Summary
The post holder will report to the school’s Head of Operations (Business Operations) with a dotted reporting line to the Head of Marketing & Communications for the College of Social Sciences and will work with a range of professional services staff to leverage opportunities for enhanced engagement across a broad set of stakeholders.
Main Duties
1. Provide strategic guidance and counsel to the School’s Senior Management Team on reputation initiatives and communications
2. Support the development, execution and ongoing refinement of a Business School Communications Strategy that enhances the Business School’s reputation amongst pre-defined target audiences. This will involve close working relationship with the College team to plan, execute and evaluate activity
3. Within the broader strategy, a key theme of activity will be to work in partnership with the College Communications Manager to lead the work for the Business School within the University’s Global Top 50 Communications Strategy.
4. Champion the school’s identity and voice, ensuring a consistent and integrated approach to enhancing reputation and brand
5. Line management of the school’s Events and Project Officer role and Dean’s EA
6. Lead on maximising the school’s reputation and external recognition through award applications and internal/external events
7. Build relationships with academic and professional services members of staff across the school to provide consultative advice on how to increase the amplification of stories the school wishes to promote and using these relationships – proactively gather content from internal and external University sources that can help improve our reputation and ensuring it is used effectively
8. Be the central link between the School, The College’s Marketing and Communications Team to ensure the Business School’s reach is being maximised and develop the processes required to enable the school better to communicate about itself to an external audience
9. Proactively build relationship and provide a link between the school and the College Marketing and Communications team, playing a crucial role in the identification of potential content, media and campaign opportunities – and relaying feedback and requests back to the right individuals within the school
10. Work alongside colleagues in Marketing and Communications, Careers, Business Engagement, Business Operations (Events) and Alumni Relations, to ensure maximum profile and communications value from these initiatives, particularly in relation to Rankings
11. Build relationships internally and externally to support the delivery of these programmes through enhanced academic engagement and commitment
12. Work as a brand ambassador within the school – utilising the pre-existing guidelines and ways of working to aid colleagues in the production of marketing assets that utilise pre-existing templates – and leading on briefing additional design projects into our in-house creative agency, ideally in collaboration with the Marketing and Communications team, who have sign-off accountability for newly designed assets
13. Champion existing good practice and identify areas of concern or risk to the strategy, providing briefings to the senior management team as well as more widely to influence strategic development in responsible business allied to the school’s reputation
14. Work proactively to leverage institutional initiatives forthe benefit of the school’s reputation strategy, identifying communications opportunities and engaging existing resource
15. Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture
16. Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
17. Education: Bachelor Degree level or equivalent experience
18. Strategic Planning: Proven experience in supporting the development, execution, and refinement of communications strategies to enhance organisational reputation.
19. Leadership & Management: Direct experience in line management, specifically overseeing roles such as Events and Project Officers and Executive Assistants.
20. Stakeholder Engagement: A track record of building professional relationships with academic staff, senior management, and diverse professional services teams (., Marketing, Careers, Alumni Relations).
21. Brand Advocacy: Experience acting as a brand ambassador, ensuring consistent identity and voice across a large organisation.
22. Reputation Management: Experience in maximising external recognition through award applications and high-profile internal/external events.
23. Project Oversight: Experience briefing and collaborating with in-house creative agencies for the production of marketing assets.
Knowledge
24. Strategic Communications: Understanding of how to align school-level activities with broader institutional goals, such as a "Global Top 50" strategy.
25. Higher Education Context: Knowledge of the business school landscape, including "triple-crown" accreditations (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS) and EDI frameworks like the Athena Swan Award.
26. Content Identification: Knowledge of how to proactively gather and identify media, campaign, and "amplification" opportunities from internal and external sources.
27. Risk & Best Practice: Familiarity with identifying areas of risk to a reputation strategy and championing existing good practices.
28. Global Perspectives: Understanding of working within a diverse, international environment involving multiple global campuses (., Dubai, Singapore).
Skills
29. Consultative Advice: Ability to provide strategic counsel to Senior Management Teams on reputation and communication initiatives.
30. Collaboration: Strong interpersonal skills to act as a "central link" between different departments and colleges to maximise reach.
31. Asset Production: Ability to utilise pre-existing brand guidelines and templates to aid colleagues in creating marketing materials.
32. Analytical Thinking: Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of communication activities and relay feedback to relevant stakeholders.
33. Process Development: Skill in developing the necessary processes to improve how an organisation communicates with external audiences.