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About the Role

As Media Lead, you will deliver and co-ordinate the council’s day-to-day media relations, responding to media enquiries and proactively pitching stories to a broad range of local, regional, national and trade outlets. You will produce engaging and accurate content, advise senior officers and Members on media-related matters, and contribute to crisis communications, public awareness campaigns, and integrated communications strategies, ensuring press activity reflects Waltham Forest’s priorities, values, and voice.

Responsibilities

• Support and deliver the Council’s media relations strategy, pitching broadcast packages, features and editorial, while ensuring timely, accurate, and politically sensitive responses to media enquiries across local, regional and national platforms.
• Prepare written and verbal content for multiple audiences.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key journalists, editors and media outlets to proactively promote the Council’s work and secure balanced coverage.
• Draft and produce high-quality written materials including press releases, media statements, Q&As, lines to take, op-eds and media briefings, as well as articles for council publications.
• Manage the Council’s press office forward planning grid and daily operations, including logging, triaging and tracking media activity.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the communications team to integrate media work into wider campaigns and corporate strategies.
• Apply audience insight, data, and evaluation findings to inform media strategy development.
• Ensure all media interventions are supported by a coherent narrative framework.
• Contribute to the Council’s crisis communication response, supporting reactive media campaigns and communications activity as required.

Requirements

• Educated to degree level or equivalent standard
• Ability to work in an agile fashion to respond to internal or external crises
• Experience of leading high-profile campaigns that have supported the delivery of key strategic objectives
• Knowledge of different media campaign approaches and methods
• Experience in evaluating and reviewing media campaigns
• Experience of using insight and data to create communications plans
• Experience of crisis management
• Experience of providing advice and briefing to senior managers and/or elected members on media and reputation issues
• Experience of working in a highly pressured environment and delivering results to tight deadlines
• Deep understanding of local and national media landscape
• Strong awareness of political and reputational risk
• Ability to analyse media performance and draw insights
• Strong background in media relations, journalism or public sector communications
• Proven ability to find solutions to public relations problems and take necessary action
• A strong understanding and knowledge of national, regional, local and specialist press relevant to local government and Waltham Forest’s communities
• An understanding of local government, the services provided by local councils, and the responsibilities a council has to its residents
• Excellent writing skills with a clear, concise and lively prose style, and the ability to write for a range of different audiences
• Excellent oral communications skills and the ability to maintain effective relationships at every level of an organisation
• Ability to translate complex information into a clear and approachable format for a wide range of audiences
• Excellent attention to detail, strong organisational skills and the ability to operate to tight deadlines in highly pressured environments

Skills

• Media relations
• Journalism
• Public sector communications
• Crisis communications
• Content production
• Media pitching
• Media relations strategy
• Written communication
• Verbal communication
• Relationship building
• Press release writing
• Media statement writing
• Q&A development
• Lines to take creation
• Op-ed writing
• Media briefing preparation
• Article writing
• Press office management
• Campaign integration
• Audience insight analysis
• Data analysis
• Evaluation reporting
• Narrative framework development
• Crisis communication response
• Reactive media campaign support
• Agile working
• Campaign leadership
• Media campaign evaluation
• Communications planning
• Senior stakeholder briefing
• Performance analysis
• Problem-solving
• Attention to detail
• Organisational skills
• Deadline management

Location

• London

Work Type

• Full-time
• Permanent

Experience Level

• Mid-level
• Senior-level

Education Level

• Degree level or equivalent

Salary/Compensations

• £49,056 - £52,194

Benefits

• Good Work Standard employer accreditation
• Fair pay and conditions
• Workplace well-being support
• Skills and progression opportunities
• Diversity and recruitment support
• Flexible working options

About the Company

• Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.
• We are a highly ambitious borough, driven by the innate creativity of our residents, and have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities.
• Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded, focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.
• London Borough of Waltham Forest is accredited as one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers, proving our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace.

Equal Opportunity

• Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff.
• The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population.
• We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace.
• The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: Promoting equality of opportunity, Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage, Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels, and Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.
• Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.
• To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process.
• The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first.
• We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments.
• Wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council.