Content Lead
Closing date: 25th August Salary: £58,803 - £69,495 (dependent on experience)
About the role
Content sits at the heart of almost everything we do at 411. From our work with politicians and major campaigns to international projects, commercial clients and new products, our ability to produce creative, politically effective content is fundamental to the work we deliver.
We are creating a Content Lead role to take overall responsibility for the quality, development and direction of content across 411.
This is not just a role managing day-to-day content delivery. The Content Lead will be responsible for designing how the content function works across the organisation, building a strong and creative team, setting clear standards and making sure we continue to develop our content offer as platforms, audiences and campaigning change.
The Content Lead will work across all departments, providing senior creative leadership wherever it is needed. They will also lead the development of the Content Team itself, including defining roles and responsibilities, developing their team, improving how we allocate creative resources and building clearer pathways for training and progression.
We are looking for someone who combines strong creative instincts with leadership. They should understand what makes political content work, be excited about developing other people and have a clear view of how 411 can continue to improve the quality and ambition of our content.
Specific Responsibilities
Creative Leadership: Set the creative standard for content across 411. Provide direction, feedback and quality assurance on major pieces of work and help teams produce content that is distinctive, engaging and politically effective.
Building the Content Team: Lead the development of the new Content Team and help design how the function should operate as 411 grows. This includes establishing clear responsibilities across the team, making effective use of senior members of their team and specialist expertise, and creating a structure that gives people both ownership and variety in their work.
Team Leadership and Development: Manage, mentor and develop members of the Content Team. Create clear expectations and progression opportunities, identify development needs and build a culture where people are encouraged to improve their craft, experiment and take creative ownership.
Innovation: Own content experimentation across 411. Identify and test new formats, editing styles, technologies, platforms and creative approaches, and make sure successful ideas are quickly shared and adopted across the organisation.
Training and Content Academy: Build a much stronger approach to developing content skills across 411. Lead internal training, coaching and resources, and develop a structured Content Academy that helps colleagues at different levels improve their creative and technical skills.
Internship Programme: Take creative ownership of the content internship programme, ensuring interns receive high-quality training, mentoring and opportunities to develop. Work with colleagues responsible for the wider programme to continually improve the content curriculum and development pathway.
Cross-Agency Support: Work with teams to identify where specialist creative support is most valuable and help allocate Content Team capacity accordingly.
An important part of this role will also be working collaboratively with static content teams elsewhere in the organisation.
Major Campaigns: Provide hands-on creative leadership for particularly important campaigns, launches and rapid-response moments. Be comfortable moving between strategic oversight and getting directly involved when a campaign needs additional creative support.
Quality and Best Practice: Develop systems that improve the consistency and quality of our output without creating unnecessary sign-off processes. Build a culture where teams understand what excellent content looks like and have the tools and confidence to deliver it themselves.
Industry Trends: Stay on top of developments in political content, social platforms, creators, AI, editing and digital culture. Make sure 411 understands what is changing and what those changes mean for our campaigns.
Experience
We are less interested in a specific number of years' experience and more interested in applicants demonstrating that they are ready to lead the function.
We would expect applicants to be able to demonstrate:
A strong track record of producing or leading high-quality digital content.
A strong understanding of what makes political content effective across different platforms and audiences.
Experience taking ownership of projects and working across multiple teams.
Experience supporting, mentoring, managing or developing other members of staff.
Good political judgement and an understanding of 411's approach to campaigning.
Evidence of improving how work is delivered, rather than simply delivering within existing processes.
Previous formal line management experience is helpful but not essential. We are interested in applicants who can demonstrate the judgement, communication and leadership skills needed to step into a larger management role.
Skills
Strong creative judgement and the confidence to give clear, constructive feedback.
Passion and interest in progressive politics.
Excellent understanding of social-first content and major digital platforms.
Ability to translate political strategy into compelling creative ideas.
Strong leadership and people development skills.
Ability to build effective processes without making creative work overly bureaucratic.
Confidence working across multiple teams, clients and projects.
Ability to identify emerging trends and turn them into practical opportunities for campaigns.
Strong presentation and training skills.
Confidence using AI and emerging creative tools to improve how we develop and produce content.
Ability to prioritise effectively in a fast-moving political environment.
What we're looking for from applicants:
Applicants are asked to include a CV and cover letter plus show reel, portfolio, examples of previous work or anything else they think demonstrates how they would approach the role.
Application process
Following written applications, shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview. The interview will focus both on applicants' experience to date and their ideas for the future of the Content Team.
As this is a newly created role, we particularly want the process to give candidates space to demonstrate how they would shape the role themselves rather than testing them against a completely predetermined model.
Please send your application to careers@fouroneone.co.uk.
Closing date: 25th August