Description Are you interested in an exciting opportunity to join a busy and innovative Communications team? The SPPA is an Agency of the Scottish Government which is responsible for administering four major public sector pensions schemes – police, fire, NHS and Teachers – for over 600,000 members. The Strategic Communications Manager role sits within the SPPA Communications team which is part of the Strategy, Governance and Communications division. The External Communications Manager role is a key strategic one. You will work closely with two Strategic Communication Leads to have oversight of the external communications approach and provide leadership and support for the continued development of internal communications. You will work closely with an Internal Communications Manager and External Communications Manager to ensure there is a consistent approach to our communications activity and longer term planning. You will also work to maximise our stakeholder engagement to link in with our communications campaigns and high profile annual pension events. Please note this is a Fixed Term Appointment of 23 months. Responsibilities Oversee the development and successful delivery of a range of communications projects to support the SPPA Communication Strategy, ensuring a consistent and effective approach in deploying external communications resources and supporting and enabling internal comms capabilities for maximum impact. Develop and implement an effective approach to long-term external communications planning which integrates with internal SPPA communications, mapping out and planning external activity based on the delivery of SPPA business priorities, projects and maximising wider promotional opportunities. Supporting and developing wider team members in the consistent approach to external and internal communications planning and campaign delivery to maximum impact and effect in the work of the team. Conduct a comprehensive social content review and lead on work informed by the findings including the development of a social content strategy and the further development of the SPPA’s social content profile and presence. Work closely with the website team and Senior Content Designer to complete the next phase of a website content review project, ensuring one of the SPPA’s key public information platforms is up to date and effective. Work closely with the Employer/Stakeholder Engagement function to further develop and grow its work across a range of different stakeholder organisations, providing strategic communications advice and support and coordinating input from the wider Communications team. Be a key part of the Communications and Engagement Team, providing a leadership role and collaborating effectively to build confidence in the core work delivered by the team, while working flexibly to perform other duties as required. This role will have line management responsibility. Responsibilities Success Profile Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on. Experience Demonstrable experience of working at a strategic level and with some of that in a leadership capacity in a busy, communications-focused environment, with experience of developing communications strategies and campaigns delivered over an extended period and across various channels and platforms, particularly digital. Experience of developing and delivering digital strategies to direct and drive the approach to social content platforms and development, and website management., with this work underpinned and informed by analytics and audience insights. Strong experience of building positive and constructive relationships with internal and external stakeholders and of building areas of work to strengthen and maintain effective stakeholder engagement, particularly externally, securing buy-in to communications approaches. Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing – Level 3 Seeing the Big Picture – Level 3 Making Effective Decisions – Level 3 You can find out more about Success Profile Behaviours, here. How to apply Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. Assessments are scheduled for w/c 20th October however this may be subject to change. Qualifications About Us The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers’, Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland for over 500,000 key workers. The Agency administers these public service pension schemes on behalf of Scottish Ministers with an annual pension spend to over 200,000 pensioners to the value of more than £2.5 billion. SPPA Careers | SPPA (pensions.gov.scot ) Civil Service Nationality Rules Working Pattern Our standard hours are 35 hours per week. We offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options, with two days minimum working on site at SPPA. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us. Security Checks Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions). You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide. Equality Statement We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them. Further Information Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website. Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes. Apply Before: 14th September 2025 (23:59) - This role is open to internal candidates and Common Citizenship organisations only.