and coordination meetings to ensure that all different parts of the Communications directorate are communicating consistently with all of our audiences in a coordinated manner

Develop and run a new central triage or coordination process, working in close collaboration with Strategic Communications & News teams and others across the directorate

Develop and run an improved horizon scanning function, ensuring that information on risks and opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of our communications are shared with all colleagues

Develop business relationships with different areas of the FCA to track and understand their workstreams and input these into FCA planning grid products

Oversee and coordinate the development of the monthly Regulation Round Up external newsletter, ensuring content sourced from all of the directorate. Evaluate and take forward improvements to this product

What you will get from the role

This is an exciting role that will involve working closely with the Senior Management team across the Communications directorate and other senior leaders across the FCA

You will have considerable scope to input to developing processes and support the FCA in effectively prioritising its communications work

A role with a unique insight and ability to influence and contribute to the full range of the FCA's communications activity, helping shape the positive reputation of the FCA

You will enjoy a unique insight into the full spectrum of the financial services industry, with the opportunity to have a real impact whilst working collaboratively towards a common goal alongside a range of internal and external stakeholders

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

Private healthcare with Bupa

A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age - up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

Previous experience of working in a Communications function

Proven experience of maintaining large amounts of information about different outputs and announcements with proven ability in summarising the key issues quickly and simply to colleagues

Demonstrable stakeholder management skills with experience of dealing with stakeholders at a variety of levels both internal and external

Essential

Proven ability to work independently while understanding when it is appropriate to raise issues to a more senior level

Experience of maintaining a process and ensuring others follow them

Experience of successfully delivering strategic planning initiatives

Excellent and persuasive communication skills including the ability to manage upwards, influencing, and negotiating with confidence

Proven ability to analyse and make judgements on a wide range of issues, to advise on the best way to address those issues and defend those judgements where necessary and appropriate

Rigorous attention to detail, takes pride in work, and ensures it is consistently of the highest standard

Experience of supporting and coaching more junior team members would be advantageous

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation - one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want but we won't judge you for asking.

Multi-location

As part of the FCA's on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

We are committed to offering an inclusive recruitment experience. If you require accommodations because of disability or health condition, please email: This position is being sourced through our Outsourcing service line.