Band 6 Visual Content Creator and Editor

Our trust has over 17,000 staff serving 2 million patients every year. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital, North Middlesex University Hospital and more than 30 services in the community. This larger scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

Our mission is to deliver world class care and expertise in our clinical services, underpinned by world class teaching and research and we will continue to measure our progress against our five governing objectives: excellent outcomes, excellent patient and staff experience, excellent value for taxpayers’ money, being safe and meeting our external duties, and building a strong organisation.

Everyone is welcome at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME, gender equality, staff carers and people with disabilities and lived experiences to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

Click here to view our video Welcome to the Royal Free

Job overview

Our visual content creator and editor is a new role in the team and the successful candidate will have creativity at their core, bringing to life the many stories we tell across our channels. We are looking for a talented and experienced graphic designer and visual content creator who is able to support our communications projects and campaigns with eye-catching visuals, animations and video.

You will be working with the communications team across internal and external projects to bring your design expertise to what we do online and offline.

Working within our brand guidelines, you will be leading on creative visual content to celebrate the work of our amazing staff, support them in their roles, and to help keep our patients and the public informed about their brilliant work, from groundbreaking research to world-leading cancer care.

You will use your skills to show what that means for our patients and our wider community across north London and Hertfordshire in a way that resonates with them.

Your role involves creating short videos which can be used across all of our channels, and helping to oversee and create content for our social media platforms. The creation of eye-catching design will also be one of your key attributes.

A strong knowledge of the Adobe suite of design programmes, or a similar suite of programmes, is essential, as well as an eye for photography, and the ability to create and edit video.

Main duties of the job

Design:

• Leading the planning, design and production of high-quality materials in print and digital form.
• Working on high profile internal and external campaigns, developing distinct visual identities as appropriate.
• Analysing and interpreting briefs to inform concepts
• Maintaining the corporate brand, ensuring that all materials produced are to a consistent high standard, are accessible, and meet NHS and RFL guidelines.

Video and photography:

• Producing original engaging content to use across our communications channels, including short videos.
• Working alongside design agencies, where commissioned, to ensure the delivery of high-quality products, on time and on budget.

Social media:

• Influencing and advising on what makes engaging visual content across different social channels
• Manage video across our YouTube (used for external audiences) and Vimeo (used for internal audiences)
• Keeping abreast of, and advising on, changes to social media platforms and what that means for visual content.
• Capturing and using data and analytics to review, refine and improve visual content.

Other:

• Ensuring all of the material produced in your brief meets the highest accessibility standards, and to a minimum the WCAG 2.2 level AA standard.
• Work closely with the wider communications team, researching and planning for awareness days, national campaigns and other relevant activities.

Working for our organisation

Exciting times lie ahead for the Royal Free London (RFL), as we start work on delivering our five-year clinical strategy and focus on our commitment to providing world class expertise and care for our communities – close to home and across the entire NHS.

The RFL’s award-winning communications department is at the heart of the trust and its four main hospitals and many satellite sites.

We provide positive, proactive, honest, and timely communications and engagement in a very busy working environment. We serve a wide range of audiences which include approximately 17,000 staff and over a million patients who use our services every year, plus local and national broadcast and print media, GPs and other NHS organisations.

The team handles hundreds of media calls, develops content for our internal communications channels, informs staff and other key stakeholders of key strategic and operational changes, manages Freenet (the RFL intranet), the trust’s recently redeveloped website and social media channels, and oversees the design and production of patient information.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Our digital communications function is a fundamental part of the communications team’s success and has grown in size, responsibility and expertise in recent years. Its role was recognised and celebrated during the pandemic when the comms team received the award for ‘best Covid response’ from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Our visual content creator and editor is a new role in the team and the successful candidate will have creativity at their core, bringing to life the many stories we tell across our channels. We are looking for a talented and experienced graphic designer and visual content creator who is able to support our communications projects and campaigns with eye-catching visuals, animations and video.

You will be working with the communications team across internal and external projects to bring your design expertise to what we do online and offline.

Working within our brand guidelines, you will be leading on creative visual content to celebrate the work of our amazing staff, support them in their roles, and to help keep our patients and the public informed about their brilliant work, from groundbreaking research to world-leading cancer care.

Every day there are countless examples of incredible, inspiring, world class expertise and care across our sites – we want you to help us bring those to life, and to help tell engaging stories through your visual content expertise.

You will use your skills to show what that means for our patients and our wider community across north London and Hertfordshire in a way that resonates with them.

The launch of our new clinical strategy – a five-year vision for how the Royal Free London will bring the best of the NHS to every patient – is the most recent example of how design and content creation has been crucial to our work.

We want to go further and ensure that video content, animation, and other visual content, is a focal point of our comms and engagement strategy.

Your role involves creating short videos which can be used across all of our channels, and helping to oversee and create content for our social media platforms. The creation of eye-catching design will also be one of your key attributes.

You will be expected to develop thoughtful, engaging and data-driven content which support our annual cycle of events and campaigns – including those that are primarily staff-focused, such as the trust’s staff awards, the annual staff survey, staff vaccinations; and our chief executive’s staff presentations; and those that are primarily external-focused, such as our ‘no excuse for abuse’ campaign, and local or national awareness drives targeted at patients.

A strong knowledge of the Adobe suite of design programmes (including Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator), or a similar suite of programmes, is essential, as well as an eye for photography, and the ability to create and edit video.

Communications and engagement at the RFL is central to the trust’s success and you will be joining a highly-motivated team, whose members support each other and recognise the impact of their work.

You will play a key part in helping our messages reach our patients, our colleagues and our communities.

Travel across all of our trust sites is expected. You will spend a minimum of one day every week at one of our many locations, as you develop a thorough understanding of what makes the RFL the brilliant institution it is.

Personal development is at the heart of our approach, and you will be part of our own Royal Free London communications academy, where members of the team can benefit from a comprehensive package of training which covers all areas of our profession.

Main duties and responsibilities

Royal Free World Class Values:

The post holder will offer World Class Care to service users, staff, colleagues, clients and patients alike so that everyone at the Royal Free can feel:

• Welcome all of the time
• Confident because we are clearly communicating
• Respected and care for
• Reassured that they are always in safe hands

Design:

• Leading the planning, design and production of high-quality materials in print and digital form. This includes graphics and displays.
• Working on high profile internal and external campaigns, developing distinct visual identities as appropriate.
• Analysing and interpreting briefs to inform concepts, and negotiating the best approach within budget and often tight timescales.
• Maintaining advanced knowledge of graphic design software (such as Adobe) plus a good knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Maintaining the corporate brand, ensuring that all materials produced are to a consistent high standard, are accessible, and meet NHS and RFL guidelines.

Video and photography:

• Producing original engaging content to use across our communications channels, including short videos.
• Taking and editing high-quality photographs and videos.
• Managing the ‘Freenet TV’ section of our intranet where we post film and animation.
• Working alongside design agencies, where commissioned, to ensure the delivery of high-quality products, on time and on budget.

Social media:

• Influencing and advising on what makes engaging visual content across different social channels, and using this knowledge to develop/tailor content to maximise engagement and help meet trust and comms team objectives.
• Manage video across our YouTube (used for external audiences) and Vimeo (used for internal audiences), ensuring we maximise the potential of the platforms to drive engagement.
• Keeping abreast of, and advising on, changes to social media platforms and what that means for visual content.
• Supporting, when required, the effective monitoring and posting across our social media accounts, including scheduling, evaluating and developing existing channels. Current channels include Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
• Capturing and using data and analytics to review, refine and improve visual content.

Other:

• Ensuring all of the material produced in your brief meets the highest accessibility standards, and to a minimum the WCAG 2.2 level AA standard.
• Interpreting complex information to provide effective advice.
• Work closely with the wider communications team, researching and planning for awareness days, national campaigns and other relevant activities.
• Monitoring trends in design, digital engagement and social media to identify and apply best practice.
• Undertaking research to maintain a culture of continuous improvement.
• Alongside your line manager, agreeing your own personal development plan to ensure you develop skills to enable you to grow in your role and career.

Person specification

Royal Free World Class Values

• Demonstrable ability to meet the Trust Values

Education & professional Qualifications

• Relevant degree level or equivalent
• Ongoing continuous professional development Communications/PR master's qualification or equivalent

• Professional membership (eg. CIPR/CIM)

Experience

• Demonstrable experience in a similar role
• Ability to understand and explain complex ideas visually and verbally
• Advanced graphic design skills
• Experience working within a corporate brand
• Strong video skills, including editing and subtitling
• Experience of creating content for a range of audiences across different platforms, including social media
• Experience of using data/analytics to drive improvement and target content
• Broad understanding of issues affecting the NHS and the Royal Free London
• A good understanding of the WCAG 2.2 level AA accessibility standard and what that means for visual content
• Experience of managing social media platforms, including scheduling and analytics

• Experience in a healthcare environment
• Experience of coaching others to communicate creatively

Skills and aptitudes

• Ability to work to tight deadlines
• Ability to manage a range of tasks with competing deadlines
• Ability to persuade, negotiate and influence
• Ability to manage and prioritise own workload
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Ability to turn complex information or jargon into plain English
• Ability to strategically manage and build relationships, including with suppliers and at a senior level
• Excellent written communication skills with significant experience of drafting copy for a range of channels, including excellent proof reading and editing skills with the ability to deliver accurate and engaging copy to tight deadlines
• The ability to identify the target audience for any given communication, understand their needs, adapt styles to suit and develop copy with speed and accuracy

Personal qualities and attributes

• Strong interpersonal skills and diplomacy
• A positive and proactive approach, prepared to generate new ideas and carry them forward
• Ability to work effectively and as part of a team
• Self-motivated and able to act on own initiative
• Attention to detail
• Exceptional organisational and multi-tasking skills
• Ability to stay calm and effective under pressure

Other

• IT literacy
• Understanding of equality and values
• Flexible approach and take part in out of hours or to work irregular hours as required
• Willingness to travel between sites
• Covid-19 Vaccination

• AT* - Apprenticeship Training. Where AT* is entered next to the job title indicates that this vacancy is for an apprenticeship role.
• By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers. Therefore we require you to complete your stat and Man e-learning modules prior to joining our organisation.
• If you are an EU/EEA citizen who does not have EU Settlement or Pre-Settled status, you will require a visa to work in the UK.
• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a “selfie” using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• The Trust will request a DBS (CRB) if post involves regulated activities. The Trust is compliant with the Disclosure and Barring Service Codes of practice and the Rehabilitation of offenders act.
• By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
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