The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 member governments and provides guidance on policy making, technical assistance and advisory services to Commonwealth member countries. We support governments to help achieve sustainable, inclusive and equitable development.
The Commonwealth Secretariat seeks to appoint an Interim Director for our Communications Division, to provide vision, leadership, and guidance to the Division and the Secretariat for a 9 month period. The Interim Director will define a media strategy and provide strategic media advice to the Secretariat. They will be expected to have strong public diplomacy skills and experience, as well as extensive media expertise.
The Director will provide management and leadership for the Division, and will be ‘hands-on’ in actively advancing communication and public affairs results. This includes a role as the Commonwealth Secretariat Spokesperson.
To be considered, you will have an academic qualification at post-graduate level and/or professional qualifications relevant to communications, public relations and the media, or international relations. You will need at least fifteen years’ experience in a senior managerial role, ten of which must be in UK and international media roles; a proven track record of people management skills at senior level; experience as a Press/Special Adviser to a Senior Government Minister or similar, experience as a journalist to a national media outlet, and experience of working with the political lobby and of maintaining robust relations with news outlets.
To join us, you must be a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
This is a temporary post and under the requirements of Secretariat policy, all external applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK and be of Commonwealth nationality. If an internal candidate is selected, the appointment will be treated as a temporary promotion, under the temporary promotion policy.
The Commonwealth Secretariat’s retirement age is 65. Applicants should not be above the age of 64 on the date of application.
To apply, please submit, via email to: [email protected], your CV and a covering letter that includes responses to the following questions:
1. Please identify a crisis that you have managed at a senior political level, outline the media and political steps taken to manage the crisis, and outline the resulting outcome.
2. Please include links to media articles you have placed to secure a positive outcome.
Closing date 22 May 2020 at 17:00 BST
Apply here!