Head of Media

Right across infrastructure, there’s a requirement to not only maintain, but also renew and reimagine. Whatever stage you’re at in your career, with us you’ll have an opportunity to grow and develop. Delivering essential infrastructure services for life, while being safety first, and client and customer centric in a friendly, fun and respectful environment where you are encouraged to thrive.

Where you'll be working

M Group is a £3bn business and the UK’s leading infrastructure services company. It serves clients across markets including energy, water, technology & communications, and transport.

As Head of Media, you will lead and shape M Group’s external media strategy, helping to build and protect our reputation through proactive and reactive communications. Acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, you will foster strong relationships with journalists, client media teams and key stakeholders, while leading our approach to media relations, crisis and issues management, and high-profile corporate publications.

Working collaboratively across Marketing & Communications, you will ensure a coordinated and impactful approach to external communications, aligned to our business strategy. You will also oversee media budgets, measure performance and drive continuous improvement to maximise the impact of our earned media activity.

What you'll be doing

• Take responsibility for all M Group’s earned media coverage.
• Create and own the M Group earned media strategy, ensuring it is consistent with the overall Marketing & Communications strategy and the company strategy.
• Maximise the positive benefits of proactive stories, and take opportunities presented by topical events to promote M Group’s narrative.
• Minimise the impact of reactive, negative stories with positions prepared in advance when possible and robust horizon scanning.
• Help drive the company’s newsgathering and storytelling efforts, sourcing stories from around the business to promote the brand and company achievements. Use understanding of what makes news to select stories for press releases, and coach colleagues in what to look for.

  Essential Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience managing corporate reputation, with demonstrable experience of successfully finding and promoting positive stories.
• Proven ability to mitigate negative stories, and manage issues and crises.
• Evidence of effective promotion of company set-piece events, such as financial results or report publications.
• Strong collaborative ethos, with evidence of building relationships internally, and externally with client media teams and journalists.
• Manage competing demands in a fast-paced environment, keeping stakeholders informed and managing expectations.
• Intellectually capable of handling stories across multiple different industries and topics, all with their own complexities.
• Own the news preparation for significant company events or proactive stories, with Q&As and interview preparation. Maintain a database of lines to take.
• Take responsibility for the ownership and maintenance of M Group’s Crisis Communications Plan, and act as the principal point of contact with the Group’s risk management and business continuity function. Review and develop the company’s on-call approach to issues.
• Own the relationships with client media teams, ensuring we collaborate on both proactive and reactive news stories, and build positive relationships with target journalists.
• Work with Marketing & Communications colleagues to ensure a joined-up approach to content and stories, particularly significant company publications such as the annual report and ESG report.
• Develop regular thought-leadership pieces for the CEO to promote brand presence and understanding of M Group’s offering.
• Establish and track suitable metrics for earned media coverage. Ensure robust and timely media monitoring, and maintain our access to essential media applications and journalist database.

  Desirable

• Experience of working with internal communications, public affairs, and digital owned channels to ensure stories are promoted in a coordinated and collaborative fashion.
• Experience of utilising AI to support successful and productive outputs.

What’s in it for you?

We offer a range of benefits designed to support your life in and out of work, some of which include; 

• Matched or contributory pension scheme
• Online GP service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Employee assistance programme
• My Rewards portal, access to 1000’s of retail discounts
• Life assurance
• Cycle to work, salary finance and give as you earn schemes
• Enhanced maternity, paternity leave and adoption leave
• Reward and recognition scheme

In addition, this role offers;

• Company car or allowance and fuel card with a range of EV and hybrid vehicles to choose from
• My Car Choice our salary sacrifice EV/ Hybrid car scheme
• Private health care and health care cash plan for you and your family
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Recommend a friend – get rewarded for introducing people to us!

About us

We want to be an employer of choice and a great place to work, attracting diverse and talented people, who join us and make a difference. We’re one of the Top 100 UK companies actively supporting and recruiting veterans. Our ENABLE inclusion networks bring together people who have a shared passion, to help create an environment where everyone belongs.

Our values help to shape our culture and how we work with one another. We recruit with these values in mind, to ensure your aspirations, and ways of working, align with ours.

• We’re responsible and go further for our people, clients, communities and the planet
• We’re open and seek new and better ways of exceeding expectations
• We’re together and as one team; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
• We’re ambitious and embrace opportunity, to lead essential infrastructure services for life

Whether you’re a trainee, apprentice or graduate, or progressing through your career, our people benefit from industry recognised programmes, training and development.

It’s an exceptional time to be a part of M Group.

Please note: Occasionally, job adverts might be closed before the stated closing date. Do apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.

For certain roles, successful candidates will be subject to 3rd party background checks as part of the hiring process. Some roles require drug and alcohol testing as part of induction and onboarding.

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