Junior Content Designer 2025

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting .

In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.

That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Job overview

We are looking for a Junior Content Designer to join our growing Content Team to manage the team’s business-as-usual work and support our Content Designers on larger strategic projects.

You will have excellent organisational skills and some experience using Content Management Systems. You will also have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to maintain positive relationships with stakeholders and maintain effective channels of communication.

This is an excellent role for a candidate with some content experience looking to grow their skills through close collaboration with Content Designers, Product Managers and UX specialists, in a friendly and collaborative multidisciplinary Agile department.

Our Digital Services team build and run services used by over 1 million people a month to access more than 30 million record descriptions. This is an especially exciting time as we rethink our digital offer. You will help us grow our digital capability, skills and culture in an open and collaborative environment, engaging widely with internal and external communities to share your expertise and learn from others.

This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

Application process

• Interview: Interviews will be held on-site and will include a written assessment. Part of the interview will involve a short discussion. Details of this will be provided in the interview invitation.
• Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit CV details and a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words

Selection for interview will be based on the 3 ‘essential’ requirements listed below so please ensure that your statement demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please visit the civil service careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.

Essential criteria for the application

• Experience of using content management systems to publish digital content
• Excellent organisational skills and record keeping, with the ability to be adaptable, deliver under pressure and manage changing priorities.
• Experience of adhering to a house style and brand guidelines and tailoring content to specific audiences.

During the interview, candidates will be assessed on all of the essential criteria shown in the job description below.

Sponsorship

We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Job purpose

The Digital Services department at The National Archives is committed to delivering high-quality, innovative and user-friendly digital services to all our audiences. We work to ensure our all of our audiences can find, access and understand National Archive collections, from first time users to expert researchers.

Working as Junior Content Designer in The National Archives’ Digital Services department, you will manage the business-as-usual work of the Content Design team and support the Content Designers on larger strategic projects.

You will work as part of a multidisciplinary Agile team and support Content Designers and website contributors across The National Archives. You will maintain strong, collaborative relationships with stakeholders to ensure both user and business needs are met.

You will juggle a varied workload and be up to the challenge of working in a fast-paced digital team going through a period of change and rapid growth.

Role and responsibilities

You will be responsible for managing the business-as-usual work of the Content Design team. Tasks will include:

• Monitoring requests for new or updated content from stakeholders around the organisation.
• Collaborating with stakeholders to define their requirements and ensure that these are in line with user-centric content design practices.
• Liaising with Content Designers to understand wider implications of requests and identify those that need to be escalated to Content Designers or Product Managers
• Uploading agreed content changes and new pages to our Content Management Systems
• Supporting the Content Designers in training devolved editors across the organisation in how to use our content management systems (WordPress and Wagtail) and in writing for the web
• Checking and approving content updates to web pages made by devolved editors, ensuring content is user-friendly, accessible and adheres to house style.
• Reviewing old content to assess its fitness for purpose. Liaising with stakeholders to identify whether updates or archiving are required and action or escalate changes.

In addition, you will support the Content Designers and Product Managers as they develop new user-centric and inclusive content products. You will help them to deliver content to our service users at the right time, in the right way and the best format.

With guidance from Content Designers, you will write, review and edit website microcopy for our digital services that allows users to find and access archive records. You will ensure all copy is written in plain, unambiguous language and aligns with government digital guidelines.

With guidance from Content Designers, you will proofread and, where necessary, copyedit or pair-write new interpretive content in collaboration with our subject experts, adhering to established content models and styles.

You will with User Experience and Metrics teams to monitor performance of content and apply findings to the continuous improvement of the content you’re working on.

You will support the Lead Content Designer in the development and delivery of a new and ambitious editorial strategy for TNA digital services.

By engaging with the cross-government digital community and the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector, you will keep up to date with industry changes and identify good practices that we may adopt.

Working conditions

• Normal office environment
• Display Screen Equipment user

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Excellent organisational skills and record keeping, with the ability to be adaptable, deliver under pressure and manage changing priorities.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to maintain positive relationships with stakeholders and maintain effective channels of communication
• Experience of using content management systems to publish digital content
• Excellent written English and meticulous writing, editing and proofreading skills with a particular awareness of the importance of plain English and a good eye for a story.
• Experience of adhering to a house style and brand guidelines and tailoring content to specific audiences.
• Awareness and understanding of best practice in web accessibility
• Experience of using user testing and analytics to inform content development

Desirable criteria

• Experience of Agile methodology and working in multidisciplinary teams
• Experience of working with content providers to communicate their knowledge to a non-expert audience
• Experience creating inclusive, representative content that reflects the lives and experiences of all users and audiences
• Experience sharing knowledge, presenting ideas and discussing your work

Benefits

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare.