Communications Manager - Internal Communications

The place to work in pathology. We are looking for top talent to join the UK’s leading and fastest growing pathology company – a scientific organisation with a clinical purpose.

Job overview

Reporting to the Communications & Marketing Director, the Internal Communications Manager will play a pivotal role in shaping and strengthening employee engagement across SYNLAB UK. As part of a collaborative team of nine communications professionals, you will lead the development and delivery of impactful internal communications that inspire, connect and engage colleagues across our four UK hospital partnerships. Managing two direct reports, you will build and nurture a strong SYNLAB community, ensuring employees understand and connect with the organisation’s strategy, objectives and values, and recognise the vital role they play in our success.

Working closely with senior leaders and managers, you will act as a trusted communications advisor, providing strategic counsel while remaining hands-on in creating and delivering high-quality, engaging communications that resonate with diverse audiences. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced communications professional who can align internal and external narratives, influence stakeholders at all levels, and create standout communication initiatives that drive engagement, understanding and organisational performance. This role is based at our Blackfriars Hub in London and you will be required to work on site 3 days per week to include some travel to other SYNLAB locations when required to meet the needs of the business.

Main duties of the job

• Own and deliver the annual internal communications programme which spans business strategy, Reward & Recognition, DEI, Employee survey, an Excellence Awards campaign and ceremony, and business as usual HR initiatives.
• In the mid-term, this will also include the development and rollout of a UK&I wide intranet.
• Support the Executive team in maintaining a regular drumbeat of activity to improve visibility and consistency of message across the 3,000+ people within SYNLAB UK&I HQ and our four hospital businesses.
• Ensure this activity is strategically aligned, people centric and outcome focused, delivered using a mix of traditional channels as well as the latest digital tools.
• Act as air traffic controller for leadership stories and people initiatives, ensuring that the right comms happens at the right time, in the right way, raising the bar for how our leaders communicate with their teams.
• Utilise your exceptional writing skills to set standards for your team by ensuring every message is tailored for its end audience and delivery channel.
• Be a key player in any issues management among internal audiences, working closely with the wider Communications and People teams.
• Use measurement tools and data to evaluate the effectiveness of leadership communication and improve future narrative and activity.
• Bring a strong commercial understanding, comfort with being flexible as priorities shift and the ability to manage multiple tasks and stakeholders simultaneously.

Person specification

Qualifications

• A-level English Language or equivalent
• Educated to degree level (communications or marketing related subject)
• Membership of a professional body e.g. IOIC or CIPR

Experience

• Extensive experience at manager level within an HR or Corporate Communications function at a national or global corporate entity, with direct reports.
• Familiarity and comfort with managing a varied and intense workload, at pace.
• Proven track record of developing high impact employee communications programmes.
• Ability to identify and analyse business and audience needs to deliver messages via the most appropriate mix of channels.
• Communications or PR agency experience.
• Experience of matrix working.

Skills and Knowledge

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to write content for a range of stakeholders, with little oversight or input, including intranet and email content, executive talking points, HR updates, business updates etc.
• Rigorous attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to work to tight deadlines and under pressure.
• Excellent IT skills with good experience of MS Office 365 Suite particularly Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint and MS Teams.
• Familiarity with email platforms such as DotDigital.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. All applicants are welcome to apply regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, race, nationality or ethnic origin, religion, or sexual orientation. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

For our Permanent workforce we offer a competitive benefits package. All employees are entitled to:

• Contributory pension scheme
• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Ground breaking development opportunities

Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. All employees have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the course of their daily duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.

Your e-mail address is important to us. We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis. Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. If you decide to apply for this post but do not hear back from us within three weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been short-listed on this occasion. Thank you for your interest in SYNLAB.