Location
Elgin Ave., London

Hours
37 hours per week

Salary
£46,040 per annum

About the Role
The External Affairs Officer leads the coordination and delivery of Specialist Military Units (SMU) external affairs functions, focusing on strategic communications, media handling, parliamentary business, and secretariat support. This role ensures that the organisation’s external engagement is coherent, timely, and aligned with Defence’s operational and national security requirements, supporting effective responses to Parliamentary, media, and public scrutiny.

Working closely with the Policy Adviser (POLAD) and wider Branch leads, you will translate policy intent into clear, consistent, and defensible external messaging. Responsibilities include supporting the preparation and assurance of Parliamentary Questions (PQs), Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, ministerial correspondence, and briefing material, ensuring outputs are accurate, proportionate, and delivered at pace.

You will play a central role in coordinating proactive and reactive media management relating to SMU, developing and shaping lines to take, supporting responses to emerging issues, and ensuring engagement protects operational security while maintaining reputational assurance across Defence.

The role also involves establishing and maintaining effective internal communications networks to support consistent messaging across SMU organisations and stakeholders. Through structured communication channels and engagement mechanisms, you will ensure policy decisions, lines, and organisational positions are clearly understood and applied.

Additionally, you will provide secretariat and coordination support across high-profile work areas, including inquiries, inquests, and major reviews. This includes managing information flows, maintaining oversight of tasking and deadlines, and supporting senior stakeholders with high-quality briefing and outputs in complex and sensitive environments.

Operating within a high-tempo headquarters environment, the role requires strong judgement, attention to detail, and the ability to manage competing priorities across multiple workstreams. You will contribute to wider Branch resilience, including quality assuring outputs, supporting cross-portfolio delivery, and sustaining high standards of performance under scrutiny.

Experience
Experience working in demanding environments involving media, communications, and/or Parliamentary business and public scrutiny is essential. Experience supporting media handling or communications activity, including drafting lines to take, public-facing responses, or briefing material in sensitive or high-profile environments is highly desirable. Experience producing high-quality written outputs for senior audiences, such as briefings, correspondence, key messages, or summary notes, delivered accurately and at pace is required. Experience providing effective secretariat support, including managing tasking, tracking actions, preparing meeting packs, and ensuring timely follow-up of decisions is advantageous.

About you
You will be a confident and reliable professional able to operate effectively in sensitive, fast-paced, and scrutiny-heavy environments. Strong stakeholder engagement skills with the confidence to work across MOD, OGDs, and specialist organisations are essential. You must be able to coordinate inputs across multiple stakeholders, manage competing priorities, and support the delivery of coherent and consistent external communications.

Excellent written, oral, and presentational communication skills are essential. You will contribute to Parliamentary business, media lines, public-facing responses, and senior leader briefing, ensuring outputs are timely, accurate, and aligned with strategic messaging. The ability to distil complex or sensitive information into clear and accessible language is critical.

You will be a collaborative team member, supporting communications, media handling, and external engagement activity across the Branch. The role includes significant secretariat responsibilities, requiring strong organisational skills, the ability to manage tasking and deadlines, and discipline to maintain oversight of multiple workstreams in a high-tempo environment.

Attention to detail, situational awareness, and resilience are essential, along with the ability to operate effectively within a secure and disciplined environment under sustained scrutiny.

Qualifications
While specific qualifications are not explicitly required, experience in parliamentary business or fulfilling a secretariat function would be desirable. The role requires a high standard of professionalism and the ability to deliver clear, accurate, and well-structured outputs under pressure.