Senior Communications Lead

Farmlands; Christchurch; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay and staff discounts

Generous leave including birthday day

LinkedIn Learning training

Farmlands Card shareholding perks

Support for parents

Free parking and great coffee

Job summary

Farmlands is seeking a senior communications leader to shape how we handle media and trust across rural New Zealand. You will direct media pitching, own customer incident responses with Risk and Health & Safety, and ensure comms voices are present in decision making affecting trust and commercial outcomes.

You’ll manage stakeholder communications, internal comms with People and Culture, and external relationships with suppliers, partners and government.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in a senior communications or public relations role with hands-on media relations experience.
• Direct experience in incident/crisis or issues communications, ideally in a customer-facing business.
• Experience managing complex stakeholder relationships in a public environment.
• Track record of growing capability in others through formal leadership or informal mentoring.
• Strong brand and tone of voice consistency across emails, websites and social channels.

Responsibilities

• Lead our media pitching and proactive PR in-house.
• Own stakeholder communications and engagement.
• Own the customer incident and response process with Risk and Health & Safety teams.
• Reset internal comms strategy with People and Culture; manage supplier, partner and government relationships.
• Build capability of the wider comms team and partner with Product and Merchandising on co-marketing.

Skills

Media relations

Crisis communications

Stakeholder management

People leadership

Brand voice

Content strategy

Job description

• Flexible working, with Monday as our team in-office day

• Senior role shaping how Farmlands handles media and trust

• Proudly Kiwi-owned - Aotearoa’s largest farming co-operative

Mŋ te whai waahi | About the opportunity

Farmlands’ marketing team is growing, and this role is central to how we show up for rural New Zealand. You will set the direction for how we handle media and reputation, and how we respond when things go wrong. You will also make sure comms has a voice in decisions that affect trust, reputation and commercial outcomes.

You will lead our media pitching and proactive PR in-house, own our stakeholder communications and engagement, and own the customer incident and response process with our Risk team and our Health and Safety team. You will also reset our internal comms strategy with People and Culture, look after our supplier, partner and government relationships, manage our corporate social good partnerships, including the Rural Support Trust and our rugby partnership, and build the capability of the wider comms team.

This is a hands-on role. You will think strategically and also roll up your sleeves, from writing email campaigns to writing for our senior leaders.

Reporting to the Head of Marketing, Brand and Communications, this is a full-time role with flexible working and Monday as our team in-office day.

Mŋ hou ake | About you

We’re looking for someone who has:

• 10 or more years in a senior communications, corporate affairs or public relations role, with hands‑on media relations experience

• Direct experience in incident, crisis or issues communications, ideally in a customer-facing business

• Experience managing complex stakeholder relationships in a public environment

• A track record of growing capability in others, through formal people leadership or informally

You’ll also bring:

• Sound judgement on risk and governance, and comfort working at senior and executive level

• A strong brand and channel background: you know what content belongs in our emails, on our website and on social, and you keep our brand story and tone of voice consistent across them

• Willingness to work alongside our Product and Merchandising team on supplier and partner co-marketing

Bonus if you have:

• Exposure to government relations, industry bodies or sector partnerships

• A background in local government, central government, an iwi organisation or a co-operative

• Rural or agricultural experience

In addition, you are:

• Level-headed and resilient when the pressure is real

• Quick and highly productive, able to hold a lot of information and reframe it simply

• Able to tell the difference between managing a crisis and managing the story

• Comfortable presenting to senior leaders, and able to take a brief and run with it

Mŋ ဂ painga | About the benefits

Mŋ ဂ painga | About the benefits
Based at our Burnside Support Office, you’ll be rewarded with:

• Competitive pay and great staff discounts

• Generous leave, including leave purchase opportunity, your birthday off and sick leave from Day 1

• Ongoing training and development and access to LinkedIn Learning

• Shareholding opportunity with great partner perks through the Farmlands Card

• Extra support for parents

• Free parking and great coffee

Mŋ matou | About us

At Farmlands Te Whenua Tāroa, we’re here to support NZ farmers and growers to thrive. With over 1,200 people across the country, we’re proud to be a Kiwi‑owned co‑operative built on our values: Be You, Minds Open, See It Through.