Projects Communications Officer

About the job:

The communications officer will deliver customer communications for major engineering work, special events and activities that affect our train services. This information is vitally important for customers who depend on our services, whether travelling for business or leisure purposes, and has a direct impact on their experience when travelling with us.

The communications officer will support the external communications team by working on day-to-day press office operations and campaigns, while providing communications support to other functions within our Network.

Liaising with internal teams, and with external stakeholders such as Network Rail and other railway industry partners, the post holder will plan and deliver effective customer communications campaigns. Messaging will be clear, easy to understand and will be delivered across a variety of different channels in a timely manner.

The communications officer will support on projects led by the external communications team and wider Corporate Affairs function, as well as projects from other functions. The post holder will also assist with the busy press office and joining the out of hours rota.

Your main responsibilities will be:

Reporting on, and evaluating, customer communications campaigns and identifying areas for improvements
Representing the communications team in key meetings – such as weekly operational readiness lookaheads – and working closely with representatives from a variety of different functions including the stations, operational readiness, customer service and customer information teams and the Information Production Unit
Maintaining a calendar of upcoming engineering works to ensure timely customer communications and awareness among colleagues
Acting as a key contact during times of train service disruption, working with the customer information team to provide clear communications to customers
Writing and updating customer communications materials including website copy, stakeholder updates, emails, posters and more.
Supporting other functions’ projects through communications activity, such as station improvements
Working with the External Communications Lead and Senior Communications Manager to execute the external communications strategy and assist in planning
Assisting with the day-to-day running of the press office, such as providing weekly or individual coverage reports and operating press office systems, such as Onclusive PR Manager and Critico every eight weeks, for one week, out of office hours
Working with the Senior Communications Manager on press materials, such as press releases, photographs and video.

You’ll need to be:

Educated to degree standard or equivalent
First-class written and verbal communication and presentation skills
Experience of working in a communications role
Experience of working with customers
Experience and understanding of working with stakeholders
Experience and ability to build excellent relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels
Commercial understanding and customer focus
Planning and managing multiple projects to tight deadlines
Working effectively under pressure
Working both independently and in a team
Understanding of the railway and railway industry.

Working pattern:

You will work an average of 37 hours per week, typically, 09:00 – 17:00, Monday to Friday. There will be an out of hours “on-call” responsibility, once approximately every 7/8 weeks.

The Reward:

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including;

Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
75% discount on many other train operating companies
Full training and support with development
Large range of exclusive retail offers
Excellent pension scheme.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.