Director of Corporate Communications

The Director of Corporate Communications is a member of ITN’s senior leadership team and leads the organisation’s corporate communications, reputation, brand positioning and internal engagement. This role sets the overarching communications strategy, provides counsel to the CEO and SLT, and ensures ITN speaks with a clear, confident and consistent voice—externally and internally—at a time of rapid change for news, production and the wider information ecosystem.

As guardian of ITN’s corporate brand and narrative, the Director will position ITN as a modern content powerhouse: home to three public service broadcaster newsrooms and a major UK production company, with a growing digital and direct-to-consumer ambition. The role brings together press and strategic communications, internal communications, brand governance, and policy/public affairs alignment into one coherent approach—ensuring ITN is visible, trusted and influential with audiences, clients, partners, employees, regulators and policymakers.

Key relationships:

• CEO and Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
• Corporate Communications leadership team (including Heads of Brand Strategy and Engagement; Press & Strategic Communications; Policy/Public Affairs/External Engagement)
• Editors-in-Chief / Newsroom leadership (ITV News, Channel 4 News, 5 News)
• ITN Productions senior leadership
• People Team (culture, engagement, change and internal narrative)
• Legal, Commercial, Technology/Product, Digital, and Finance leadership
• Regulators, government, parliament, industry bodies and key external stakeholders
• Press, industry platforms, conference organisers, and strategic partners
• Organisational leadership

You will lead a high-performing, multi-disciplinary Corporate Communications function and set clear strategic direction, standards and ways of working. The Director role will:

• Build and empower specialist leaders across external communications/press, policy/public affairs, brand governance, and internal communications
• Drive joined-up planning so reputation, policy positioning, executive profile and internal engagement reinforce each other
• Ensure crisis preparedness and rapid, well-governed decision-making in high-pressure situations

Key Responsibilities:

• Corporate communications strategy and narrative
  • Define and deliver ITN’s overall corporate communications strategy aligned to business priorities, values and growth plans
  • Establish a clear corporate narrative that positions ITN’s unique role in public service journalism, production, innovation and digital audience growth
  • Ensure communications is embedded as a strategic business function—supporting commercial, creative and technology priorities and strengthening ITN’s market position
• Executive counsel and CEO profile
  • Act as senior advisor to the CEO and SLT on messaging, reputational risk, opportunities and stakeholder dynamics
  • Shape and manage the CEO’s internal and external profile: thought leadership, speaking strategy, industry engagement and high-stakes communications
  • Provide calm, decisive counsel during fast-moving issues, ensuring decisions are aligned with ITN’s purpose, values and obligations
• External communications, media and industry positioning
  • Oversee ITN’s external profile across national, trade and international press and industry platforms, ensuring proactive and disciplined engagement
  • Ensure senior leaders are positioned as credible voices on the future of journalism, media sustainability, innovation and trust—through commentary, off-the-record briefings and strategic speaking opportunities
  • Maintain high standards of corporate storytelling and ensure strong attribution and visibility for ITN journalism and original content where appropriate
• Reputation management, issues and crisis leadership
  • Own ITN’s reputation management framework, including issues monitoring, escalation routes, decision logs and crisis playbooks
  • Lead strategic communications in major incidents and crises, coordinating press, internal comms, stakeholder communications and (where relevant) client communications
  • Ensure ITN is prepared for high-profile and sensitive situations, including scenario planning, message discipline, spokesperson readiness and post-incident review
• Policy, public affairs and regulatory alignment
  • Work in close partnership with the Head of Policy/Public Affairs/External Engagement to ensure ITN’s corporate narrative and policy positioning are fully aligned and mutually reinforcing
  • Provide executive-level oversight and judgement on ITN’s approach to government, parliament and regulatory engagement (including Ofcom), ensuring coherence and appropriate governance
  • Support ITN’s contribution to consultations, inquiries and industry coalitions, and ensure policy risk/opportunity is clearly translated for SLT decision-making
• Internal communications and engagement
  • Lead an engaging, two-way internal communications strategy that builds trust, strengthens culture and supports business change across c.900 colleagues
  • Partner closely with the People Team to communicate vision, values and priorities; promote inclusion and belonging; and create meaningful dialogue
  • Oversee ITN’s internal channels (e.g., intranet) and ensure internal comms cadence and content quality support clarity, connection and collaboration
• Brand governance and channels
  • Act as guardian and gatekeeper of ITN’s corporate brand and visual identity, ensuring consistency and quality across all touchpoints
  • Own corporate communications channels including ITN’s corporate website and corporate social presence, ensuring they are current, compelling and strategically used
  • Drive standards for messaging, tone of voice and approval processes across corporate communications output
• Operational excellence and measurement
  • Put in place robust team processes (e.g., forward planning, press logs, cuttings/coverage reporting, stakeholder mapping, briefing docs and toolkits)
  • Define success measures (reputation and sentiment, share of voice, leadership positioning, internal engagement metrics) and use insight to improve performance
  • Manage budgets and agency relationships effectively, ensuring value for money and high-quality delivery

These are the main requirements of the role and is not an exhaustive list of duties. It is intended to reflect the nature, range, and context of the work, which will change over time.

Key Requirements:

• Significant senior-level corporate communications leadership experience within a high-profile, fast-paced organisation; media, journalism, production, technology or another highly scrutinised sector preferred
• Proven track record of developing and delivering outstanding communications strategies that strengthen reputation, enable growth and support organisational change
• Strong crisis leadership experience, with sound judgement, pace and discipline in high-stakes situations
• Trusted advisor to executive leadership with exceptional stakeholder management skills and the credibility to influence at the highest levels
• Deep understanding of the forces shaping journalism, public service media and democratic information—and the ability to translate complexity into clear positioning and action
• Skilled people leader with experience building and developing high-performing teams, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement
• Strong grasp of policy/regulatory dynamics and how they intersect with reputation, editorial trust, platform change, AI and content protection (working closely with specialist policy leadership)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; confident spokesperson coaching and message discipline
• High level of personal resilience, integrity and discretion; comfortable operating in ambiguity and making decisions at pace
• Strong network across UK media/industry stakeholders is desirable; international experience a plus

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at ITN. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. Reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process will be offered, if required, due to a disability or health condition. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application, or at any stage throughout the process, if this is something you want to explore.