Head of Digital and Production, Africa Campaigns Hub (24/22 PTA) at British High Commission

Roles and responsibilities 

• Work with Campaign Managers and a Digital Consultant to advise, develop and produce high-quality creative digital communications products – including video, graphics, photography, tweets and other short form content – in support of key strategic objectives, tailored to different local needs across Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes story-gathering – finding and bringing to life powerful human interest stories for digital platforms.
• Work closely with Africa Campaigns Hub colleagues and the UK Government’s network of communicators across Africa, providing advice and pitching creative ideas to ensure campaigns make strategic use of digital communications techniques and platforms. Ensure digital communications are fully effective, make use of audience insight, and are properly targeted and evaluated.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of a digital asset database of existing campaign assets and delivery partner multimedia content.
• Work with the Insights Manager to support the upskilling of communicators across HMG’s Africa Network in line with the latest Government Communication Service learning and development programmes, including in digital campaign planning, digital audience insight and production. This includes championing the improvement of visual content across HMG’s Africa Network, and working with local teams to adopt a storytelling approach to digital content. This includes using evaluation and data insight to inform campaign planning and understand the impact of our digital communications.
• Build trusted relationships with local, national and international partners, developing and maintaining an active directory of third-party stakeholder contacts – from academia, NGOs, think tanks, campaigners and social media influencers – for supportive digital engagement opportunities.
• Translate business and policy objectives into digital communications objectives, generating ideas and plans to meet them and being confident in providing strategic digital communications advice. This includes working closely with policy colleagues in London and across the HMG Africa Network to identify excellent digital stories that will advance our communications objectives, whilst also identifying and managing risks.
• Working with a Campaign Planning and Support Officer, input into a grid of digital communications activity to help plan future campaigning and media stories.
• Manage and set clear direction for a Digital Consultant, with responsibility for helping them deliver to their full potential, ensuring consistent delivery of their objectives, and supporting their professional development. This includes embedding a strong culture for evaluating activity and learning lessons, to continually improve performance and impact.
• Monitor digital output from across the HMG Africa Network, capturing and sharing examples of best practice across the network and identifying teams who would benefit from further training or support.
• Work closely with the FCDO’s digital network – including other regional digital hubs – and engage collaboratively with other UK government department digital teams.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

• Minimum 4 years’ experience producing high-quality visual content for impactful communications campaigns – ideally in a digital communications agency or a large-scale organisation delivering regular communications campaigns.
• Strong photography, video production/editing and graphic design skills and an expert in Adobe Suite or Final Cut Pro. This will be tested at interview.
• Knowledge of social media evaluation tools beyond Twitter and Facebook analytics. Experience using Brandwatch or Newswhip would be valued.
• Experience taking briefs and ability to establish a clear and nuanced understanding of client needs whilst at the same time able to shape and guide those with lesser experience on the best way to develop digital content.
• Experience of overseeing the management and delivery of a digital communication plan.
• Experience of dealing with and managing corporate brands.
• Knowledge of the social media landscape across Sub-Saharan Africa and how different social media channels are being used across the continent.
• An effective communicator with strong customer service skills, and comfortable presenting to and persuading senior staff.
• Driven and able to deliver against challenging timelines.
• The ability to learn quickly and work with a high degree of autonomy.
• A positive “can-do” attitude that can see way through challenges.
• Excellent organisational and self-management skills to respond effectively to tight – and changing – deadlines and priorities.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

• Experience delivering training and/or designing training to be delivered by others
• Experience of working in a crisis situation or delivering under high pressure would be highly regarded
• Experience of working with Government departments and/or public-sector agencies
• Demonstrate a good understanding of the political and media environment across Sub-Saharan Africa

Closing Date: 22nd, June 2022