Deputy Head of External Affairs

Working through matrix teams, we bring together multidisciplinary communications and engagement professionals to deliver priority campaigns under one strategy aligned to the growth mission. Our approach is built on three pillars:

• Targeted behaviour change: Hyper-focused campaigns driving business uptake of export support, employment rights compliance, and service-led communications linking policy to practical business support
• Real stories: Case study-driven campaigns featuring businesses creating jobs and workers benefiting from new rights, with local ministerial visits showcasing investment wins and peer-to-peer business advocacy
• Progress and delivery moments: Strategic use of set-piece events and milestones to demonstrate momentum and build trust through demonstrated impact.
Mission-led approach All our activities directly support the Growth Mission. We translate complex economic policies into clear narratives for target audiences across all DBT communications and engagement channels. Our communication outcomes contribute to the overall mission milestone of "higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom." We operate with SMART objectives, use insight to drive clear audience journeys from awareness to action, and measure impact through metrics aligned to the mission milestone. By joining DBT Communications and Marketing, you'll be part of a team that's redefining how government communicates about economic growth - working collaboratively across disciplines, using evidence and insight to drive impact, and demonstrating how government partnership with business is creating jobs, driving investment, and improving living standards across the UK. Role Summary As Deputy Head of External Affairs, you will play a pivotal role in developing and delivering DBT's external affairs strategy, with a particular focus on partnership-driven, story-led communications. This role is a key part of the new Centre of Excellence for Partnership and Storytelling, setting standards and sharing expertise across DBT and government. You will work closely with the Head of External Affairs and senior leadership to shape communication and engagement strategies that support DBT's growth mission, lead high-impact campaigns, and foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. You will build strategic relationships, influence stakeholders, and collaborate to advance communications objectives. You will form coalitions, manage issues, and mobilize advocates for our vision, policy direction, and behaviour-change campaigns. Additionally, you will lead and coordinate stakeholder communications across DBT, directing and advising campaign teams, the Ministerial visits team, and policy colleagues to ensure engagement is fully integrated, high-quality, and aligned with departmental priorities, in order to build advocacy and strengthen outputs Key Accountabilities
• Develop and deliver comprehensive external affairs strategies aligned with DBT's communications objectives.
• Lead and inspire a high-performing team, managing development, performance, and wellbeing.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners, stakeholders, and advocates, ensuring external insight informs DBT's work.
• Lead across matrix campaign teams, the Ministerial visits team, and policy colleagues to ensure seamless delivery and alignment of external affairs activity.
• Design and deliver story-led initiatives, mobilizing influencers as communication partners to tell our story through media and digital channels, strongly supported by creative digital tools and help turn Ministerial visits into high-value story moments that reinforce DBT's growth narrative.
• Provide confident, timely advice to ministers and senior officials on engagement and narrative opportunities.
• Evaluate the impact of external affairs activity using GCS principles, reporting on outcomes and continuous improvement.
• Champion a culture of quality, continuous improvement, and shared learning within the team and across the wider department.
  
  Disability Confident
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The Department for Business and Trade sits at the heart of the government's number one priority: kickstarting economic growth to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7. Our mission is clear - to drive more people into good jobs, raise living standards, and deliver productivity growth in every part of the United Kingdom. We achieve this by making the UK the best place in the world to do business, making the UK the most connected economy, and delivering great services to business. Through our Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy, Small Business Plan, and Plan to Make Work Pay, we're working in partnership with business to create the conditions for investment, innovation, and job creation that will put more money in working people's pockets. With 95% of UK businesses wanting to grow and 37% of international investors in 16 key markets likely to invest in the UK, our challenge is translating strong policy delivery into business uptake and public trust. We're positioned to demonstrate tangible economic impact through authentic business, consumer, and worker stories that show - not just tell - how government is delivering growth in partnership with business. Our communications transformation DBT's Communications and Marketing function is undergoing a bold transformation to meet the demands of the modern media landscape and deliver on our ambitious growth mission. We're moving from traditional discipline-based communications to an integrated, outcome-focused model that positions communications as a critical delivery enabler, not just a service function.