External Relations Manager (Corporate Comms)

West Midlands Police; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

West Midlands Police is seeking an External Relations Manager to lead in developing accessible, inclusive communications and engagement aligned with force objectives. The role focuses on building and maintaining relationships with local authorities, bluelight services, and government partners to support strategic priorities.

Reporting to the Corporate Communications Department and advising the Force Executive Team, the postholder will drive strategy, partnership engagement, and advocacy

Responsibilities

• Strategic Communications: Develop and execute multi-channel external communications and stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Political & Stakeholder Landscape: Understand local/regional governance and engage senior external stakeholders.
• Partnership Working: Build relationships with diverse external groups and plan high-impact visits and events.
• Executive Advising: Serve as trusted advisor to Executive Teams and senior leaders.
• Project management: Deliver projects on time, within budget, and manage risk.

Job description

Prospective staff must be held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public, and that therefore their right to privacy can be fettered in certain circumstances. This is to ensure that members of the police are fully aware and accountable for the unique powers entrusted to them and the standards of professional behaviour they swear to uphold.

Job Purpose

The External Relations Manager is a key role in West Midlands Police’s mission of ‘Working in partnership, making communities safer’ and our strategic communications and engagement approach, focused on building trust, satisfaction, and confidence among communities, partners, and our workforce.

Acting as a trusted expert within the Corporate Communications Department and strategic advisor to the Force Executive Team, the postholder leads on the development of accessible, inclusive communications and engagement activity that positively influences outcomes, aligned with force objectives, and deepens our ability to develop policy and strategy with partners and senior stakeholders.

This position provides strategic leadership for external and stakeholder engagement across the force, with the aim of identifying, building and maintaining relations to support the force achieve its strategic priorities.

The postholder will be part of our experienced News and External Relations Team, closely working with the Chief of Staff, to maintain positive relationships with strategic stakeholders, such as across local authorities, bluelight services, the Combined Authority, local and regional politicians and members of Government, faith leaders and community advocates. The role will therefore require that the individual cultivates and owns relationships with a range of partners and stakeholders, proactively maintaining positive engagement and seeking out events and visits as advocacy opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Communications: Develop and execute multi-channel external communications and stakeholder engagement strategies. Evaluate external relations and communications performance.
• Political & Stakeholder Landscape: Deep understanding of local and regional governance, including the mechanics of local authorities, the Combined Authority, bluelight services, and central government. Manage complex stakeholder relationships and build and maintain these as well as influencing and negotiating with senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Partnership Working: Identify, build and maintain high-level relationships with diverse external groups, including faith leaders, community advocates, and senior politicians. Identify, plan and execute high-impact visits and public events as advocacy opportunities.
• Executive Advising: Act as a trusted advisor to Executive Teams, Chief Officers, or equivalent senior leadership figures.
• Project management: Deliver projects to time, budget, brief and manage risk.

Hours

Monday - Friday, 0800 - 1600 (36.5 hours), a degree of flexibility may be required.

Location

Lloyd House, B4 6AT

Allowances

N/A

Interviews

W/C 16th November

Vetting

Successful applicants will be required to pass Management Vetting and Security Clearance scrutiny prior to commencing their role, this will include a full background & financial disclosure as part of the vetting process.

Medical

Appointment to this role will be dependent upon successfully medical checks, which may include a drugs test and if required a hearing test.

West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions.

As part of our commitment we operate a ‘Disability Confident Interview Scheme’ - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example: in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

“Diversity and Inclusion Vision: Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities”