Head of Internal CommunicationsMinistry of Justice

23020

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

MOJ Head of Internal Communications, G6

Location: Birmingham, London, Nottingham,

Grade: Grade 6

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £71,381-£80,419 (national) and £75,674-£85,257 (London)

Job description

A senior communications leader responsible for turning strategic direction into a clear, deliverable internal communications offer, leading a high-performing team at the Ministry of Justice.

You act as deputy to the Deputy Director, Corporate Communications on cross-cutting organisational issues relating to internal communications, with responsibility for day-to-day leadership, prioritisation and delivery of the function.

1. You are a trusted adviser to the MOJ’s Permanent Secretary, 2PS, ExCo and senior leaders, leading day-to-day delivery of internal communications, supporting the Deputy Director to deliver priorities and support organisational and culture change.

2. You translate strategic direction into delivery, owning a clear, joined-up internal communications plan across all portfolios. You align activity to MOJ priorities, ensure coherence across leadership communications, campaigns and corporate information, and drive delivery through your G7 team.

3. You own prioritisation, sequencing and resource allocation across the team, making decisions on trade-offs to ensure focus on the highest-value activity and effective use of resource.

4. You lead delivery through your G7s, ensuring cross-cutting campaigns and communications are aligned, prioritised and delivered effectively, with strong creative execution that supports behaviour change and organisational outcomes.

5. You own planning, commissioning and coherence of content across all channels and audiences, with close involvement in Permanent Secretary and 2PS communications, and alignment with Cabinet Office and cross-government activity.

6. You embed standards and culture in practice, ensuring consistent application of Government Communication Service Internal Communications Principles and maintaining high-quality, impactful output across the team.

7. You lead and coordinate crisis and reactive internal communications at pace, ensuring effective preparedness and response on cross-cutting MOJ issues, including business continuity, sensitive issues and “Bridges”-type responses.

8. You ensure the team operates as an effective system, with strong governance, workflows and coordination, driving alignment across agency communications teams and wider MOJ partners.

9. You build and maintain strong working relationships with Cabinet Office and GCS, ensuring effective delivery of cross-government campaigns, including HOCS amplification and pan-government communications.

10. You contribute corporately to MOJ Communications, as part of the senior leadership cadre, supporting a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing culture.

Person specification – essential criteria

You will be an experienced communications professional, with proven expertise in leading delivery in a complex, high-profile environment, with strong judgement, the ability to prioritise effectively, and a track record of delivering high-quality communications at pace.

You empower and hold your team leads accountable for delivery, ensuring clarity of ownership and consistently high standards.

In this role, it is important that you demonstrate the following three areas:

Communications judgment

You'll need excellent communications judgment, a strong news sense and proven ability in advising and influencing senior stakeholders, making decisions based on insight and organisational priorities.

This includes:

• Providing confident, high-quality advice to senior leaders on internal communications, including handling sensitive and high-profile issues
• Making sound decisions on prioritisation, sequencing and trade-offs in a complex and fast-moving environment
• Operating with confidence in ambiguity, identifying where communications can best support business delivery
• Building strong, credible relationships with senior stakeholders
• Setting and maintaining high standards for quality and consistency across all outputs

Managing competing demands

You'll need the capability to handle multiple priorities under pressure, balancing strategic intent with operational delivery across a large and complex organisation.

This includes:

• Owning and managing competing priorities, deadlines and resource constraints across the team
• Making clear decisions on focus and sequencing to maximise impact
• Leading delivery across multiple high-profile projects and day-to-day activity simultaneously
• Ensuring effective coordination across teams, portfolios and agency partners
• Maintaining pace and quality in both planned and reactive communications

Creativity

You'll bring strong creative capability, ensuring communications are engaging, effective and support organisational outcomes.

This includes:

• Driving high-quality, creative campaigns and content that deliver behaviour change and engagement
• Ensuring all communications are clear, accessible, timely and impactful
• Continuously improving the team’s offer, identifying opportunities to innovate and enhance delivery
• Supporting and challenging your team to deliver creative excellence
• Applying a strong understanding of channels, audiences and the evolving internal communications landscape

How to apply

To apply, you will be asked to provide a CV and a statement of suitability of no more than 750 words, setting out why you are the right fit for the role and paying particular attention to the responsibilities and person specification.