Deputy Head of Media - New Media

Can you demonstrate exceptional leadership skills?

Do you thrive on pace?

Do you think in platforms and channels as naturally as you think in headlines?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

DfT is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government. We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network that helps businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest to make journeys better.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DfTc

The Department for Transport's Media Team provides outstanding communications and advice on Secretary of State priorities, including driving up performance on the railways and improving bus services.

As Deputy Head of Media, you will be a senior leader with a specific focus on new media — shaping how DfT tells its story in an environment where news breaks online first and public narratives can shift within hours. You will work in close partnership with the Digital Communications team, bringing media and digital functions together to deliver joined-up, campaign-led communications that cut through.

The Deputy Head of Media is one of two deputies reporting to the Head of Media, forming a tight-knit senior leadership team at the core of DfT's communications operation.

Alongside managing two Chief Media Officers on proactive or reactive desks, you will have a particular focus on the fast-moving world of digital media — monitoring emerging narratives, spotting issues gaining traction online before they become crises, and driving agile, coordinated responses across the full channel mix. You will be the bridge between the Media Team and the Digital Communications team, ensuring that media handling and digital activity are always aligned and mutually reinforcing.

You will also lead on embedding campaign ways of working across the Media Team — working with the Strategic Communications Team to bring structured planning, audience insight and measurable objectives to both proactive and reactive media work, and ensuring that earned media is fully integrated into wider campaign strategies.

Out-of-hours working is a core part of this role. You will participate in the management back-up rota for out-of-hours duty press officers, for which overtime payments are provided.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Act as deputy for the Head of News, including regular attendance at meetings with the Transport Secretary
• Lead the department's approach to new media
• Work closely with the Digital Communications team, ensuring media and digital activity are planned and delivered together
• Manage and develop a high-performing team of communications professionals

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards.

Flexible resourcing

Colleagues are expected to work with a degree of flexibility, meaning responsibilities may change to support priority delivery.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile which is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your experience of the following:
• Demonstrate a strong track record in new and digital media — understanding how stories move across platforms, how to build real-time monitoring and response capability
• Experience of working in campaign ways of working, bringing together media, digital and other communications disciplines around shared plans, objectives and evaluation
• Confidence in presenting to and advising Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials, including in high-pressure, time sensitive situations
• A strong record of building and sustaining relationships across complex stakeholder environments, and of leading and developing teams

The sift will take place week commencing 21/09/2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – (Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Seeing the Big Picture)
• Experience

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation to assess the Behaviour Communicating and Influencing. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place week commencing 05/10/2026.

This interview will be conducted in person at our London office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

Appointments for this position will be made in order of merit. If you are successful in the selection process but there are no further available posts for the advertised role, you may be contacted to discuss an offer for a lower graded role (with similar experience and responsibility requirements).

If you are unsuccessful in the selection process, your application may be considered for a lower graded position if your demonstrated skills and experience meet the requirements of the alternative position. Candidates will be considered in order of merit.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Pre-employment Checking

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.