Communications And Engagement Manager, Digital Pound Project

Communications and Engagement Manager, Digital Pound Project

Communications and Engagement manager, Digital Pound Project

We are recruiting for a Communications and Engagement Manager to join the Bank of England’s Digital Pound Project. This is a high-profile, varied, and exciting area within the Bank. The role offers the opportunity to help shape the potential future of money itself! We would welcome applications from people from a wide range of backgrounds.

The Project Area

Like other central banks, the Bank of England is actively exploring whether it should develop and issue a retail CBDC – a Digital Pound. A potential Digital Pound would – like banknotes – be a form of money issued by the central bank which would be available to households and businesses for everyday payment needs but, as the name implies, in a digital format, reflecting that how people make payments is changing. HM Treasury and the Bank of England have recently issued a Consultation Paper setting out an assessment of the motivations and design choices for a potential UK CBDC, signalling that we are now moving into a ‘design phase’ of this work . No decision has yet been taken on whether the Bank of England will issue a Digital Pound.

The CBDC Unit is responsible for analysing the opportunities and challenges presented by CBDC and developing the design of a Digital Pound. The Unit’s activities include macroeconomic analysis of CBDC, work on functional design of a Digital Pound, exploration of technology options for a Digital Pound, and Engagement with private-sector stakeholders and international counterparts.

The Role

The role holder will manage engagement and communications with internal and external stakeholder groups. Externally this will include Communications and regular engagement with a range of stakeholders, for example firms and industry bodies in the financial sector (eg banks, payments companies), FinTech, retailers, consumer groups and relevant professional services (eg lawyers). Internally this will include promoting the Unit’s work within the wider Bank.

The role holder will have two direct reports.

You will be accountable for a range of activities including:

• Run the existing stakeholder forums that the CBDC Unit owns (the Engagement Forum and the Technology Forum)

• Develop an internal and external engagement plan and track against progress

• Design and execute the stakeholder engagement activity – for example designing workshops or working groups to get industry input to CBDC design

• Prepare and run key events, roundtables and forum logistics including developing agendas

• Create and deliver regular stakeholder communications

• Ensure industry views are taken into account in the Bank’s decision making

• Provide input into design and delivery of key messages from senior Bank staff (eg speech writing)

• Provide briefings for senior Bank staff attending meetings with stakeholders

• Work collaboratively with relevant areas of the Bank (eg Press Office, Stakeholder relations)

• Handle the processes for maintaining an accurate audit trail of all stakeholder engagement and all contact/activities

Candidates should have demonstrable Communications and stakeholder engagement. They will need to be comfortable working with a range of colleagues and stakeholders, across multiple pieces of work, often to tight timelines. There may be a possibility to take up line management responsibilities for a direct report.

This is a great opportunity for someone to shape the Bank’s work on a set of issues at the heart of central banking. The role offers a number of areas for career development: it involves the chance to engage with senior leaders, collaborate and work across boundaries, and to represent the Bank of England externally.

Role Requirements

Essential

• Excellent written and oral communications with an ability to prepare clear narratives and communications that explain complicated material in succinct and easy to understand ways.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with experience of using personal initiative to deliver
• Demonstrable ability to work and multi-task in a busy environment, respond quickly to changing situations in complex environments,
• Good interpersonal and networking skills
• Strong project management skills, including ability to schedule work and deliver to tight deadlines
• Ability to credibly represent their organisation externally, including with senior figures.

Desirable

• Experience of leading engagement with cross-industry stakeholder groups on major high profile public sector or infrastructure projects.
• Experience of delivering internal stakeholder engagement and communications
• A good understanding of how money, payments and the financial system could be reshaped by new technology.

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a base salary of circa £70,900 - £81,810 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• An 8% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice.

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is 7 April 2024.

The assessment process will comprise of two interview stages.

Please apply online, ensuring that you complete your work history and answer ALL the application questions fully and in detail as your application will not be considered if all mandatory questions are not fully completed.