View Vacancy - CPK - Communications Officer (Communications Planning & Cultural Exchange), B3(L)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Communications, Press and Media

Main purpose of job:

This is an exciting opportunity to join a friendly and creative communications team at the heart of the British Embassy. We are looking for a confident and energetic Communications Officer who will work as part of the Media team.

This particular role in the team has two primary responsibilities.

1. Planning – The officer will design and oversee the planning for UK communications across all subjects and sectors. This will involve working to a regular drumbeat of programme management; taking a leading role across the entire China communications network to help set direction by authoring the long-term and short-term communications grids; and working with communication leads across the Embassy and the entire network to advise on priorities.

2. Cultural Exchange Communications – designing and implementing specific communications relating to people to people and cultural engagement between the UK and China. The officer will work with colleagues from the British Council, UK Visas and Immigration, Visit Britain, Consular Services, and Chevening – and use a range of communications channels at their disposal to achieve their objectives, including by: arranging media and press engagements on behalf of the Ambassador; and drafting articles and social media content including Weibo posts and WeChat articles. The officer will be responsible for planning impactful communications around key moments in the calendar, including ministerial visits from the UK.

The officer will also be responsible for undertaking communications activities for a whole range of topics on UK priorities in China. The officer will have the confidence and interest in engaging across the embassy with the relevant sector and policy teams. They will develop themselves into the embassy’s ‘expert’ on communicating on their particular topics.

A developed understanding of the priority that the UK places on its relationship with China will be key to succeeding in the role. Creativity, initiative and dynamism are required to maximise the impact of UK communications across all channels, both traditional and digital. The officer will be naturally interested in current affairs and keeping themselves up to date on news that is relevant to the work of the UK embassy. The officer will build strong relationships with teams within the embassy to truly understand their priorities, so they can advise them appropriately and develop effective messages.

Leveraging strong and developed relationships with representatives of the Chinese media and digital media, the officer will be adept at pitching stories successfully and understanding what journalists and influencers in China are interested in covering.

The officer will also have digital communication responsibilities, and will have many opportunities to use and develop photography, video creation and editing, and creative content skills to help achieve embassy communication objectives in China. There are often opportunities to try new projects or work on different areas. The job will involve opportunities for occasional travel within China.

The Media Team is a busy and high profile one, but we work in an environment where all team members support each other during particularly busy periods. Work-life balance and well-being are emphasised across all communication roles, and across the whole British embassy network.

Roles and responsibilities:

Communications Planning

  • Organise and run the weekly cross-China network communications planning processes, helping set the direction for the short-term and long term communications activity across the China network.
  • Maintain relationships with partners across government and FCDO departments to understand key priorities and major activities on the horizon
  • Design and author long-term planning grids that captures all China network communications activity. Advise on prioritisation.
  • Maintain oversight of the Embassy’s publications and subscriptions requirements. Ensuring that the Ambassador and relevant teams are able to have access to the media and publications they require. Support the budget planning for this.

Communications Lead (Cultural Exchange)

These activities would include (but not be limited to):

  • Proactively engage with the appropriate Embassy teams on their communications priorities.
  • Developing, delivering and evaluating communications strategies to help support the delivery of UK objectives in China
  • Communications planning (analysing media options) and developing a strategic approach for key activities, such as announcements, visits and events
  • Work with journalists and key opinion leaders to identify possible opportunities for landing UK government messaging.
  • Developing and maintaining core scripts and lines to take for the Ambassador and UK representatives to use publically in a Chinese context on topics of relevance.
  • Arranging media interviews for senior UK officials, including the Ambassador. Write briefings and scripts in preparation for this.

Reactive media handling

  • Media monitoring of relevant areas or topics of coverage
  • Managing possible enquiries from journalists
  • Part of the crisis communications team, helping to create statements and key Q&A’s

Relationship management

  • Creating and maintaining media contacts, from traditional print media to new media, including key option leaders and podcasters
  • Developing productive working relationships with policy and service delivery teams to understanding their priorities, structures, policies and desired outcomes, and building these into communication objectives.
  • Building the authority to engage with internal and external stakeholders on how media might react to a policy announcement or proposal and how to best communicate policy

Digital/content creation

  • Embedding digital channels in all media handling and use digital and social media channels for both proactive announcements and reactive media handling.
  • Creating digital content, from articles to video content, to help land important messaging
  • Working with digital teams to tailor messaging and approach for social media, adapting content to different audiences.
  • Identifying and working with key influencers on social media to amplify messaging.

Insight and evaluation

  • Using insight to identify and secure different audiences, and inform media handling proposals.
  • Continuously evaluating our work as a team, to be able to keep changing and improving
  • Identifying clear communications objectives around outputs, outtakes and outcomes, including deciding ‘success’ measurements and how data will be collected.
  • Degree level qualification or equivalent
  • Previous experience of working in a communications, public affairs and journalist capacity in mainland China.
  • Some programme management experience, particularly in a field relevant to communications.
  • Qualifications in PR/Communications/Journalism
  • Developed understanding of current affairs and the UK-China bilateral relationship.
  • Experience of creating writing or generating creative digital content (videos and articles)
  • Proficiency with using social media to communicate on organisational or individual priorities.
  • Experience of working with Chinese media outlets and journalists. Contacts are highly desirable.
  • Experience of working with Chinese key opinion leaders
  • Experience of evaluating impact generated from publishes media stories
2 November 2021
Executive Officer (EO)
Fixed Term, Full-time
35
12 months
Asia Pacific
China
Beijing
British Embassy
1
CNY
Chinese 19,096 RMB / Expat 26,443 RMB
2 December 2021

This is a fixed-term role for one year.

External Non-Chinese National Candidates: Due to local Government measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, including strict entry restrictions, we are unable to accept applications from external applicants who are non-Chinese nationals. This includes applicants already in China. 

Learning and development opportunities:

  • The officer will also have digital communication responsibilities, and will have many opportunities to use and develop photography, video editing, and creative content skills to help achieve embassy communication objectives in China.
  • There are often opportunities to try new projects or work on different areas to expand knowledge of different sectors, including trade, climate change, health, prosperity and political.
  • The job will involve opportunities for occasional travel within China.
  • The FCDO provides formal training opportunities and funding, that the job holder will be encouraged to take advantage of.

We offer a competitive package, which includes basic salary, good leave entitlement, and insurance plan, etc. The gross salary (before all deductions) is CNY 19,096/month for Chinese Nationals and an abated monthly salary of CNY 26,443/month for British Nationals and spouses/partners (all nationalities) of diplomats who are ‘W’ (diplomatic) visa holders and meet passport criteria.

We also offer excellent development opportunities and a 22-day annual leave entitlement in pro rata.

Conditioned working hours is 35 hours/ week from Monday to Friday and flexible working can be arranged upon personal needs.

For more details on our Total Rewards Package, please visit our website http://www.gov.uk/government/world/china.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Beijing is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Chinese employment law.

Please note that your application must be submitted before 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above.

Indicated start date is provisional and subject to successful completion of reference and security checks.

To those applicants not shortlisted, we extend our appreciation for considering the British Government as a potential employer.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.