House of Commons

The House of Commons is one of the most scrutinised organisations in the world, and its work is at the heart of our national life. It is a complex organisation, with 650 Members of Parliament and their staff, plus c3,000 people working for the House Administration in a wide variety of roles, including catering staff, security officers, librarians and clerks.

The House of Commons is recruiting for their Director of Communications, which is the most senior professional communications leader in the House Administration, reporting directly to the Clerk of the House. The post holder provides functional leadership across a communications network, direct leadership of a team of communications professionals in the central Communications Office and provides strategic communications counsel to the Speaker’s Office, Commons Executive Board and the House of Commons Commission.

The post holder is required to set a strategic approach to communications, lead structural changes, ensure capability and delivery is to the highest standard whilst navigating a complex, political and changing environment.

The Director of Communications needs to be able to balance the strategic and the reactive and take a proactive approach to anticipating and managing risk and safeguarding the impartiality of the House Administration across all corporate communications output.

They play a leading role in responding around incidents – as part of the organisation wide Incident Management Team (IMT) – emergencies, state events and ensuring there are adequate out of hours communications arrangements in place.

The House of Commons is looking for candidates who would bring strategic and thoughtful leadership to this role. Suitable candidates will need to have experience of effectively leading a communications function within a high-profile organisation and demonstrable in-depth knowledge of core communications disciplines. They will need to be able to work collaboratively and effectively at senior management level with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. They will need to understand the complex landscape they will operate in and provide motivational and robust leadership to their team. This role is dynamic and fast paced and candidates will need to be comfortable operating in a high-pressured environment.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to the House of Commons on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference OETP. Alternatively telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon on Monday 3 June 2024.