Press Office Assistant (Placement Year 2025-26)

Press Office Assistant

Undergraduate Placement Year (July 2025-26) 

Hi, welcome to Kia UK!

Who’s Kia?

Founded in 1944, Kia was originally known for our bikes…then motorbikes…and now, the best cars in the world (in our opinion anyway!). These cars include the award winning Sportage, plus others, alongside our world beating Electric Vehicles, such as the EV9, EV6 and soon, the EV3.

Kia is currently at the forefront of electric vehicle development and right now we’re the 5th largest vehicle manufacturer in the UK, but we’re not stopping there. Right now, Kia is going through a major transformation taking us from fast followers to leaders in the automotive space. This is where you come in…

Here at Kia, PR is a core aspect of our business, and this position will be an integral part of the PR team. From day one you’ll be in out in front of the media, contributing ideas, and taking responsibility for your own PR projects. Don’t worry though, although you’ll be coming in at the deep end, we’ll be supporting you the whole way plus giving you access to top tier industry PR training courses throughout the year.

Projects which will need your attention include launch activities for a variety of all-new Kia vehicles due through 2025 and 2026, including our first fully electric commercial vehicle. There are also many other events you’ll work on – regional media drives days, tailor made features for the biggest media outlets in the country, hosting journalists at our European head office’s events, award ceremonies, and much much more. Hey, why not pitch your own idea and we’ll do it!

People are central to Kia UK and every day is an opportunity to learn something new and to grow personally and professionally. This was recognised with Kia UK named as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ 2024 by Great Place To Work®, and also ranked in the 2024 Best Workplaces™ for Women and Wellbeing. Kia employees reported positively on areas such as working atmosphere, trust in management, corporate strategy, pride in working for the company, benefits, facilities and much more!  

What will I be doing?

• Running your own PR projects, then developing the media exposure these projects receive

• Supporting the Senior Events Coordinator in the creation and management of media events

• Representing the brand in front of the UK media (including major product launches)

• Contributing to Press Releases, pulling content from across the entire business

• Supporting our Head of PR, PR Manager, Senior Events Coordinator and wider Press Office team to achieve a best-in-class service to the UK media – we’re currently rated no.1 automotive press office in the UK, and have been for six years.

• Monitoring media coverage and reporting back to the Head of PR.

• Networking with UK journalist at events, industry organised gatherings and other opportunities

• Working with our agencies to ensure they have everything they need to support us effectively

• Deal with a wide range of media enquiries and liaise with all business departments and suppliers

• Simple financial handling to ensure our projects and events go ahead as planned

• If you want, we can arrange for you to do some work experience at one of the UK’s leading automotive magazines, no pressure!

Am I right for this?

We don’t want to discourage anybody from applying for this role by making a long list of requirements but to summarise; we want someone who is genuinely passionate about PR so ideally studying/just finished studying a relevant course (e.g. PR / Journalism / Writing / Media / Communication).

This role will encourage you to act quickly, test your flexibility, and motivate you to constantly adapt to new things (exactly what the media expects from us!). You can get a huge amount of experience, knowledge and skill development out of a year with us so we’d really love to welcome someone with big dreams that we can support!

We recognise that there may be a number of ways to meet our requirements. We are looking for the best candidate for the job and encourage you to apply even if your experience or qualifications don’t exactly match what we’ve outlined in the role description. If you think you could be a good fit for this role, we’d love to hear from you!  

Please note: for this role you will require a driving license as you’ll be required to travel across the country and Europe for events and projects.

Sold, tell me the benefits!

        🍳 Onsite Chef -> free lunch every day

         🦷 Private Dental Care (Denplan, £0 excess)

         🩺 Private Medical Care (Vitality) + Annual Health Check

         🚗 Employee Car Scheme (car lease + insurance all included from £85/month)

         🌊 Flexible working hours (core hours between 10:00am-3:00pm)

         🏡 Hybrid working (2 days a week remote working)

         🤸‍ Free weekly yoga, football, and badminton clubs

         🎱 Pool tables, dart board, and massage chairs onsite

         😮 Pension + salary sacrifice

         🌍 Work from anywhere for one week a year

         🏖 24 days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays

         ❤ Opportunity to get involved & give back via our charity partners

         🥳 Birthday Vouchers

         🎉 Celebrations such as our Spring Ball, Christmas events, Social Club and much more!

(We know you’re keen to apply so we won’t go on but the list doesn’t end there. If there’s anything missing from the above that you’re looking for, please don’t hesitate to reach out to lward@kia.co.uk to find out more.)

Location/Travel

We’re a 5 minute walk from Walton-on-Thames station (24 mins from Waterloo) and have plenty of on-site parking for anyone driving.

There is step free access throughout the building but please let us know if you require any additional accessibility support and we will make sure to cater to your needs as best we can.

Interview Process

Step 1: CV review

Step 2: Video Interview

Step 3: Assessment Centre at our Head Office in Walton-On-Thames

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We understand that every candidate is unique, and we welcome the opportunity to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that all individuals can fully participate in our interview process. If you require any adjustments or support to facilitate your interview, please do not hesitate to reach out to (lward@kia.co.uk). We are happy to discuss your needs and make arrangements that support your participation to best showcase your skills and qualifications.

At Kia, we are committed to employing the best-qualified people and provide equal opportunity for the advancement of employees including promotion and training and thereby not discriminating against any person because of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief or disability.