Head of External Communications

As a great university in a great global city, we advance knowledge to benefit society and make higher education accessible to those with the passion to succeed. We bring change through outstanding research and excellent education, evidenced by our gold status in the Teaching Excellence Framework and 90% of our research impact rated as world-leading.

Join us as Head of External Communications and share your passion to succeed with a world-leader.

We’re looking for a highly experienced external communications professional ready to take on a challenging and rewarding new role in building our external profile and reputation.

You will be passionate about telling our story to the world, through exceptional high-quality communications and stakeholder engagement, driving external advocacy and brand awareness.

This new role is part of the Communications and Engagement leadership team, within the wider External Relations directorate. You will help to develop and deliver the communications strategy to engage external audiences, stakeholders and partners, supporting our goal to be recognised as the university, employer, and partner of choice.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strengthen and protect the University’s reputation and profile externally with key audiences, including businesses and partners, regional, national and international stakeholders, Higher Education sector and funding bodies, political stakeholders and their influencers, the media and general public.
• Work in partnership and build positive relationships with key stakeholders from across the University, acting as advisor and communications lead.
• Support on issues, reputational and incident communications management, including for significant sector and societal issues.
• Manage a team responsible for news, PR, media relations, public affairs and community and stakeholder engagement activities.

As a great university, we offer outstanding career opportunities to great people. You’ll be an experienced, proactive and solutions-driven external communications expert. You’re committed to creating the highest quality communications and driving audience engagement across a wide range of media, communication channels, events and activities.

Qualifications:

• Strong, adaptable all-round communication skills.
• Significant knowledge and experience in stakeholder engagement, media relations and public affairs.
• Proven ability to lead and motivate a team of communications professionals, as well as develop effective working relationships and persuasively communicate at all levels.
• Sound experience of managing crisis or incident communications.
• A solid understanding of the key issues within higher education, and the context in which the University operates.

Benefits:

• An excellent reward package that provides a rounded working-life balance alongside the support necessary to take your ambitions to the next level. This includes a starting salary of c.£57,000 (increasing on 1 March 2025), generous pension benefits and 35 days of annual leave per year, plus 8 bank holiday days.
• As a member of the Communications and Engagement team you’ll be able to work in a variable hybrid way, typically 2-3 days on site (we are all in on Mondays!) and with flexibility as needed to attend meetings and events. You’ll be expected to provide out of hours support as needed, with an on standby on call rota provided across the team.

To learn more about this exciting opportunity and benefits we offer, please read the JD and Candidate Pack provided below. Please submit your application along with a covering letter detailing your suitability for the role.

Make a name for yourself and our university in a meaningful career with real-world impact!

Manchester Met University is committed to creating an intentionally inclusive culture of belonging that promotes equity and celebrates diversity. We understand the importance of having a diverse workforce and the benefits it can bring to ensuring diversity of thought and innovation in everything we do. We, therefore, encourage applications from people from ethnic minority groups, disabled people and people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

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