Editorial & Speechwriting Lead

Salary: National – ranging from £48,900 – £68,000 and London from £53,700 – £75,000 per annum

In the Communications directorate at the FCA we change opinions and behaviours to enable a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy. It’s an exciting time as we’re expanding our team and changing how we do things to deliver more engaging, insight-led, audience focused communications. If you want to be part of a supportive and fun team, work across a wide range of issues and are ready to be challenged, curious and creative then come and join us.

The team/department

The Strategic Communications and News team is new to the FCA’s Communications directorate. This team is at the heart of what and how the organisation communicates – working with the strategy team to help set and deliver the FCA’s external communication objectives and ensuring that our communication is clear, concise and compelling. The team is split into three teams: strategic communication partners, social media, and editorial and speechwriting, the team where this role sits.

What you will be doing (the role)

• The Lead Associate will be accountable for leading the change in the way we approach our written work

• Responsible for developing and maintaining the organisation’s tone of voice and promoting awareness, understanding and implementing the FCA’s content strategy

• Advising on complex messaging for written work and ensuring extremely high standards of written work for rest of team

• Working alongside both Speechwriters to ensure speeches are well drafted and have impact. This includes helping to ensure that we are maximising speaking opportunities

• Line management duties including developing team skills and making sure content is resourced by planning ahead and allocating work fairly. The Lead Associate will be expected to promote a culture of personal responsibility across the team and encourage stretch

• Ensuring the team is appropriately joined up with Strategic Communication Partners and across the business to ensure that messaging is aligned and woven through all our written work including for our website, corporate documents, op-eds, blogs and speeches

What you will get from the role

• You will be a member of the Strategic Comms and News team within the Communications directorate and will play a key role in setting the direction for the team and driving excellence in our written work

• You will be accountable for written communications spanning the full breadth of the FCA including corporate documents, speeches and other written material

• The work you produce or support with is the FCA’s shop window – the main method by which we communicate with others externally. The impact of delivering clear, concise and accessible comms is central to our reputation

• You will assist on the messaging surrounding sensitive and high-profile publications, as well as leading and coaching the team to continually build their professional skills

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Previous line management experience and demonstrable experience of supporting and coaching more junior team members

• Previous experience gained in a similar role in a Communications function

• Proven experience of building relationships and credibility with the ability to challenge, persuade and influence at all levels of the organisation

Essential

• Excellent writing and editing skills

• Evidence of assisting with sensitive and high-profile publications

• Ability to work well with others on complex content to make it accessible

• Strong negotiation skills with ability to challenge others to get the best from the organisation

• Good knowledge of the external operating environment, with good judgement on how to ensure copy is drafted reflecting external and internal priorities

• Recognise how FCA policy is developed and how we authorise and supervise firms and enforce our rules

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multi-location

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Useful information

Applications for this role close at 23:59 on Thursday 5th September 2024.

This role is graded as Lead Associate – Corporate.

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:

• For internal applicants, please contact Melanie Dubock at Melanie.Dubock@fca.org.uk

• For external applicants, please contact Rosie-Grace Ford at Rosie-Grace.Ford1@fca.org.uk

What to expect from our interview process

The interview process will be over one or two stages where your core competencies will be assessed.

Application support

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.