The Role & Key Responsibilities

Are you an exceptional media and communications professional looking for an opportunity to lead a fast-paced and in-demand team?

We’re looking for an experienced Head of Media to lead our Media Team, who provide a 24/7 365-day-a-year service to local, national, and international press.

This is a role for someone who knows how to make news, not just respond to it. You will be experienced in building effective relationships with journalists and broadcasters, and able to spot opportunities to tell the Sussex Police story, whilst anticipating, managing, and responding to risks and challenges.

We require a strong leader who is accessible, knowledgeable, and inspires the team to provide an outstanding service that builds the public’s understanding, trust, and confidence in the force’s work, whether it’s responding to a major incident or highlighting the everyday work undertaken to Catch, Protect, and Deliver for our communities.

As a crucial member of our senior leadership team, you will act as a trusted communications advisor, providing expert advice to others in the Force, including Chief Officers, bringing sharp judgement and a deep understanding of the media landscape.

• Build, develop, and maximize the performance of the Media Team, ensuring it is delivering against strategic and departmental objectives and maximizing opportunity, via communications, to keep people safe, prevent and detect crime, and provide public reassurance.
• Maintain and nurture positive relationships with media organizations and other key stakeholders, both in personal interactions and the style and approach adopted by team members, maximizing opportunities to promote policing activity that reinforces the Force’s values, or reassuring and explaining if activity falls short of them, whilst helping to deliver our corporate narrative themes.
• Direct and manage the media team’s processes and people, ensuring sufficient capability, capacity, and resilience to provide a 24/7 media and communications service, including its ability to flex across communications disciplines.
• Provide direction and expertise to the media team and colleagues across the department; overseeing their day-to-day approach and longer-term development to ensure all our communications are lawful, consistent, innovative, and cost and operationally effective. Take personal responsibility for the highest risk issues.
• Oversee media training delivered by the department to others in the Force; working closely with the Learning and Development Department on a structured annual program of courses and providing ad-hoc training when required.
• Provide expert communications advice to others in the Force, most often at senior levels. This includes providing advice on higher-risk reactive incidents, including at Gold Groups, and setting the communications approach for longer-term more complex planned issues.
• Act as Silver Communications (or Gold if required) in the context of a major or critical incident, develop and direct the implementation of communications tactics, working to the Gold strategy, often in liaison with several partners and external stakeholders, to ensure public safety and confidence under our statutory warning and informing requirements, and assist operational tactics.
• Represent the media team in relation to HMICFRS inspections and provide input on behalf of the department.
• Budgetary responsibility, reporting to the Head of Department.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to the grade and character of work as may be reasonably required, including specific duties of a similar or lesser graded post, including deputizing for the Deputy Head of the department.