Job summary
As a media officer at the Department for Transport (DfT) you could be helping shape the national news agenda every day, creating headlines from transport policy and showcasing the latest announcements through creative communications approaches and visuals.
No two days are the same in the communications directorate. You might be communicating our reform of the railways, highlighting the department’s work to improve bus services, or promoting transport’s key role in encouraging the transition to electric vehicles.
You’ll need to be a confident and talented writer and at ease working in a fast-paced environment. You’ll also need to show a flair for spotting when there are factual inaccuracies in media stories and be able to build strong relationships with key partners, including journalists, stakeholders, Ministers and Special Advisers.
You will need to be organised, proactive, and confident in taking the lead when it comes to handling news stories or running media visits. Strong attention to detail and excellent communication skills are a must.
We are a modern communications team and are looking for someone with a good understanding of new media, including online outlets and podcasts, social media, and the ability to build partnerships with content creators to extend the reach of campaigns.
Experience of managing visits and working with stakeholders is also desirable.
We believe that different perspectives and experiences improve the calibre of the work we produce. Our communications directorate represents a variety of backgrounds and previous careers, and those who join our team are supported every step of the way as they learn about government communications, develop their skills, and kickstart an exciting career with us.
Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:
- Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
- 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
Read more in the Benefits section below!
Find out more about what it's like working at DfT Communications: Communications - Department for Transport Careers
Role
The communications team work closely with Private Offices, Special Advisers, policy officials and external stakeholders.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
- You will play an important role in responding to media enquiries, working with policy and Ministerial teams to inform and educate the public.
- You will also work proactively on government announcements on a range of significant transport policies and campaigns, using insight and creative communication handling to speak to our audiences on the platforms they use, including new media and social media.
- This will involve exciting Ministerial visit opportunities, planning interviews and maximising positive coverage.
- You will play an important role in a 24-hour communications team and will be part of a duty rota able to respond to enquiries out-of-hours. This includes working weekends and evenings and comes with a competitive remuneration package.
- When working on Ministerial visits, you will be expected to travel domestically, sometimes at short notice, with some out-of-hours work.
- You will prepare briefing materials for Ministers in advance of a visit, sometimes conducting a recce in advance, and will maintain a close dialogue with key colleagues at all times.
- Our communications are based around campaigns, and you will employ a range of skills and channels to deliver our messages. This includes working alongside strategic communication colleagues to set the direction for the department and creating social media content to tell our stories in the most effective way.
Person specification
Required experience:
To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:
- Experience of working within communications and/or media
- Experience of developing proactive and reactive communications approaches.
- Experience of working collaboratively with others to deliver at pace and manage competing demands.
Additional Information
Please be aware that the national security clearance level required for this role Security Check (SC), which requires 5 years’ continuous presence in the UK. Further detail about SC below.
Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements
Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.
This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.
The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.
Visa Sponsorship
DfTc does not offer Visa Sponsorship for this role
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £35,663, Department for Transport contributes £10,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:
- Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensionshere
- 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
- 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
- Access to the staff discount portal.
- Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
- Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
- 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).
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 and Experience.
How to apply:
Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills, and potential fit within our organisation.
The selection process for this role will be:
Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement
Stage 2: Interview and Written Assessment
You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.
Stage 1: Sift
At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:
Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (750-word count). Please provide evidence of your experience of the following:
- Experience of working within communications and/or media
- Experience of developing proactive and reactive communications approaches.
- Experience of working collaboratively with others to deliver at pace and manage competing demands.
The sift will take place week commencing 15/06/2026
Stage 2: Interview and Written Assessment
At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:
- Behaviours – Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, and Delivering at Pace.
- Experience – Please see attached Role Profile
To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:
- Experience of working within communications and/or media
- Experience of developing proactive and reactive communications approaches.
- Experience of working collaboratively with others to deliver at pace and manage competing demands.
You will also be required to complete a Written Assessment during the interview. The assessment will involve drafting a press notice based on a recent departmental announcement, to be completed at interview.
Please note – the use of AI is not permitted for this task
The interviews will take place week commencing 29/06/2026
This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.
You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).
Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
Further information on the selection process
We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for. You can read more about our reserve lists here. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Reasonable Adjustments
As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Document Accessibility
This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Pre-employment Checking
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
All External applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:
Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
Threats or acts of violence
Illegal activity or substance misuse
Sexually explicit material
Extremist views or affiliations
Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public.
Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle—it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture.
If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.
Further Information
For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit thehttps://careers.dft.gov.uk/recruitment-journey/application-process/How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.
If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here
