Communications Specialist

McKinsey & Company, Inc.; London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading global firm as a communication professional where your expertise will directly contribute to impactful communication strategies in the Life Sciences and SHaPE Practices. You'll collaborate with senior stakeholders to shape communication tactics and foster engagement while receiving mentorship and participating in a continuous learning environment.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package

Medical, dental, mental health, and vision coverage

Opportunities for continuous learning and mentorship

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in business communications.
• Mastery of Microsoft Office and related tools.
• Knowledge of Life Sciences or healthcare preferred.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate on best-in-class global communications programs.
• Develop and execute communication plans and tactics.
• Conduct strategic assessments for communication campaigns.

Skills

Communication

Project Management

Critical Reasoning

Problem-Solving

Collaboration

Influence

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Sharepoint

Slack

Teams

Job description

Your Growth

You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference.

When you join us, you will have:

• Continuous learning:Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters:From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community:With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Exceptional benefits:In addition to a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, mental health, and vision coverage for you, your spouse/partner, and children.

Your Impact

You will join a group of communications professionals within the firm’s Reach and Engagement function. These colleagues help ensure that appropriate insights reach designated audiences, building awareness and engagement with McKinsey’s distinctive knowledge on a variety of topics. They shape the way the firm connects with people—from clients to firm members to alumni—strengthening institutional relationships, connections, and affiliations.

Through collaborating with senior communications colleagues and external stakeholders, you will contribute to the development and execution of best-in-class global communications programs, events, and publications.

You will be a member of McKinsey’s Life Sciences Practice and SHaPE Practice in Europe, working with leaders across the region and globally. The Life Sciences Practice is a strategic, innovative, mission-driven, highly competitive sector, with 2000+ total practitioners. We serve pharma, medical device, and biotech companies, as well as other stakeholders across the healthcare value chain, working with them on a range of functional topics (e.g., operations, R&D, core technologies). The SHaPE Practice is one of the Firm’s largest industry practices, focused on improving lives and livelihoods across healthcare, education, philanthropy, and government clients.

Through development, support, and execution of creative communication plans and tactics, you will build awareness of McKinsey’s capabilities, knowledge, and assets. You will help protect McKinsey’s reputation, punctuate its expertise, and contribute to bringing campaigns to life in Europe for Life Sciences and SHaPE.

In terms of creating effective communications: you will create clear, structured, and engaging written communications products (e.g., memos, emails, short-form content, blogs, talking points/scripts, Q&A) that rigorously follow conventions of written English, aligning with Firm leadership when necessary. You will proactively collaborate with internal and external clients and stakeholders to develop and advise on communications. You will help drive development and delivery of communications for reports, special projects (e.g., digital strategy design, knowledge partnership strategy), storytelling (e.g., social posts, case studies), external/internal conferences, and/or events (e.g., forums, webinars, roundtables). You’ll conduct strategic assessments to support prioritization of communication campaigns and events (e.g., competitor insights, event speaker research), and collate into digestible formats for leadership. You will ensure consistent branding (i.e., Firm's signature voice, visuals, and narrative) across communications platforms and channels in support of relevant brand pivots.

In terms of project management and execution: you will contribute to defining appropriate best-in-class communications and events objectives and strategies to achieve them (e.g., paid media, earned media, CRM support, social media support). You will effectively lead complex projects independently or with a designated team, aligning with key stakeholders as relevant. You’ll drive reputation-building programs through a mix of publishing activities (e.g., monitoring of media relations and public relations, targeted knowledge dissemination) and lead and execute plans to address routine reputation risks, with appropriate stakeholder alignment. You will manage data through reports and scorecards to track relevant metrics (e.g., client development, ROI, share of voice, mapping media engagement programs). Additionally, you will help coordinate the creation of contact databases to maximize dissemination and engagement.

Your qualifications and skills

• Bachelor’s/University degree required
• 5+ years of experience in a business communications-related field, a benefit if in a professional services environment, corporate communications role, government, or communications agency background
• Mastery of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Teams) and Firm related tools (Sharepoint, Slack, Lilli)
• Knowledge of Life Sciences, healthcare, social sector, or government is preferred
• Broad skillset across relevant communication service lines and platforms (e.g., external/internal comms, media relations, events, executive comms)
• Excellent communication skills across formats (e.g., written, verbal/presentation, digital-ready content, storytelling) and ability to apply them to develop and execute a strategy across portfolio of communications channels
• Ability to manage various projects simultaneously and work independently as well as collaboratively in a fast-paced and ambiguous operating environment, while driving for quality implementation and excellence
• Excellent ability to influence and direct colleagues, and manage needs of different stakeholders (including relevant senior leaders)
• Outstanding critical reasoning and problem-solving skills, including ability to disaggregate issues, identify root causes, and recommend solutions
• Ability to create psychological safety and inclusion within teams, enabling a collaborative environment
• Exhibits core Firm values in attitude and work (e.g., owning development, driving work, demonstrating resilience)
• Proficiency and fluency in verbal and written English required