Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Communications Officer
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Salary: £29,770 + 25 days Annual Leave + Pension Scheme with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
Job Reference: 466606
Location: Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3LS
Closing Date for Applications: 31 August 2026.
About the Role
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and is responsible for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficacy of veterinary medicines in the UK.
We have a vacancy for a Communications Officer.
Key Responsibilities
We are looking for a Communications Officer to join our team and play a key role in supporting the Communications Team, and the wider organisation by acting as a primary point of contact for external enquiries. This includes managing the correspondence database, the public-facing mailbox, main telephone line, and incoming post, ensuring all enquiries are accurately logged, appropriately triaged, and resolved within agreed timelines.
Main duties:
- Business Support:
- Handle general enquiries and complaints, including phone calls into our mainline using MS Teams telephone.
- Manage and maintain our correspondence management system (eCase), ensuring enquiries and call-back requests are accurately recorded, assigned, tracked, and closed within set service standards.
- Publish website edits for VMD content on GOV.UK (training provided), ensuring adherence to style guides.
- Manage our internal and external contact records.
- Undertake routine and ad hoc administrative tasks as required to support team objectives and delivery plans.
- Contribute to wider business compliance activities, including quality management, information security, and data protection.
- Comply with ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 27001 (information security) standards, as well as GDPR and record management requirements.
- Act corporately by meeting, role-modelling, embedding, and championing VMD corporate objectives.
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- Internal Communications:
- Deliver internal communications by collating news items and publishing weekly staff bulletins on the Intranet using our in-house style, proactively sourcing content from across the organisation.
- Update and maintain Reception TV PowerPoint slides to ensure accurate and up-to-date messaging.
Person Specification
We’re looking for you to have experience:
- Following style guides and using best practice to deliver content utilising various channels.
- Working in websites and/or content management systems.
- Providing administrative support in a business environment with internal and external stakeholders.
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We’re looking for someone that:
- Enjoys working collaboratively with different business areas; you are able to build working relationships and demonstrate an understanding of your audience and how to communicate with impact.
- Has good organisational skills and attention to detail; you will be able to prioritise your workload to achieve deadlines.
- Has good written English and can draft emails and internal communications.
- Is proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 packages, particularly Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and can learn in-house packages quickly.
- Is comfortable asking questions and seeking clarification when needed.
How to Apply
If you're interested in applying for this position, we would love to hear from you! Please submit your application via the Civil Service Jobs website, where you will find a full job description including salary details.
Note:
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate is an Equal Opportunity employer. No Recruitment Agency, Newspaper or Publication calls please.
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