Strategic Lead, Internal Communications & Engagement

South West Water; Exeter; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive Salary

Company Car or Car Allowance

Performance Bonus Scheme

Pension Scheme

Private Healthcare Benefits

Professional Development Opportunities

Employee Discount Programme

Generous Annual Leave Entitlement

Job summary

South West Water is seeking an experienced Lead Internal Communications & Engagement Manager to shape how colleagues understand and contribute to organisational priorities. You will lead a strategic internal communications programme across the organisation, partnering with senior leaders to drive transformation and business performance.

You will manage a high-performing team, delivering clear, timely communications, governance and measurement to demonstrate impact across diverse audiences.

Qualifications

• Proven experience developing organisation-wide internal comms strategies, frameworks and governance models.
• Experience advising senior leaders within complex organisations.
• Track record leading comms for change, transformation and business improvement.
• Significant experience designing employee engagement and listening programmes.
• Ability to translate survey results and insights into comms priorities.
• Experience building communication calendars, governance processes and plan development.
• Experience partnering with HR/People teams on integrated people comms.
• Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence at all levels.
• Experience measuring comms effectiveness and driving improvements.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver a strategic internal comms and engagement framework aligned to objectives.
• Lead development of communications approaches that bring strategy to life for diverse audiences.
• Oversee employee listening activity and use data to inform decisions and continuous improvement.
• Establish governance, planning processes and standards for high-quality comms across the organisation.
• Act as trusted adviser to senior leaders on communication, engagement, transformation and change.
• Lead, coach and develop the Internal Communications team to deliver impact.
• Evaluate communication activity with data and insights to improve channels and content.

Skills

Internal comms strategy

Executive stakeholder shaping

Employee engagement

Listening programmes

Change & transformation comms

Data-driven storytelling

Governance & planning

Crisis/incident comms

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Degree in Communications/PR/Marketing or related

Tools

Survey/analytics tools

CRM/employee comms platforms

Job description

South West Water is seeking an experienced Lead Internal Communications & Engagement Manager to shape how colleagues understand and contribute to organisational priorities. You will lead a strategic internal communications programme across the organisation, partnering with senior leaders to drive transformation and business performance.

You will manage a high-performing team, delivering clear, timely communications, governance and measurement to demonstrate impact across diverse audiences.