Job summary
- Main area
- Communications
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- V 349-COR-7290089-RL3
- Employer
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust HQ
- Town
- Manchester
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 Per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 11/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Communications Manager
NHS AfC: Band 7
Job overview
We are looking for a skilled and proactive Communications Manager to join our central communications team at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. This senior role is vital to maintaining the Trust’s reputation, supporting strategic campaigns, and ensuring consistent, high-quality communications across internal and external channels. With the formation of the new One MFT clinical groups and increasing demand on the team, this post will play a key role in safeguarding the Trust’s visibility and responsiveness.
Main duties of the job
- Lead the Trust’s press office function, managing media enquiries and reputational issues.
- Line manage two Communications Officers and oversee the delivery of high-profile external campaigns.
- Support digital communications across web, intranet, social media, and MFTV.
- Collaborate with clinical and operational teams to deliver timely, accurate messaging.
- Contribute to strategic planning and deputise for the Head of Communications as needed.
- Provide expert guidance on sensitive communications and out-of-hours media handling.
Working for our organisation
MFT is one of the largest NHS Trust In England with a turnover of over £3bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 30,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.
We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating, and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [email protected].
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Person specification
Shortlisting
Essential criteria
- Experience in communications field to Masters level or equivalent experience
- Evidence of continuous study and personal/professional development or equivalent experience
- Proven ability to identify positive news stories and successfully pitch them to the media
- Experience of working in a communications role within the NHS or public sector
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge about giving sound communications advice to senior colleagues on complex and/or highly sensitive issues
- Experience of providing media training to colleagues
Essential and desirable criteria
Essential criteria
- Excellent written skills with the ability to write for a number of audiences across different platforms
- Experience of providing media training to colleagues
- Experience of being part of an out-of-hours on-call rota
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge about giving sound communications advice to senior colleagues on complex and/or highly sensitive issues
- Ability to produce policies, strategies and guidance
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Rowena Fay
- Job title
- Head of Communications (Media and Digital)
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07811658079
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