External Communications Manager

Job Description

Your role: Reporting to the Director of Communications & Commercial Marketing, and working within the wider Corporate Affairs team, you will be responsible for key corporate and trade media relations across News UK and its three business units: Times Media (including The Times & The Sunday Times), News Broadcasting (including talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, Times Radio and the Talk brand) and The Sun. Working collaboratively with a range of different stakeholders, you’ll play an instrumental role in telling the story of one of the UK’s leading and most innovative media companies.

You will manage media relationships with key contacts across a range of business media outlets, with a particular focus on core corporate functions including marketing, broadcasting, commercial, publishing, retail, technology and others. You will also develop communications across owned corporate channels including newsletters, the corporate website, LinkedIn and Twitter, working closely with the trade marketing to develop and deploy activity. You will also support the EVP, Director of Corporate Affairs, on projects and issues management, as appropriate.

Day to day you will:

• You will develop and deliver proactive B2B media relations for a range of stakeholders across News UK - understanding and responding to their priorities, needs and requirements.

• You will work closely with the Communications Director and Heads of Communications for Times Media and The Sun to develop and execute the corporate and B2B communications strategy for each of our divisions, including News Broadcasting.

• Alongside running the press office for those internal clients, you will also develop opportunities to surface success stories across industry events and awards.

• You will work closely with the Head of Trade Marketing and our external PR agency support to ensure all B2B and commercial communications are aligned, integrated and consistent.

• Working closely with the Senior Internal Communications Manager, you will ensure aligned storytelling for your clients to other News UK colleagues, as well as supporting the We are News employer brand externally.

• You will deal with issues management as it arises, and support the EVP, Director of Corporate Affairs as required.

• You will be responsible for ensuring the corporate website is actively telling our B2B success stories, developing thought leadership content in this setting and others.

• You’ll work with a Communications Executive to ensure that we are fully optimising our professional networks: LinkedIn and Twitter.

• You’ll be responsible for producing and developing weekly commercial newsletters and other impactful tools, videos and events to help reach our audiences.

• You’ll effectively monitor the performance of our B2B communications and report back to your internal clients against agreed KPIs.

What we are looking for from you:

• A passionate interest in media, news and current affairs.

• An established track record of five or more years delivering high profile and impactful corporate communications and B2B media relations, ideally within an agency or in-house in a Technology, Media or Telecoms environment.

• Superb attention to detail, first-class organisational and planning skills, plus experience managing multiple clients and campaigns.

• Excellent creativity and a passion to be a strategic business partner to your clients.

• The gravitas to build networks quickly and effectively, influencing senior stakeholders - as well as the external media you’ll be working with.

• The ability to work in real-time, high pressured press office environments and prioritise effectively.

• Experience in issues management, award-writing and briefings for industry events.

• Enthusiasm and curiosity to ask questions, improve processes and drive effective outcomes.

• A self-starter, with excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.

• Recognition that in a fast-moving 24/7 media environment, some working out of core hours will be required from time to time.

We are News UK:One of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland. Our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio, TalkTV and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local radio stations across Ireland. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning print and pixel, audio and video, events and experiences, our multiplatform brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. News UK is wholly owned by News Corp.

Life at News

Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.

To do this, we believe our employees must represent different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We strive to maximise and encourage every individual’s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy, which focuses on three main priorities - attracting talent from a wider, more representative pool, developing equity programmes to drive better representation in our leadership, and ensuring diversity and inclusivity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce. We also currently have 12 employee led networks and groups that support our strategy and connect like minded employees socially.

Benefits

Some of our benefits include:

• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks

• Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access

• Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions

• Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual yoga classes

• ‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme

• Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books

• Access to exclusive events and competitions with exciting brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK & The Times. Weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities

• Access to wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling

• A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%

• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year

We want to ensure that everyone we meet has the opportunity to perform to their best when applying for a role. Please let us know, at any stage, whether you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, and we will do our best to accommodate.