Communications and Engagement Lead (Digital and Cyber Capability)

Closing soon ⏰

I’m hiring a Communications and Engagement Lead (G7) to help shape how we tell the story of digital and cyber capability across government. If you bring fresh thinking, a modern comms mindset, and want to influence at scale, I’d really encourage you to apply.

📍 London / Manchester / Bristol
💰 £56,850 – £68,570

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Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 1st June 2026

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government. 

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by: 

1.  joining up public sector services 
2.  harnessing the power of AI for the public good 
3.  strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure 
4.  elevating leadership and investing in talent 
5.  funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation 
6.  committing to transparency and driving accountability 

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government. 

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol. 

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale. 

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need. 

Job description

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government — we are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Digital and Cyber Workforce and Capability: 

Join Government Digital and Cyber Capability, where our mission is to ensure the government possesses the necessary talent to drive digital transformation and secure public services. We're dedicated to enhancing the government's capacity to attract, recruit, nurture, and retain top tier digital and data professionals.     

As part of the team, you will help shape the future of digital and cyber strategy and capabilities, providing vital insights that support cross departmental policies, standards, and strategies.   

We're entrusted with devising strategies and delivering results for a community of over 30,000 civil servants. Our commitment extends to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and dynamic culture where individuals thrive and excel.   

Person specification

As a Communications and Engagement Lead (G7), you’ll be at the heart of the Digital and Cyber Capability Team. You’ll lead a specialist team to deliver high-stakes campaigns, manage profession-wide brand governance, and drive the engagement required to hit the Prime Minister’s 1 in 10 digital workforce target.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the team in launching high-impact capability campaigns, turning complex workforce initiatives into engaging content and "capability products" that resonate across government.
• Direct the international engagement strategy, hosting roundtables and forums that showcase the UK’s digital and cyber capability on the world stage.
• Establish a robust brand governance model, ensuring every touchpoint, from profession-wide newsletters to regional events, meets a "gold-standard" level of quality and impact.
• Foster a high-performance culture within your team, utilising tools like Jira to maintain a high-velocity engagement calendar and a relentless focus on delivery.
• Design a sophisticated channel strategy spanning social media, digital platforms, and high-production content to amplify the voice of capability initiatives and reach untapped talent pools.
• Line management of the communication and engagement team.

As a line manager, you will be responsible for working with your members of staff to define their objectives, as well as managing their development and performance. 

Essential Criteria

We are interested in people who have:

• Expertise in orchestrating sophisticated digital-first campaigns and high-production content to reach untapped talent.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills - able to easily build strong and trusted relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and manage these relationships over time.
• Experience navigating high-stakes environments and influencing senior leaders or Ministers to drive a mission.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills - able to design and develop products to explain complex transformation ideas, and comfortable communicating with a range of different stakeholders and audiences.
• A proactive leader comfortable with ambiguity, using astute judgment to make high-velocity decisions under pressure.

Desirable Criteria

• Understanding of the UK’s digital and cyber agenda and the drive to position the Civil Service as the employer of choice for digital, data and cyber professionals.
• Experience in line management

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,850, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £16,469 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 500 words) - the mission is to hit a 1 in 10 digital workforce target through bold, high-stakes engagement. What is your 'First 90 Days' strategy to move the needle and establish the profession as a world-class brand.

Applications will be sifted on CV and Personal Statement.  

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement only. 

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions. 

Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time. 

A reserve list of candidates may be kept for up to 12 months. 

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions. 

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance.  A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available. 

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section. 

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. 

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website. 

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

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.

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.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name: Ajoa Akuamoah
• Email: ajoa.akuamoah@dsit.gov.uk