Communications Manager, Safety Excellence and Transformation

We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!

About the role

Safety Excellence is a long-term cultural transformation focused on elevating how we work safely—every day, at every level. In partnership with a leading third-party safety consultant, we’re engaging teams through strategic workstreams that target key drivers of safety performance. This initiative is about doing safety better together, with the consistency, leadership, and focus it takes to make lasting change.

The Safety Excellence Communications Manager is responsible for leading the communications for all of the Workstream Pillars to drive engagement and adoption of DS Smith’s Safety Excellence strategy. In this role, you will build effective communications amongst all stakeholder groups to generate collective responsibility for success. You will work with the Transformation, Learning and Communications lead to assess key stakeholders influences, interests and attitudes and align with the engagement plan accordingly.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own the creation of the internal communications strategy and plan for different stakeholder groups in close alignment with the Strategy, Integration and Transformation Director and the wider business internal communication agenda.
• Own the channel strategy in support of the communication strategy and plan, leveraging existing channels and exploring other creative opportunities that align to the ambitious transformation agenda.
• Facilitate communication between pillar leads, governance teams, and site champions.
• Monitor engagement, feedback, and help resolve adoption barriers.
• Create updates on the status, progress and challenges of the project and ensure on-going follow up with the project stakeholders and steering committee.
• Manage the translation of training and promotional materials, and communications.
• Work closely with the relevant Strategy, Integration and Transformation team members & delivery teams (at divisions level, sub-regional level and functional level) to understand what project updates or messages are ready to be communicated and work closely with sub-regional and country team members around deployment.

About You

• Educated to a degree level (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Proven ability to develop and deliver communications strategies and plans across multiple channels and audiences.
• Experience in managing and delivering change communications across a global company for large transformational projects.
• Experience in managing communication agencies.
• Excellent communication skills to adapt to all levels of the organisation, from board level to production workers; creativity in delivering complex messages in highly engaging and exciting way.
• Strong analytical skills & problem-solving ability (root cause identification skills).
• Strategic as well as hands-on approach, with excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Fluent in English and ideally at least one other European language.
• Flexibility to travel, be on site where the action needs to happen.
• Demonstrable evidence of positively influencing employee engagement, as well as positively challenging and influencing at all levels of the business.
• Skilled in Powerpoint, Word and writing Internal communications.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary.
• Discretionary bonus.
• Car allowance.
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• Private Medical Insurance.
• Pension scheme, life assurance and income protection.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Employee Discounts.
• Cycle to work scheme.

To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.