Internal Communications Manager

Job content

About us

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford. We have a clear mission which informs everything we do: furthering the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship and education by publishing worldwide.

We have been a leading figure in publishing for more than 500 years, and are continuing to evolve as the digital revolution transforms our way of working. We have always welcomed the inquisitive and ambitious; people who challenge us to be better, and who are passionate about helping us to achieve our mission.

About the Role

If you’re looking for a new opportunity, OUP—the world’s largest university press—is looking for an Internal Communications Manager to support the Group Communications function and its delivery with an overriding focus on supporting our publishing divisions. This role focuses on the work for the Academic and English Language Teaching divisions and will work closely with their Communications Leads in the planning and implementation of communications activities to inform, engage and inspire employees. There will be an element of protecting and promoting OUP externally where required on significant campaigns.

The role reports into the Head of Internal Communications, and will be part of a busy global communications function, which is responsible for building and maintaining OUP’s reputation and brand, and for engaging and communicating with our global workforce.

We have a strong, credible reputation, which you will help us to grow and maintain worldwide, to support our long-term business ambitions. You will regularly work and interact with people from all over the world – internally and externally – so an ability to influence, and maintain strong working relationships is essential.

As the Internal Communications Manager you will:

• Develop a thorough understanding of OUP’s current and upcoming business change, with a focus on the Divisions, and an emphasis on understanding the role of communications in those changes.
• In support of the Head of Group Internal Communications and the Communications Leads in the divisions, assess and define the communications needs on a range of projects and programmes, and produce clear communications plans.
• Manage end-to-end communications for specific projects and campaigns, as recommended by the Head of Group Internal Communications and the Communications Leads in the divisions.
• Develop a strong network across OUP, with a focus on other Comms professionals, HR, Learning and Development and Change Management professionals in the divisions and centrally, and key influencers in order to ensure campaigns are well designed, understood and delivered effectively.
• Be an active and fully-fledged member of the Group Communications function and align your work with the internal communication activities of those in the divisions and Group Communications ensuring a consistent approach and benefitting from industry and OUP best practice, and the benefits of matrix working.
• Work with all members of Group Communications to update and deliver activities that reflects the two divisions’ communications strategies and plans.
• Support the Communications Leads to ensure the divisions benefit from a full range of communications disciplines and channels within OUP, including internal communication tools, but also to some extent external public affairs, media, and thought leadership.
• Deliver internal communications best practice, making use of all existing channels (e.g. Yammer, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint etc), and encouraging employees across the divisions to actively share their stories and collaborate using these channels.
• Fully promote the divisions activities to all its stakeholders, including contributing to Press wide digital and print publications as well as providing compelling content for Your OUP global campaigns and social media campaigns.
• Support the Communications Leads in ELT and Academic, in implementing external thought leadership campaigns and responding to emerging issues or crises.
• Support senior leaders in the divisions, particularly the SLT and their divisional business partners such as the HR Directors, to help them meet their communications and change objectives by creating campaign communications plans for key activities and initiatives.
• Ensure that all activities undertaken are appropriately evaluated, and build upon employee and external insights.

About You

OUP is currently undergoing significant transformation as it adapts to providing its products and series within a digitized environment. You’ll be an adaptable, forward-thinking and enthusiastic team player, passionate about our mission, and eager to make a positive difference.

The specific skills we’re looking for include:

• Demonstrable & relevant professional experience of change and transformation communications, preferably on a global scale
• Stakeholder management and relationship building, and the ability to adopt a trusted business partner approach
• Able to understand how to present complex technical, financial or other business information in clear and engaging ways for different audiences
• Strong planning skills and high productivity
• Excellent verbal, written and visual communications skills – the ability to adapt to different cultures and audiences, and high attention to detail
• Clear understanding of communication and change management principles and methodologies, and the ability to build knowledge in others
• Ability to influence and encourage collaboration amongst team members to work towards a common goal

Benefits

We care about work/life balance here at OUP. With this in mind, we offer 25 days’ holiday that rises with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3 days). We are open to discussing flexibility in respect of working hours and the use of technology to support remote working, dependent on role. We also have a great variety of active employee networks and societies.

We help make your money go further by contributing to your pension up to 11%, offering loans and savings schemes through our partnership with Salary Finance, in addition to travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts.

Please see our Rewards and Recognition page for more information. https://jobs.oup.com/uk/jobs/rewards_and_recognition/

We’re all currently working from home at the moment due to COVID. We are currently thinking through how we use our offices in the future and are open to discussing flexibility within this such as a blend of office and home working.

We are committed to supporting diversity in our workforce, and ensuring an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and encourage applications from all.