Senior Spokesperson

The position

As a senior spokesperson, you will be at the heart of the administrative, civil service, political, and social landscape and current events. You will be part of the Government Communications team (senior spokespersons, spokespersons, speechwriter, social media advisor, crisis communications advisor, and a manager). You will spend a significant portion of your time working in the alderman’s team alongside the political assistant, administrative advisors, and fellow spokespersons. You will advise the Mayor and Aldermen and senior civil servants on a wide range of communication issues and will specifically serve as the spokesperson for the Housing, Spatial Planning, Land Affairs, and Monuments & Heritage portfolios. This role is both reactive and proactive. Please note that this is a highly dynamic and challenging position with a varied workload, requiring you to visit many different locations throughout the city; a 9-to-5 work mentality will not suffice.

Here's what you do on an average day

• Building and maintaining sustainable relationships and collaborating with relevant and highly diverse internal and external parties (stakeholders). These include citizens, businesses, other government agencies, interest groups, and other partners;
• Strengthening the public image of the city, its administration, and the municipality, both internally and externally;
• Advising the municipal executive and department heads on communication at various stages of the decision-making process;
• Developing and implementing communication plans in collaboration with municipal departments, city districts, and other units within the Communications Department;
• Part of the crisis management team of the Amsterdam Amstelland Safety Region (VrAA). The senior spokespersons on the team are trained as communications advisors within the VrAA’s regional operational team. This involves working on-call shifts.

This is where you get started

We strive to be a great employer that ensures all our colleagues feel seen and valued. We embrace the differences among our colleagues; these differences lead to better results for both our organization and our city. We aim to build a workforce that reflects Amsterdam’s diverse population. So, whoever you are, you’re more than welcome here!

The Communications Department is home to all of the City of Amsterdam’s communications professionals. Together, they work to ensure that communications with Amsterdam residents, businesses, visitors, and the organization itself are clear, accessible, and reliable. With a workforce of approximately 19,000 employees, internal communications are just as important and challenging as external communications.

The Communications Department is a full-service division. It covers all aspects of communications, including: communications consulting, web editing, social media, public relations, events, campaign consulting, and copywriting. All of these professionals work closely together to develop the right communications strategy.

What you bring

For this position as Senior Spokesperson for the Amsterdam Municipal Executive, you must have:

• A college or university level of work and thinking;
• A good sense of politics and administration;
• At least 3 years of work experience in media and public relations;
• Strategic, tactical, and operational insight and knowledge of administrative, bureaucratic, political, and social processes;
• Knowledge of and an understanding of the dynamics within Amsterdam’s various communities, particularly its culturally diverse communities;
• Excellent social and communication skills (both verbal and written) and a strong, extensive network.

You should have the following skills:

• Environmental Awareness - Demonstrates a solid understanding of professional, organizational, social, and political developments, as well as other environmental factors, and knows how to effectively apply this knowledge to one’s own role or organization
• Collaboration - Makes a constructive contribution to achieving a shared goal and to the atmosphere and relationships within the group or team.
• Persuasiveness - Uses personal influence to shape people and situations, with a focus on gaining acceptance and overcoming resistance. Communicates ideas clearly and confidently.
• Speed of comprehension - Can quickly grasp new information or events; can easily find one's bearings in an unfamiliar environment.
• Results-oriented approach - Setting specific goals as a starting point for one’s own behavior and sticking to them until the goal is achieved.

What we offer you

As a senior spokesperson for the Amsterdam Municipal Executive, you will join our team for 36 hours per week and can expect the following terms of employment.

• A gross monthly salary ranging from a minimum of €4,447 to a maximum of €6,103 (pay grade 12) based on a 36-hour workweek. The exact salary will be determined based on your education, knowledge, and experience.
• A one-year employment contract, with the possibility of a permanent contract thereafter, if you do not currently have a contract with the City of Amsterdam or have only a temporary contract.
• If you already have a permanent employment contract with the City of Amsterdam, you will retain it and be transferred. 
• Opportunities for professional development and training. Our in-house training center, the Amsterdam School, offers a variety of training programs, professional development tracks, and on-the-job coaching to help you continue to challenge yourself.
• An individual flexible budget (IKB) equal to 17.05% of your salary, which you can use for things like additional pension contributions or extra days off.
• A pension plan with ABP, the pension fund for the public sector and education.
• A travel allowance of €0.10 per kilometer, up to a 45-kilometer one-way commute, for the number of days you work in the office, and/or a work-from-home allowance of €2 net per workday that you work from home.
• A monthly contribution toward health insurance.
• Hybrid work: In this role, you can work partly from home and partly in the office. We provide the necessary equipment to help you set up a safe and healthy workspace at home.
• A cell phone and a laptop.
• An office space in downtown Amsterdam, overlooking the canals.

Want to know more about our employment terms and conditions? Check out theCity of Amsterdam Personnel Regulations(PGA).

Apply for this job

• If this job opening interests you, please submit your application by March 2, 2023, using the “Apply Now” button.
• We would like to receive your cover letter, in which you explain, in no more than one A4 page, why your work experience and skills are a good fit for this position. Your cover letter will be taken into consideration during the selection process.
• The selection process begins immediately after the application deadline and consists of a CV/cover letter review and an interview.
• If your resume meets the job requirements, we would be happy to invite you for an interview.
• The interviews will take place at the location at Amstel 1.
• This job opening is being advertised internally and externally at the same time. Employees of the City of Amsterdam will be given priority in the hiring process.
• We require a recent Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) from every colleague who joins our team.

We do not appreciate unsolicited solicitation by recruitment agencies, and such actions may result in exclusion from our other recruitment initiatives. We also consider the unsolicited submission of resumes by agencies to our employees to be solicitation. We will not review these resumes.