Head of External Strategic Communications

Team
Support Functions
Multiple Locations
View all locations

London | Salford

Contract type
Temporary
Position type
Full Time
Salary
Competitive + Benefits
Closing date: 31st July 2025

How We Hire

Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.

About the role

This section tells you all you need to know about the position and its responsibilities, outlining everything we hope to see in a successful candidate.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.

Summary
We’re looking for a senior communications leader to shape and deliver our external communications strategy. This high-impact role sits at the heart of our Corporate Affairs team, combining financial communications, brand alignment, and long-term planning.

Reporting to the Director of Corporate Affairs, you’ll lead the delivery of key financial calendar moments, manage our corporate messaging and Masterbrand presence, and act as the strategic “air traffic control” for external comms across the business.

This is a unique opportunity to shape how a major business communicates with the world. You’ll sit at the intersection of strategy, brand, and leadership—helping to define and deliver a compelling corporate narrative that resonates with business partners and supports long-term success.

Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible. 

Please note this role is a 9 to 12 month PAYE fixed term contract.
All the details

What you’ll do

Your key accountabilities will include

  • Lead cross-Group external communications across Strategy & Performance, People, and Plan A, working closely with Content & Channels, BU leads, and the wider Corporate Affairs team.
  • Own and manage the long-term external comms planning grid, ensuring alignment with internal comms and acting as “air traffic control” for near- and medium-term planning.
  • Deliver key financial calendar moments (Christmas, Full Year, Interim), including messaging, Q&A, briefing notes, media strategy, and content coordination.
  • Be responsible for the production and publication of the Annual Report and AGM, managing agencies and collaborating with Investor Relations and CoSec.
  • Lead insight and sentiment tracking to evaluate message penetration and inform strategy.
  • Develop a clear framework to help communication business partners elevate BU stories (e.g. supply chain, tech transformation, store rotation) into the wider corporate narrative.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include:

  • Proven experience in financial communications, ideally within a FTSE 100–250 company or a leading comms agency (in-house experience preferred).
  • Proficient in project planning and management.
  • Excellent writing and storytelling ability, with experience drafting press releases, reports, and executive briefings.
  • Calm under pressure, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and tight deadlines.
  • Confident working with senior business partners including the CEO, Chair, Investor Relations, and CoSec.
  • A collaborative approach and ability to influence across functions.

What’s in it for you

Working at M&S means being part of something bigger - helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.

Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:

  • 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation
  • Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more
  • Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours
  • Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future
  • Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one
  • Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal
  • Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave
  • 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services
  • One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you

Everyone’s welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

#hybridrole #LI-Hybrid #LI-MW1

Meet the Team

support_thumbnail.jpg
A group of colleagues gathered around a table, smiling and discussing work with laptops open in a modern office setting.

Being an in-person business

We're at our best when we're close to customers, and for many of us at M&S, that means working in store every day.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected. It also means we can solve problems as soon as they arise, learn and grow as a team, build trust, and get closer to our colleagues.

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Tom Employee Experience & Engagement Lead
Jodie Head of Finance

Our ‘Closer to Customers’ programme means we all get to work in a store for seven days every year. We see how our customers experience M&S and we can appreciate the challenges our colleagues face in store. It’s all part of a determination to listen, to understand and to change things for the better.

Tom (He / Him) | Employee Experience & Engagement Lead Read full story

It takes time to turn around a business as big as M&S: you can’t just instantly pivot from managed decline to sustainable growth. But we’ve done the hard yards, there really is a momentum now and it’s not just a few green shoots of recovery. We’re clear about our strategy, our growth is strong and we’re so confident about the future. It’s great to be part of this.

Jodie (She / Her) | Head of Finance Read full story

Make Your Mark

Opportunities to be heard

Your voice and your ideas matter here. Our 8 colleague networks are places to find support, listen to each other and encourage debate. You can pitch ideas ‘Straight to Stuart’, our CEO, or get involved in our BIG (Business involvement Group).

Experience the business

You’ll spend 7 days each year helping in store and getting closer to our customers. We also organise Insight Days, so you can learn more about specific business units, like Foods.

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Colleague Networks

We want you to feel supported, no matter what.

Culture and Heritage Network

Raising awareness of various religions and cultures through events and comms, to educate others and better represent our M&S colleagues and customers.

Forces Community Network

Supporting colleagues connected to the Armed Forces, aiding their transition to civilian life, and ensuring that they thrive in the workplace.

LGBTQ+ Network

Proactively representing LGBTQ+ issues and opportunities to deliver a truly inclusive place to work and shop for our colleagues and customers.

Cancer Network

Fostering a supportive and inclusive workplace culture, addressing stigma, providing guidance and raising awareness to empower and assist colleagues affected by cancer.

Family & Carers Network

A support network for parents and carers, offering a space for colleagues to share experiences, exchange ideas, and access useful resources.

Gender Equality Network

Addressing gender-related challenges, raising awareness, and driving action to ensure equal opportunities for all.

Menopause Network

Initiating and encouraging open conversations about menopause by offering support and sharing experiences.

Health and Wellbeing Network

Providing a safe space for colleagues with all types of health conditions or disabilities and supporting with business initiatives to ensure our stores are truly accessible for our customers.

Benefits

How to Apply

Here’s what to expect at each stage of the application process. This can change depending on the role you’ve applied to. If you need any reasonable adjustments made at any stage, let us know and we can help.

Send us your application

Fill in our short application form and hit submit.

Online assessment

Depending on the role, you may be invited to take part in an online assessment.  Should you be invited to an online assessment your Talent Acquisition Partner will be more than happy to support you with any questions.

Interview

We'll invite you to join us for an interview. This could be remote or in person. Here, we'll ask you some role based technical questions and examine the behaviours we're looking for.

Decision

After we’ve decided, we’ll be in touch. If you’ve been successful, we’ll officially invite you to join the team and let you know the next steps.

Head of External Strategic Communications

Team
Support Functions
Store
London Support Office
Location
London, Greater London
Contract type
Temporary
Position type
Full Time
Salary
Competitive + Benefits
Closing date: 31st July 2025
Reference: 95654