Director of Strategic Communications (12-month Fixed Term Contract)

As Opencast’s Director of Strategic Communications, you will play a critical leadership role in the organisation. You will lead on the development and delivery of our internal and external communications strategy and roadmap, strengthening our brand position, driving business growth, ensuring clear and compelling internal communications and enhancing our reputation. The role will deliver high-impact messaging across all channels, aligning communications with organisational strategy, market offerings and client and sector priorities.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Team Development: Define and lead the organisation’s strategic communications vision and roadmap, aligned with corporate strategy and organisational priorities. Act as a trusted advisor to the exec team on messaging, establish communications governance and standards to drive messaging consistency and quality and lead crisis communications if/where required. Lead and develop cross cutting teams involved in communications, and build organisational capability in storytelling including up to exec level.
• Go-to-Market (GTM) & Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Advise on GTM messaging and the articulation of our current value propositions, including how we communicate ‘who we are’ and ‘what we do’ through effective storytelling. Advise on bid messaging and narratives/storytelling approach in line with core win themes, ensuring alignment to our core brand positioning. Oversee ABM communication as a strategic initiative, acting as an advisor on the development of ABM plans and the tailoring of narratives for key accounts - ensuring relevant, compelling messaging across touchpoints.
• Messaging, Content and Campaign leadership: Provide strategic leadership in developing our core narratives and market positioning to raise our profile, engage clients/partners and attract talent. Support with strategic oversight of content development including case study development, testimonials, blogs, events. Provide strategic insight for our marketing team with other areas of the organisation, ensuring key initiatives are understood and reflected in activities appropriately (e.g. AI strategic initiatives, account priorities).
• Internal Communications & Engagement: Lead Opencast's internal communications strategy, setting the vision, framework and standards that enable effective employee communications across a hybrid, distributed workforce. Partner with exec, senior leadership and people team to shape leadership messaging that builds trust and connects our people to organisational direction and priorities. Provide strategic oversight of the communications approach for significant organisational change, working closely with leaders to ensure change is landed effectively and employee experience is considered throughout. Define the measurement framework for internal communications effectiveness, using insight to drive continuous improvement.

Skills & Experience

• Proven ability to define and deliver enterprise-wide internal and external communications strategy with a strong track record of ‘getting hands on’.
• Extensive experience advising and influencing senior leadership, executives and board-level stakeholders on communication approaches.
• Strong understanding of brand positioning, narrative development, and messaging to a varied audience, including senior stakeholders/buyers.
• Experience delivering and/or working closely with internal communications teams or within change communication contexts (e.g. project delivery).
• Ability to understand organisational growth objectives and plans, advising on communication strategies to engage target buyers across key sectors/accounts and attract leading industry talent to our organisation.
• Excellent cross-functional stakeholder management skills, aligning varied groups around a joined-up communications approach and plan.
• Experience integrating communications with marketing, campaigns, ABM, and/or bid activity – providing core messaging to support these teams.
• Deep understanding of reputation risk management and communication governance frameworks.
• Data-driven approach to measuring communications impact and performance.
• Experience working in consultancy or B2B communications environments, ideally within the technology sector but this is not essential.

What we offer: A competitive package including a 7% employer pension contribution, share options, and a discretionary bonus. You’ll also benefit from 25 days’ holiday and access to 3 annual “life happens” days to support unexpected situations. We provide wellbeing support, ongoing professional development, volunteering opportunities, and the chance to be part of a genuinely supportive team.

Where you’ll work: This role requires regular on-site attendance at our HQ, hub offices, and client sites, as well as the ability to work from home. Applicants must be able to travel to offices and client sites across the UK as part of their normal working arrangements, as travel is essential for fulfilling the responsibilities of the role.

We include you: We welcome candidates from all identities, attributes, ways of thinking and backgrounds to thrive in a career at Opencast. Our aim is for the diversity of our people to be reflected in the solutions we deliver, to help create a fairer society for all.

Interview: Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. We’re happy to make adjustments to support your needs.