Chief Press Officer

Department for Transport

Apply before 11:55 pm on Wednesday 28th January 2026

Location: Birmingham, Leeds, London (Hybrid)

Salary: £57,515 - A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% National Salary: £57,515 London Salary: £62,034

Contract Type: Permanent – Flexible working, Full-time, Job share

The Department for Transport’s Press Office sits at the absolute heart of one of Whitehall’s most dynamic, exciting and newsworthy departments. It provides outstanding communications and advice on Secretary of State priorities, including driving up performance on the railways, improving bus services, and better integrating transport networks.

You will be joining an experienced communications team which never stops innovating.

As a Chief Press Officer, you will play a key role in telling the transport story effectively to the media and wider public. You will manage a team and be expected to provide leadership for the wider office. Your experience will have given you regular contact with seniors and you should be able to confidently provide ministers with proactive media-handling advice on announcements, visits and speeches. You will set up and manage media facilities, organise interviews, draft sharp reactive statements and brief journalists in order to generate and influence our coverage. You will also play a key role in our Senior Management Team.

You will lead a team of press officers on one of our proactive briefs or our busy, reactive News desk. You may also be required to lead our busy planning function, which works closely with No10 to plan our upcoming announcements.

Top Responsibilities

* Play an active role in the senior management team – thinking about the wellbeing and capability of the whole office, as well as your own team. You will have the confidence to bring your own ideas and challenge others to ensure sound decision-making.

* Coach your team to bring out the best in their ability and drive their continued development through regular objective setting.

* Manage a modern media team in developing proactive longer-term handling strategies that set the agenda across the full range of channels, including new media.

* Provide regular media-handling advice on policy briefs to the Transport Secretary, Ministers, senior officials and colleagues on sensitive, complex and high-profile issues.

* Develop strong relationships with journalists and brief them confidently and accurately, ensuring your team can do the same.

* Anticipate and spot breaking news stories and drive your team to issue swift, robust and appropriate responses.

Benefits

* 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).

* 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.

* Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

About you

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

* You will be an excellent manager, maintaining high standards and coaching your team so it can reach its potential.

* You will be able to confidently lead change and improve your team and ways of doing things, looking beyond just your team to the needs of the wider press office and directorate.

* You will have experience of working in a press team in the public sector, role modelling leadership, collaboration, teamwork and continuous learning.

* You will have a strong track record of planning and delivering campaigns, using a full range of media channels and creative approaches.

* You will be able to demonstrate an ability to respond quickly, flexibly, and imaginatively to events and work calmly under pressure. You will be resilient and confident to present to senior colleagues in both formal and informal settings.

* You will have a record of strong political understanding and news judgement, including in reactive and crisis communications.

* You will have experience of establishing credibility quickly with a diverse network of senior stakeholders and to present issues simply and effectively, including close working with other communications functions.

Additional Information

You will be required to undertake the Foundation e-learning module of the Contract Management Capability programme once in role, unless this accreditation is already held.

How to Apply Read the full job description and apply using the link provided.

This vacancy closes at 23:55 on Wednesday 28th January 2026