Vacancy Information
Division / Department - Media and Communications
Grade - Grade 10
Status - Full Time or Happy to Talk Flexible Working
Contract Type - Permanent
Salary Grade Range - £30,375 - £33,348
Working Hours - 37.0 Hours per Week
Shift Allowance -
Politically Restricted -
The starting salary for this role will usually be at the bottom of the salary range and will be pro-rata if the working hours are less than full time.
The Role
Sussex Police is an innovative and forward-thinking organisation seeking a Social Media Officer to join its Media & Communications department.
The ideal candidate will have an in-depth understanding of what makes content perform. You will be an expert in social media channels and communications, including new and upcoming channels and have experience using a social media management platform as well as channels directly. You'll help deliver and shape our social media strategy in an ever-changing digital landscape, against a fast-paced external environment.
When required you will be able to pivot to support emerging reputational issues and operational events, monitoring to collate information to inform a tactical response. With autonomy to brief, curate, publish and orchestrate content that is tailored to the force’s audiences and channels, you will help to build public trust and confidence and demonstrate our commitment to protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver an outstanding service.
We need our Social Media Officer to have an eye for detail and always be alive to opportunities to increase the reach and engagement of our communications. Performance and public confidence will be a constant in your mind with a laser focus on our objectives, as will the appetite to work with officers and staff upskilling them and jumping onto opportunities as they happen.
The social media team sits within the award-winning Media and Communications Department (M&CD), operating 7-days a week, supporting and overseeing the force’s internal and external communication functions. The social media team is one of four units within department with collaboration between teams, intrinsic to our success.
We offer a competitive salary, annual leave allowance and pension, with access to a wide range of benefits including training and mentoring, discounted gym membership for our on-site gyms and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) with support services for a wide range of matters both professional and personal. We also support hybrid working with the role able to be undertaken from our Lewes HQ office (your contractual working location), from local police sites and from home.
Key Responsibilities
• Provide specialist and tactical support and advice that increases the effectiveness of force social media channels and public engagement via social media, ensuring compliance.
• Facilitate the creation and curation of quality and shareable multi-media content for online channels and train others in functional use of social media and online platforms.
• Analyse real-time and historic data to help the force maximise reach and engagement across social media channels, avoid risk and maintain credibility and support for policing in Sussex. Using this data help the force maximise social performance to support police objectives including preventing, detecting crime, identifying vulnerable or wanted people; managing online risk to public confidence.
• Help develop and deliver external force content, ensuring alignment with organisational and communications strategies and compliance with relevant legislation, regulations and protocols.
• Upskill colleagues in the wider Media and Communications team in specific platform requirements that helps maximise story telling opportunities to enhance positive public sentiment, engagement and operational outcomes.
• Help devise and deliver an online and in person training and coaching programme in social media best practice and risk management to social media users across the business.
• Provide direct public engagement via force social media channels, in line with the force strategy, policy and guidance.
• Review and evaluate analytics that measure critical success factors in social engagement across all community activity; contributing to the effectiveness of the departmental and community engagement strategies and continuous improvement in this field.
• Be familiar with the major incident communications structure and be available to pivot into temporary roles as required. This requires flexibility to adapt into roles that may not be part of your day-to-day function.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to the grade and character of work as may be reasonably required, including specific duties of a similar or lesser graded post.
Skills & Experience
• Minimum A Levels or BTEC at grade C or proven experience in a similar role.
• Proven understanding and ability to articulate how to best manage key social media channels including but not limited to: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Linkedin, You Tube, Nextdoor etc.
• Demonstrable experience of creating clear creative briefs and hands-on experience of online editing apps such as Canva, Snapseed, Kinemaster, Photoshop Express and other similar tools.
• Compelling online story-telling and innovative content creation skills to adapt topics into engaging and high performing social and digital articles based on channel and audience insight.
• Demonstrable skills in interpreting data analytics for multiple social media platforms, including Google Analytics, and using the findings for continuous improvement/maximised opportunity.
• Well organised with the ability to manage and prioritise competing demands. Equally comfortable working on own initiative or as part of a wider team.
• Demonstrable organisational and time-management skills, able to prioritise, manage upwards and downwards to meet agreed deadlines in a fast-paced and reactive environment.
• Experience of using one or more social media management platforms (SMMP) such as Orlo, Hootsuite, Sprout Social or other relevant SMMP.
• Evidence of delivering different styles and tones of online communications in social and digital platforms to a range of different audiences.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Further Information
We recognise that our people are balancing demanding careers with commitments and interests outside of work. We welcome applications and discussion with candidates who want to work full-time or part-time/flexible hours.
This role requires travel to meetings and locations across Surrey and Sussex. The post-holder must therefore have the ability to travel to these locations when required to do so. Where transport involves the use of police vehicles, you must have a full driving licence and the ability to attain a Force Police Driving Permit.
The post holder will be required to pass and maintain Sussex Police Vetting at the appropriate level, this may include enhanced vetting.
For further information or an informal discussion please contact Clare Baldock, Head of Social Media, clare.baldock@sussex.police.uk.
Additional Information
Following submission of your application you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your application attached. Occasionally emails from this address can fall into spam/junk folders so please ensure this is checked regularly. You may wish to consider adding noreply@surreysussexpolice.as.recruitmail.com to your address/contact list to ensure you receive all communications.
This post is being advertised in parallel with Force redeployment processes. Any redeployees who are identified will be given preference. This may result in the post being withdrawn at any point during the recruitment process.
Please note that not all jobs are available for internal candidates across both Forces, the current agreed recruitment principles are;
- vacancies in collaborated units are available to all officers and staff across both Forces
- vacancies in non-collaborated units are only available to officers and staff within the Force with the vacancy unless it is advertised externally.
If the vacancy is advertised externally and an officer or member of staff from the other Force is success it will result in a transfer of employment
Surrey Police and Sussex Police Special Constables, Volunteers and Agency Staff (excluding self-employed workers) covered under the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) are eligible to apply for internal advertised posts.
Diversity Statement
We are only as good as our people. It's really important that our officers and staff can be themselves in the workplace and we know that as an organisation we'll grow from the variety of thinking, approach and skills that diversity brings; all of which help us deliver a better policing service. We strive to ensure how we deliver our services, provide information and how we recruit is open and accessible to all.
We have multiple staff support groups who help to improve our understanding of minority issues and ensure they are reflected in our work. We are proud members of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and Disability Confident, a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and aligned with the Armed Forces Covenant and the HeForShe movement.
We value the differences that people bring from all backgrounds and communities. Regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, disability, social status or religious beliefs, we would love to hear from you.