Head of External Relations - innovative FTSE 250 professional services business

My client, an innovative professional services company, is looking to bring a talented Head of External Relations into its corporate affairs team. 

Based in stunning central London offices (3 days in per week) your role will be to manage and enhance the company's image while establishing strong relationships with key stakeholders. You will report to the Director of Corporate Affairs. 

As a FTSE 250, the company's offering spans a remarkable breadth of sector activity. As such there is enormous scope when it comes to telling positive stories. Current focus areas include decarbonisation & net zero, technology and AI, and skills apprenticeships. Other services it offers include risk assessment, real estate, catering and environmental. Indeed it manages and maintains some of the nation's most recognised landmarks, high street buildings, retail outlets and even homes in the community

The role itself offers diversity from a comms discipline perspective. Elements of corporate comms, media relations, campaigning, crisis and issues management, public affairs and more.

Whilst I'll touch on the skills and experience they’d love to see, I’d say the single biggest attribute they’re looking for is a positive attitude. This is genuinely a business that rewards proactivity, and one where you can make a difference beyond the confines of comms. For example, the business' net zero plan was developed by the comms team, and those 'green' credentials have been cited as a major attraction by recently acquired partners.

It’s a vast business that touches on many different areaa. As such that ability to juggle multiple topics, dealing with different, and often senior, stakeholders, and multiple departments, similar in many ways to what you’d experience agency-side, is key. The Director of Corporate Affairs is looking for a day to day leader who will step up not just when she isn't there, but also when she is! Someone with the experience and confidence to constantly ask how can we do this differently? What would a bigger approach look like? How does this comms angle sit with the wider commercial part of the business?

Beyond that, desired experience includes:

- an amazing media operator. Someone who wants to chase down (and can bring a track record of) big national stories with creative ideas, as well as possessing the ability to manage incoming reactive work
- someone who is really hungry and can set an example to the team on what good quality busy looks like 
- the ability to dabble in public affairs. The heavy lifting will be covered elsewhere in the team, but you will still need a working knowledge and be able to connect the PR and PA sides. It’s really as much about can you manage an issue, run a campaign, and support the team in getting them up to speed doing these things

As a guide the role is paying up to £105k base plus car allowance and bonus.