HM Revenue & Customs
External Communications Manager
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About The Job
Job summary
Discover what it's like to work in a compliance role that makes an impact. Could you help us shape a stronger, fairer future? Your next career move starts here.
As an External Communications Manager for the Secure Digital Exchange Communications (SDEC) project and other CCG digital projects, you will play a critical role in enabling the successful delivery of a major HMRC transformation.
SDEC will change how HMRC communicates with customers, businesses, agents and intermediaries. Your role will ensure these changes are clearly understood, effectively communicated, and successfully adopted by external audiences.
Working with a high degree of autonomy, you will design and deliver external communications that support key project outcomes and delivery milestones. You will translate complex operational and technical change into clear, actionable messaging that supports compliance, reduces confusion, and builds trust in HMRC services.
Job Description
You will work closely with project teams and senior stakeholders, including senior leaders and ministers, to ensure communications align with delivery plans, risks and dependencies. By ensuring the right messaging reaches the right audiences at the right time, you will help maintain momentum, manage expectations, and mitigate reputational risk throughout the lifecycle of the project.
You will lead the delivery of external communications products and channels, including GOV.UK content, stakeholder briefings, agent communications, guidance updates, and targeted engagement with businesses and representative bodies. You will ensure communications are consistent, coordinated, and grounded in delivery reality.
Operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment, you will adapt communications activity in response to changing priorities, feedback and emerging issues, ensuring external audiences remain informed, prepared and confident in engaging with new services.
Person specification
You will bring strong external communications experience and a clear focus on delivering outcomes that support complex change.
In This Role, You Will
- Enable successful delivery of SDEC and other CCG digital projects by ensuring external communications support key releases, transitions and implementation activity
- Drive understanding and adoption by translating complex change into clear, practical and actionable messages for businesses, agents and customers
- Strengthen trust in HMRC services by ensuring communications are timely, transparent, accurate and accessible
- Deliver high-quality communications products across key channels including GOV.UK, agent updates, external guidance, stakeholder packs and briefing material
- Support senior leaders and ministers with clear, concise communications that reflect delivery progress and key messages.
- Identify and manage communications risks, ensuring issues are anticipated early and handled proactively.
- Align communications activity across delivery teams to ensure consistency, clarity and a single version of the truth.
- Maintain pace by responding quickly to changes in delivery timelines, risks and stakeholder needs.
- Build strong working relationships with internal teams and external stakeholders, including businesses, agents and representative bodies.
Essential Criteria
You will have experience delivering external communications in complex, high-profile environments and a track record of supporting successful change.
You Will Be Able To Demonstrate
- The ability to design and deliver external communication strategies aligned to project delivery and behavioural change.
- Experience producing and managing tactical communications across multiple external channels such as GOV.UK content, stakeholder briefings, and guidance products.
- Experience translating complex operational or technical change into clear, accessible messaging for businesses and external stakeholders.
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Desirable Criteria
- Experience engaging with external stakeholders including agents, businesses and representative bodies.
- The ability to anticipate and manage communications risks in a fast-paced and high-profile delivery environment.
- Strong judgement and the ability to provide clear, confident advice to senior leaders and ministers.
- Experience using insight and feedback to shape communications and improve effectiveness.
- The ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining quality, accuracy and attention to detail.
- A proven ability to build effective working relationships to support coordinated and aligned delivery.
Further Location Information
Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a 'Further Location Preferences (optional)' field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.
Office closures
For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it's important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.
These Sites Are
- Waterview Park, Washington - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
- Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
- Centenary Court, Bradford - moving to 7 and 8 Wellington Place, Leeds
- Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford
- Trinity Bridge House, Salford - moving to an alternative office in Manchester/ Salford
- Lynx House, Portsmouth - moving to an alternative office in Portsmouth
You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.
Leeds Locations
Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC's Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £45,544, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £13,194 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
- Family friendly policies.
- Personal support.
- Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it's really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service
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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.
How To Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A name-blind CV including your job history to show your last 3 job roles (no more that 100 words per each role), qualifications and previous skills and experiences.
- A 500-word personal statement to demonstrate the Essential Criteria and Person Specification as detailed within the advert.
Please complete a separate statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable. This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy-holder where candidates have the same scores at interview.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Sift
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your Personal Statement.
At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview, you will be assessed on Behaviour based questions and Strength based questions.
This Is An Example Of a Strengths-based Question
"It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?"
There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.
Interviews will take place via video link.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form . Mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the campaign is still live, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk - Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example - 'Please re-open my application - [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]'.
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Exceptionally, candidates who are not successful at this grade may be considered for appointment to similar roles at a lower grade where the eligibility criteria are met. If this applies, we will contact you directly.
Sponsorship
We have assessed this role against both Home Office and HMRC criteria and
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
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