Communications Officer

Communications Officer

Contract: Essex Highways

Location: Chelmsford, CM1 1QH

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract - 12 months

Our client, Ringway Jacobs, a leading provider of integrated highways management, is seeking a Communications Officer.

The successful candidate will report to the Stakeholder Communications Manager and provide high‑quality communications advice, content and engagement for Essex Highways’ key audiences, including residents, politicians and staff.

This proactive role will use creative and innovative communications to clearly tell the story of what Essex Highways delivers.

We are looking for a confident communicator who can work closely with colleagues across the highways service to promote their work, manage risks and challenges, and deliver timely, engaging content across a range of channels in line with Essex County Council approaches.

The Role

• Proactively communicate the work of Essex Highways through a variety of content, including social media, written communications, video filming and website updates
• Provide communications advice and handling to highways colleagues, ensuring messaging is timely, clear and risks are managed
• Draft and deliver stakeholder communications to keep residents, local politicians and businesses informed about highways improvement works
• Draft and deliver internal communications, including staff updates and support for staff engagement events
• Produce communications updates across multiple channels, including social media, press releases, reactive media statements and website content
• Visit sites of highways works to capture photo and video content for use across Essex Highways’ channels
• Draft and deliver updates on upcoming highways works for key external audiences
• Support the Press and PR function through drafting press releases, media statements and contributing to communications plans

About You

You will be a proactive communicator who is confident building relationships, providing advice and creating engaging communications content. You will be comfortable bringing new ideas forward and trying new approaches, while remaining calm and clear‑headed under pressure.

Specifically, you will have:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience delivering communications handling plans and content
• Experience of collaborative working and a proactive, self‑starting approach
• Ability to work calmly under pressure within a small, dynamic team
• Some experience or understanding of creating graphics (for example Canva, Adobe Express or Creative Suite)
• Some experience or understanding of basic short‑form video editing
• Some experience or understanding of using analytics tools (such as Orlo) to inform content decisions
• Strong organisation and planning skills, with the ability to monitor delivery
• Standard office ICT skills
• A full driving licence

Benefits

At Ringway Jacobs we recognise that our people make the difference, and in order to do what we do well, particular care is taken in nurturing and investing in our people. That’s why you will always be given the opportunity to utilise your expertise and develop your career.

Ringway Jacobs recognises the importance of helping our employees balance their work and home life by offering flexible working arrangements across many of our roles. We therefore welcome applications from people looking for an alternative working pattern e.g. part-time hours, job share etc. Please let us know on your CV or cover letter if this is what you are looking for.

In return for your hard work you will receive:

- Sick Pay
- Competitive salary
- Opportunity to purchase up to 5 days extra leave
- A variety of discounts through our “RJ Rewards” app, including restaurants, holidays, days out etc
- Life Assurance
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Pension scheme

The Company

We are Ringway Jacobs, a leading highways service provider working with local authorities across the UK. Formed in 2005, specifically to provide road network management solutions to local government, our unique blend of engineering capability, innovation and customer care make us the best in class. We support over 10,000 miles of highways, 10,000 miles of footway, almost 7,800 miles of public rights of way and 242,000 street lights. We excel in delivering safe, sustainable service excellence, through our passion, integrity and collaborative culture.

Ringway Jacobs is an equal opportunities employer. We wish to ensure equality of opportunity in employment and the fair treatment of all our employees. As part of this commitment, we proudly support the Armed Forces Community by identifying roles for which we can offer a guaranteed interview to service leavers, veterans, reservists, cadet force adult volunteers, and military spouses/partners who meet the essential criteria for the position.