Description
As the Head of Media Analysis & Response Hub (G6), you will lead and build the strategic analytical capability of the government’s Media Analysis & Response team.
You will directly manage the Grade 7 Analysis Leads, providing executive oversight, technical direction, and strategic coherence across all analytical operations.
This role requires a senior leader who combines deep technical expertise in information environment analysis, with the strategic gravitas needed to advise Ministers, senior officials (SCS), and cross-government committees. You will be ultimately accountable for the quality, accuracy, and operational impact of the team’s information environment assessments, ensuring insights inform the communications response framework to foreign interference, coordinated inauthentic behaviour, and disinformation.
Due to the nature of the work, you will need to obtain DV clearance.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Team Management
- Manage & Develop Leadership: Direct line management of G7 Analysis Leads, fostering their professional growth, strategic thinking, and ability to manage analysts under high-pressure conditions.
- Team Strategy & Vision: Set the strategic roadmap for the unit, continuously evolving analytical methodologies, ways of working, and operational structures as threat vectors mutate.
- Resource & Tooling Ownership: Manage team resourcing, commercial tool procurement (e.g., social listening platforms, digital forensics software), and technological investment.
Technical Direction & Analytical Rigour
- Set the Analytical Standard: Maintain ultimate accountability for the rigour, objectivity, and quality of all analysis products, daily information environment summaries, and crisis briefings.
- Future-Proofing Capability: Drive the integration of advanced analytical techniques, including LLMs, AI-driven data processing, synthetic media/deepfake detection, and network analysis tools.
Senior Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Advice
- Ministerial & SCS Briefings: Act as the primary technical authority on information environment analysis to No10, Ministers, Civil Service leaders, and cross-government Directors of Communications.
- Cross-Government Leadership: Lead the broader inter-departmental 'information environment analysis community' establishing strong operational linkages with threat analysts, the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Office, and communications insight colleagues.
- Strategic Incident Guidance: Advise senior leaders on high-stakes communications interventions, using internal playbooks to recommend when to pre-bunk, counter false narratives versus exercising strategic silence.
Policy Frameworks & National Capability
- Governance & Playbooks: Own and update communications national response frameworks for information incidents, ensuring playbooks reflect emerging digital tactics.
- Whole-of-Government Upskilling: Leverage team insights to build systemic capability across all government communications departments, raising baseline awareness and counter-disinformation resilience.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Senior Strategic Leadership: Proven track record of leading, managing, and inspiring high-performing analytical or operational teams (preferably managing other team leaders/managers) through complex, high-scrutiny environments.
- High-Level Stakeholder Influence: Exceptional executive communication skills, with a proven ability to brief Ministers, Senior Civil Servants, and non-technical leaders concisely under tight time constraints.
- Data & Technical Literacy: Demonstrated ability to oversee advanced data analytics, visual intelligence dashboards, and the strategic integration of AI/LLM toolsets into analytical workflows.
- Crisis Management & Resilience: Experience maintaining operational stability, strategic focus, and team wellbeing during high-profile national incidents or fast-moving crises.
- Social Research: Ability to setup and apply social research to the media analysis to assess impact on audiences of divisive narratives.
- Media Analysis: Experience of analysing digital communications across all social media channels.
- Evaluation: Proven experience in evaluating communications effectiveness.
- Security Clearance: Must hold or be willing to hold Developed Vetting (DV) clearance.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £76,454, Cabinet Office contributes £22,148 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. Other benefits include:
- Learning and development tailored to your role.
- An environment with flexible working options.
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
- A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.