Director of Communications

The Director of Communications leads the Department’s communications team and is Head of Profession for communications staff across the group. You will join Directors of Communications across government leading a fundamental transformation in how the government informs and connects with citizens in an era of rapid technological change, evolving media consumption, and the critical challenge of building public trust.

You will be the Secretary of State’s senior official communications adviser. You will set communications strategy, ensure high performance delivery, and promote a culture of innovation and improve professional standards across the DfT Group. You will be responsible for a wide range of communications activity that supports the Department’s Strategic Outcomes and the Government’s agenda.

Audience-focused and insight-driven, you will bring consumer marketing and storytelling expertise to public service communication. You will boldly champion modern communications - leading the cultural shift from reactive, press-first communications to integrated always-on campaigns, embracing digital innovation, leveraging responsible AI and boldly putting citizens at the heart of our planning and delivery.

You will influence and inform stakeholders inside and outside of Government. You will be able to lead highly effective public and media relations activity, high impact campaign delivery, and targeted stakeholder engagement.

Across the Group you will be accountable for communications strategy, spend and professional standards across the Department’s network of agencies and other bodies, providing professional leadership to all communications staff across this network, and providing the transformational leadership required to keep pace with the rapidly changing media and communications landscape.

You will role model continuous professional development and make sure the Department for Transport’s communications function has the capability and skills it needs to deliver the communications strategy.

You will be part of a senior peer network of Government Communications leaders, collectively responsible for a Civil Service profession of 7,000 communicators across departments, agencies and arm’s-length bodies. As a leader within GCS you will play an active role in raising professional standards and improving efficiency more broadly, including by leading continuous improvement projects.

• Government Directors of Communications come from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience, including digital and advertising agencies, journalism, television production, marketing, PR, as well as Corporate Public Affairs and not for profit and private sectors. We are less prescriptive about background and are more interested in the skills and behaviours you can bring, with focus on expertise and leadership.
• What matters most is your ability to think strategically, lead transformation, champion innovation whilst navigating complexity, and deliver measurable impact through audience-first communications.
• Accomplished storyteller – articulate, intelligent, pragmatic and creative. Creating stories and narratives that speak to audiences. Knowing when and how to communicate to influence stakeholders, drive behaviour change and deliver impact.
• Influencer and shaper – Politically savvy, emotionally intelligent and tuned in to the needs of different stakeholder groups. Experience advising and influencing at the most senior levels (Board, Ministerial or equivalent).
• Strategic thinker – grasps the organisational mission and central priorities, building insight-informed strategies and plans. Results and impact focused, while alive to reputational risks and the need to be adaptable to changes around you.
• Audience advocate – in a rapidly evolving media landscape, recognises the importance of audience and how to harness the most effective digital platforms, traditional media, relationships and networks to build engagement and/or behaviour change.
• Team leader – collaborative, inclusive style. An inspiring leader who builds and develops multidisciplinary teams, fostering an environment of creativity, growth and high performance
• System leader – Commitment to collective impact across Government, not just departmental outcomes. Brings collaboration, compromise, pace and courage to cross-government working. Models behaviours that signal to teams that system-wide transformation is the future of the profession.

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)

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online form via Gatenby Sanderson. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Monday 23rd November 2026.

The application will include:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. Your CV should be no longer than two A4 pages at font size 12.
• A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’.

All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel.

Should you encounter any issues with your application please get in touch with us via devon.coates-leaning@gatenbysanderson.com

Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.

For a confidential discussion to help inform your application, please contact our recruitment advisors at Gatenby Sanderson:

Orla.Brennan@gatenbysanderson.com

Olivia.Robinson@gatenbysanderson.com

Selection Process and Shortlist​

Stephen Cohen, Civil Service Commissioner, will chair the process. More detailed information can be found at the Civil Service Commission website: Civil Service Commission ​

Stephen will be joined by:​

• Ross Gribbin, Director General, Decarbonisation, Technology and Strategy Group, DfT;
• A senior representative from the Government Communication Service;
• A member of the HR leadership team, DfT​.

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification.​

Candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview.​

Assessment

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include:

• Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across the DfT.

These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Informal Discussion

Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity to speak to Ross Gribbin prior to the final interview. This is an informal discussion to allow candidates to learn more about the role and is not part of the assessment process.

Ministerial Meeting

Prior to appointment, shortlisted candidates will be required to meet with Heidi Aleander, Secretary of State for Transport, further information will be provided.

Interview

You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

Interviews are expected to take place face to face in our London office, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.

Offer and Feedback

Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage. Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered verbal feedback from a member of the interview panel.

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter, and we will advise on any delays.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date: 23:55 Monday 23rd November 2026

Longlist: c30th November 2026

Shortlist: w/c 14th December 2026

Assessments/Ministerial Discussion : w/c 4th and 11th January 2027

Panel Interviews: w/c 18th January 2027

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments in order to support disabled job applicants and ensure that you are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and assessment process.

If you feel that you may need a reasonable adjustment to be made, or you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact:

olivia.robinson@gatenbysanderson.com in the first instance.

Further Information

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.

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