Head of Corporate Communications & Sustainability

Do you have a passion for the UK food and consumer goods industry?

We are seeking an enthusiastic and multifaceted Corporate Communications Expert with expertise in building brand and corporate reputation, sustainability, and the ability to bring to life compelling content and storytelling to engage multiple external stakeholders.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an organisation at the forefront of the food industry, where you will collaborate with some of the UK's leading food and drink brands. You'll play a key role in driving our purpose to unite and inspire a sustainable and thriving food system and have a meaningful impact on the future of the industry.

About the Role:

IGD is seeking an experienced Head of Corporate Communications and Sustainability. This role will be instrumental in driving both proactive and reactive media engagement across media, influencers, clients, and key industry stakeholders.

You will help define our corporate and sustainability communications strategy and ensure that everyone knows who we are, what we do, and how our purpose enables us to unite and inspire a sustainable and thriving food system.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in either retail, FMCG, and the F&B industry and will be used to working at a fast pace and in a proactive way. You will partner with key executives, cross-functional colleagues (Commercial Insights, Social Impact, Channel Marketing, Website and Design, and the broader Integrated Marketing Communications team) to help bring IGD's purpose to life and drive communication to get more people to know who we are and what we do.

Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Communications Director, your responsibilities will include:

1. Setting the IGD Corporate Communications Strategy and ensuring we have a clear plan to implement across the organisation to mean more to more people.
2. Ensuring that we are trusted partners providing valuable insights and expertise to media and key stakeholders, tapping into our unique insights and valued analysts.
3. Driving credible and relevant communication strategies that spotlight our impact programmes across the Net Zero Transition plan, learning and development, and helping the industry develop a workforce for the future. You will also support the strategy towards more sustainable diets and adapting to changing consumer needs.
4. Planning and coordinating campaign moments and relevant external communications milestones.
5. Building and maintaining strong relationships with media, NGOs, and client communication teams and anticipating how we can support them as well as encourage them to engage with our business and unique insights and actions.
6. Leveraging senior relationships to set the media relations agenda and amplify the work we are doing across the business from a commercial and social impact perspective.
7. Supporting senior leaders on key messaging and adapting and refining our narrative and talking points to support our teams with external conversations and stakeholder engagement.
8. Working with the Press and Social Media Manager to support on reactive and proactive press office issues and opportunities. Crisis Management expertise.
9. Supporting the team with media training and preparation for relevant interviews and external presentations.
10. Staying up to date with industry trends and political debates relating to the food system.
11. Supporting the Communications Director and the Impact team in cultivating relations with government officials, policymakers, regulatory bodies, and trade associations. Support with key messaging that will help to protect IGD from external threats and issues.
12. Ensuring that all external media campaigns are fully integrated with IGD's go-to-market and channel marketing strategies, collaborating closely with the channel marketing team to align content and timings.
13. Managing and overseeing relevant agencies that help support IGD with communications and the external news/political agenda.

What You Bring

Skills and Experience:

1. Proven track record across corporate communications and sustainability communications.
2. You are both a strategist and a hands-on doer. A brilliant leader and generalist who can handle anything from brand amplification to corporate communications, public affairs, crisis management, media training, and stakeholder engagement.
3. A proven track record for creativity and implementing and executing campaigns.
4. Strong people person with excellent influencing skills and a passionate communicator who can balance commercial messaging with social impact.
5. You are self-motivated and enjoy being part of a winning team that can pull together to deliver meaningful work while having some fun at the same time.
6. A proactive and reactive mindset always looking for opportunities to keep IGD at the forefront of the food and drink industry.
7. You are a passionate advocate of the sustainability agenda who wants to create societal shifts and drive a sustainable and thriving food industry for future generations.

The rewards:

We offer a range of benefits, including a market leading pension, a bonus scheme, the ability to buy and sell annual leave plus a generous medical insurance package. At IGD, we have a great work-life balance, where you are empowered & trusted to manage your time.

The location:

We are operating a hybrid approach to working with a mix of home and office-based working. We are based in a very accessible location within the M25, just 20 miles from central London.

More about our people:

We're looking for inspiring professionals; talented people who seek personal and career growth and are ambitious to develop their potential and unlock opportunities for society, for our customers and themselves. We seek and attract the very best people and create an environment that supports and includes them. We aim to encourage a culture where people can be themselves and be valued for their contribution. We therefore welcome applications from diverse candidates. This includes people with disabilities, so please discuss any adjustments that you may require throughout the selection and assessment process.

More about IGD:

IGD is a truly unique place, we connect and inspire, provoking and leading constructive debate that creates impact. Together we are working to make a tangible difference for Society, Business, and the Individual.

We use in-depth commercial understanding to uncover rich insights and data, leading to action that powers success.

We reinvest profit from our Trading company into delivering Social Impact, through the Charity, aimed at uniting and mobilising our industry around the most crucial issues affecting society and business today.

#InspireGrowChange: join our team to help us make a positive impact and drive change.

Get in touch - we're looking forward to working with you.
careers@igd.com