Head of Communications and Public Affairs

About us at Hounslow

We'd love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.

We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we've built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London's most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.

About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in "Harness the Mix". It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.

We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.

As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There's space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.

Our Benefits

If you join us, you'll have access to a range of employee benefits. Read more about these here.

About The Role

We're looking for an experienced and ambitious Head of Communications and Public Affairs with a passion for public service and achieving positive outcomes for communities. You and your teams will be playing key, high-profile roles in supporting the Council to deliver on its ambitions.

We want a dynamic, strategic leader to oversee delivery of creative campaigns which make a difference; savvy media relations which achieve high-profile coverage and protect our reputation; influential public affairs that knows what it wants and how to get it; data driven, targeted and engaging social media; marketing which cuts through the noise; and great internal communications so colleagues and Members know what's going on and want to get involved.

This is an exciting time to join one of London's most ambitious and transformative councils; one whose corporate and political leadership have clarity of purpose and understand the value of strategic communications.

About The Team You'll Be Working In

The role is based in the Communities and Strategy Directorate and reports to the Director of Communications, Culture and Engagement. As part of the Divisional Leadership Team, you'll work in close partnership with the Head of Culture and Head of Engagement and Events to deliver integrated functions which maximise impact and reach to all communities.

However, we don't work in silos at Hounslow and you'll be expected to form strong relationships with officers across the Council.

You'll be responsible for leading a team of 16 officers covering campaigns, design, digital content, internal communications, media relations, public affairs and publications.

About You

You will bring significant experience of communications leadership in a local authority or organisation of comparable scope and complexity. An effective manger, you organise and inspire teams, delivering high standards and improvement within your service, across organisational boundaries and among partner organisations.

Collaborative in spirit and with strong persuading and influencing skills, you can galvanise people and organisations to your cause. Coupled with corporate and political acumen you develop productive working relationships with colleagues, Members and partners.

You're a strategic thinker who sets clear and measurable objectives with a route to achieve them, while horizon scanning to minimise risk and maximise opportunity. You're adept at managing competing priorities to deadlines, delivering complex work programmes and responding to new situations.

With excellent technical and interpersonal skills, you can present effectively to diverse audiences and command respect, trust and confidence. As a subject matter expert, you effectively deliver constructive challenge to all levels of the organisation and provide alternative solutions to problems.

You engage in continuous professional development, seeking out best practice and developing networks across the sector. You inspire your team to do the same, while instilling your high standards and ethos of keeping abreast of new methods and platforms to improve the efficacy of communications.

Read more about the work you'll be doing in the candidate pack and Job Description.

Don't meet every single requirement?

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can't tick every box. At Hounslow, we realise the 'perfect candidate' doesn't exist. So, if you can do most of what we're looking for, go ahead and apply - you may be just the right candidate for the job!

Application process and interviews

To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter detailing why you're a strong candidate for the role by an email via the button below.

Your cover letter should be no longer than four sides of A4, Arial 12pt.

The closing date for applications is 27th January 2025. Interviews will take place week commencing 3rd February 2025.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact by an email.