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About us

King's College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.

The Defence Studies Department (DSD) and War Studies Department (DWS) both sit in the School of Security Studies, within the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy. The advertised role will support communications work across the School, with particular campus-based support for DSD. Where necessary, work will be undertaken across both sites.

DSD is at the heart of security and defence education in the UK. Our academic staff are experts and pioneers in their fields. At the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, we deliver postgraduate programmes to military and civil service students, responding to the ever-evolving needs of military education. Our teaching equips professionals with the knowledge, creativity and intellectual skills needed to succeed in a complex and demanding operating environment.

DWS is one of the only academic departments in the world focused on understanding the complex realm of conflict, security, and international politics through inter-disciplinary teaching, research and engagement. We provide outstanding research-led teaching to the next generation of scholars in conflict, policy, and international relations from BA through to PhD. Our teachers are world-leading experts and pioneers in their fields, whose research and influence takes them to the forefront of global events as they happen.

Together, these two departments - alongside a wide range of research centres and groups and the King's Institute for Applied Security Studies - make up the world's largest community of scholars dedicated to the research and teaching of all aspects of security. Our research addresses issues of concern for the public, for policy makers and practitioners, and we work closely with other areas at King's College London to seek solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time.

About the role

As a Senior Communications Officer with us, you'll play a key role in giving a platform to the teaching and research that makes our departments the leaders in their fields. You'll be joining a team whose job it is to raise and maintain awareness of how we impact international security debates, policy and practice, and how our top-tier education is shaping tomorrow's defence and security leaders.

This role is a job share so you'll work closely with another Senior Communications Officer. Together, and in close contact with the Communications Manager and the Head of DSD, you'll continue to develop the school's publicity platforms and in particular will liaise on one of the flagship events of the year: the Defence Studies Department graduation ceremony in May.

Reporting directly to the Communications Manager for the school, you'll be welcomed into a dynamic, hard-working and friendly team that collaborates to publicise and deliver events (sometimes quite high-profile) and to keep stakeholders regularly updated with newsletters, news stories, podcasts and social media posts.

To succeed in and enjoy this role, you'll have excellent writing, content creation, digital and design skills, with a keen eye for detail and the ability to multi-task. We are looking for a flexible team player who knows how to manage their own time and can react to short-term needs while keeping an eye on the long view, regularly communicating with the team to keep workflows moving. Experience in varied communications platforms would be especially advantageous. This might include wide-ranging social media knowledge, podcasting, blog and feature writing, photography and filming. We're a collaborative team that welcomes creativity and fresh ideas - you might bring these from previous employment, personal experience or both.

Working with a range of colleagues in both academia and professional services also requires strong people skills, an interest in making connections, and a curious mind.

This is a part time post (17.5 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract of one year from your start date.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Experience of developing, managing and running events online and in person
2. Demonstrated expertise in copy-editing and proofreading, with meticulous attention to detail
3. Strong organisational skills and ability to manage competing priorities
4. Experience of content creation for the web and social media channels in a professional capacity
5. Ability to work autonomously, and without direct supervision, show initiative and feel confident in pitching new ideas and taking ownership of projects
6. Experience in finding newsworthy angles to communicate in news stories, podcasts and videos
7. Excellent interpersonal skills with evidence of building good working relationships with stakeholders at all levels

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge and experience of using Content Management Systems to manage webpages
2. Proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite or the capability to learn and develop skills quickly with training
3. Audio and video editing skills
4. Understanding of the UK higher education system and/or military

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.