At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead impactful media strategies to raise awareness for Macmillan's vital work.
- Company: Join Macmillan, a passionate team dedicated to supporting those living with cancer.
- Benefits: Enjoy 25 days holiday, flexible working, and extensive learning opportunities.
- Other info: Hybrid working model with a supportive and inclusive culture.
- Why this job: Make a real difference in cancer care while developing your media expertise.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in senior communications roles and team management.
The predicted salary is between 54000 - 66000 £ per year.
Fixed Term Contract (12 months) Full time (34.5 hours), we are open to a conversation about how you work these hours.
Location: Hybrid, Split between home and our London Office / Shipley Office / Glasgow office
Salary Range– £53000-£59000 – benefits and recognition
About us
At Macmillan you'll find talented people working together to do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer. We're going all out to find even better ways to help even more people who need our support. Our values are at the heart of who we are and everything we do, inspiring our thinking and guiding our actions. Our organisational strategy sets out how we'll fight even harder to make every pound raised count for even more. With your help, we'll transform cancer care for good.
About the role
We're looking for a strategic and experienced Senior Media Manager to lead high-impact media activity that raises awareness of Macmillan's work and strengthens our reputation across the UK. This is a key leadership role responsible for proactive and reactive media relations, developing our channel strategy across UK-wide, devolved nations, local and community media, and managing a high-performing team to deliver impactful external communications activity. Reporting to the Head of External Communications, you'll play a key role in increasing brand awareness, positioning Macmillan as a trusted voice, and providing strategic communications and reputational advice across the organisation.
Working closely with colleagues across Communications, Brand & Content, Advocacy, Fundraising, Services and Partnerships, you'll lead integrated communications activity that is audience-led, insight-driven and aligned to organisational priorities. You'll oversee an effective newsroom function, manage reputational risks and opportunities, and ensure Macmillan delivers impactful media activity that supports people living with cancer and strengthens engagement with key audiences.
Key responsibilities
- Lead the development and delivery of Macmillan's media channel strategy across national, devolved, local and community media.
- Oversee proactive and reactive media relations activity, maximising opportunities within the news agenda and managing media enquiries.
- Provide strategic communications and reputational advice to colleagues and senior stakeholders across the organisation.
- Leading and project managing major media moments as well as delivering focused briefs as relevant to the role.
- Build strong partnerships across Communications, Brand, Content and other internal stakeholder teams to deliver integrated activity.
- Use audience insight, monitoring and evaluation to measure impact and continuously improve media performance.
- Lead, coach and develop a high-performing and inclusive team, including matrix-managed colleagues.
- Manage reputational risk, issues and crisis communications while supporting organisational objectives.
About you
The skills and experience we are looking for in the role are:
- Significant experience working in a senior communications or media relations role.
- Significant experience managing and developing teams, including matrix management.
- Experience of strategic communications planning, implementation and evaluation.
- Strong experience of reputation, issues and crisis management.
- Excellent written communication skills with the ability to create high-quality communications materials.
- Outstanding relationship-building, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
- Understanding of devolution and health and social care policy, with Welsh language skills desirable but not essential.
In return, we offer a range of benefits including:
- 25 days holiday plus flexible bank holiday options, increasing by 1 day every year of service up to 30 days.
- Pension matched up to 7.5%.
- 120+ learning and development offers, with access to external professional qualifications.
- Flexible working patterns, such as compressed hours, flexibility to work earlier or later around our core working hours of 10am-4pm.
- Holiday buying and selling scheme, life insurance, free wills, retail discounts and much more.
Recruitment Process
Application deadline: 11th September 2026 Interview date: Week commencing 21st September 2026
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We are an organisation that is committed to setting candidates up for success, so we can support you to be at your best during the application or selection process, please contact Macmillan TA Team for advice, or a conversation on reasonable adjustments. If you would like to discuss your application or anything further in regard to a career at Macmillan Cancer Support please email us.
Senior Media Manager (11249) in London employer: Macmillan Cancer Support
At Macmillan Cancer Support, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer dedicated to making a meaningful impact in the lives of those affected by cancer. Our hybrid working model promotes flexibility, allowing you to balance your professional and personal life while collaborating with a passionate team in our London office. With a strong focus on employee growth, innovative projects in data and AI, and a culture that values inclusivity and collaboration, we offer a unique opportunity to contribute to transformative change in healthcare.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Media Manager (11249) in London
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We think you need these skills to ace Senior Media Manager (11249) in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Get Your Story Straight:In public relations, storytelling is everything! Make sure your CV highlights your experience in crafting compelling narratives and managing media relations. Share specific examples of campaigns you've worked on, and don’t forget to include any press coverage you've generated—it's impressive proof of your skills!
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How to prepare for a job interview at Macmillan Cancer Support
✨Master the Art of Storytelling
In public relations, storytelling is key. We should prepare compelling narratives about past campaigns or projects we’ve worked on. Think about how we can illustrate our impact and creativity in those stories—be ready to discuss specific examples that showcase our skills in managing media relationships and crafting messages.
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We’ve got to stay sharp on the latest trends and events impacting the public relations field. Having a few insights ready about recent campaigns or shifts in media landscapes can show that we’re engaged and knowledgeable. This will also help us make connections between our experiences and the current state of the industry.
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As full-time PR professionals, we need to demonstrate our adaptability. Be ready to talk about how we've handled challenging situations, managed crises, or adapted strategies on the fly. Employers will appreciate our ability to pivot and find solutions under pressure, so let’s have those scenarios at our fingertips to discuss.
