The posting
Location: Westminster, London
Salary: Competitive
Reporting to: Executive Editor
The Role
Reform UK is seeking an outstanding Head of Social Media to take ownership of the party's institutional social channels and build a centralised, high-performing social operation from its Westminster headquarters. This is a senior role responsible for delivering high-quality, high-impact output across multiple platforms, seven days a week.
The Head of Social Media will own strategy, daily commissioning, platform roles, formats, publishing cadence, access controls and performance across Reform UK-branded accounts. The role will work closely with Website and Video colleagues so every major story, programme and political moment is distributed natively for each platform rather than simply cross-posted.
What you'll do
- Own the brand social strategy and seven-day operation
- Lead, inspire and develop Reform UK's central Brand Social Media team, setting clear platform ownership, standards, responsibilities and ambitious performance KPIs.
- Own the institutional social strategy across Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube social surfaces and other relevant platforms, defining the distinct role of each channel.
- Establish a disciplined seven-day publishing model with strong rotas, handovers, weekend coverage, rapid-response capability and clear escalation routes.
Key Responsibilities
Develop platform-native formats that grow reach and engagement
Build a distinctive mix of vertical video, graphics, explainers, reactions, text formats, clips, live treatments and repeatable franchises suited to each platform.
Ensure Reform UK's strongest original reporting, long-form video, speeches and events are adapted natively for social rather than simply posted in the same form everywhere.
Balance rapid reaction and high-emotion content with authority, proof, utility, hope and participation so the social mix is effective beyond the existing base.
Continuously test hooks, copy, captions, lengths, formats, posting times, sequencing and creative treatments, scaling what repeatedly works.
Maintain strong publishing discipline around major political moments so social teams are prepared before events, fast during them and systematic in extracting value afterwards.
Build one centralised and highly organised social team
Create clear ownership for every institutional account, access level, shift and recurring format, eliminating duplication and informal gatekeeping.
Maintain a shared social calendar linked to the wider content grid so website, video, events and campaigns can plan distribution together.
Develop rotas, handovers and service levels that allow consistent 7am-to-10pm coverage and meaningful weekend output without requiring constant senior intervention.
Recruit, coach and develop strong social producers, giving clear feedback on judgement, craft, platform understanding and performance.
Coordinate the wider Reform UK social ecosystem
Coordinate - rather than duplicate - the activity of Reform UK's institutional accounts and key political figures, preserving authentic voices while improving planned amplification.
Develop practical guidance for senior figures, regions, branches and authorised users on platform-native posting, timing, amplification, account security and avoiding unnecessary duplication.
Work with Communications and Campaigns on launches and moments where coordinated distribution can increase impact while keeping the brand accounts distinctive and audience-led.
Maintain strong access controls, documented administrators, two-factor authentication, offboarding and recovery processes across institutional social assets.
Turn reach into owned relationships and action
Use social primarily as a native reach and engagement engine while creating deliberate routes into the website, email, ReformGo, membership, events and other high-intent actions.
Work with product and data colleagues to understand which social formats and platforms generate not only views but repeat users, sign-ups and measurable downstream behaviour.
Support member and supporter amplification through clear, low-friction assets and calls to action without turning every social post into a link or conversion message.
Performance and Leadership:
- Own performance against reach, non-follower reach, engagement, video completion, follower growth, shares, traffic and other agreed platform-specific KPIs.
- Use dashboards and weekly reviews to identify what is working by format, topic, platform, account and audience segment and change the content plan accordingly.
- Be an outstanding communicator with the confidence to work effectively with the Executive Editor, senior political figures, Website, Video, Communications, Campaigns, Operations and external partners.
- Maintain comprehensive understanding of legal and compliance requirements relevant to social publishing, including defamation, contempt, copyright, privacy, election rules and platform policies.
- Create clear approval and escalation rules so routine content can move quickly while sensitive claims, footage or tactical shifts receive appropriate review.
THE PERSON
We are looking for a proven social media leader with national-level experience, excellent judgement and the confidence to build a disciplined, high-output team around a fast-moving political agenda.
Essential experience and capabilities
- Extensive experience running significant social accounts for a national publication, broadcaster, political organisation, major brand or comparable high-profile operation.
- A proven record of growing reach, engagement or audience through platform-native strategy rather than simply increasing posting volume.
- Strong management experience, including leading teams, managing rotas, developing staff, setting standards and creating a positive performance culture.
- Deep practical understanding of Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and the different content behaviours, formats and communities that matter on each.
- Excellent editorial judgement and an instinct for the moments, hooks and emotional drivers that cause content to travel without compromising accuracy or credibility.
- Advanced understanding of social analytics and the ability to turn platform data into clear decisions about formats, timing, distribution and resourcing.
- Outstanding communication and stakeholder-management skills, including confidence dealing with senior political figures, communications teams, creators and external partners.
- Comprehensive understanding of media law, copyright, privacy, platform rules and the legal/compliance risks of high-speed social publishing.
- Highly organised and capable of running a busy seven-day desk with strong access controls, handovers, escalation and account security.
- Proactive, full of ideas and motivated by measurable impact; willing to test, learn and change quickly rather than defend weak formats.
- A strong interest in British politics and the judgement, resilience and discretion required to lead public-facing channels inside a mission-led political organisation.
- Willingness to work full-time from Reform UK's Westminster HQ and flex around breaking news, events and campaign periods, including evenings and weekends where required.
Highly desirable
- Experience building or significantly restructuring a social team or centralising previously fragmented account ownership.
- Experience advising senior public figures, politicians, presenters or creators on platform-specific posting and audience strategy.
- Strong practical understanding of short-form video production, social copy, thumbnails/stills, graphics and rapid-response workflows.
- Experience connecting social performance to website, email, app, membership or other owned audience outcomes.
- Experience managing account permissions, security, crisis recovery and platform escalation for high-profile institutional channels.
- A track record of creating repeatable social formats or franchises that produced sustained national-level audience growth.
Why join Reform UK?
This is an opportunity to build the central social operation of a national political party at a time when direct distribution increasingly shapes the public conversation. The successful candidate will have genuine scope to define platform strategy, team culture, formats and the way Reform UK coordinates its wider social ecosystem.
