Communications Coordinator, Corporate Affairs

About Us

We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!

About the role

We have a fantastic opportunity for a Communications Coordinator to join our Corporate Affairs team in the Packaging Division. Working closely with the Director of Corporate Affairs and Corporate Affairs leadership team, you will coordinate and manage delivery of key Corporate Affair moments, campaigns, and the annual calendar of activity.

This role manages reporting, alignment with markets and analysis of activity on a weekly and monthly basis. You will ensure that the Corporate Affairs team delivers high-quality outcomes on time, regularly providing updates, insights, and lessons learned across the business.

Key to the success of the role will be the ability to build and maintain a strong networks across the different DS Smith divisions and functions, and the wider Packaging Corporate Affairs Team. The Communications Coordinator needs both strong project management experience, attention to detail and pro-active mindset to manage multiple projects across a number of specialisations such as a Media campaign, a leadership townhalls calendar and country level change management project.

Finally, there will be a focus on measuring the effectiveness of communication channels and activations, providing insights across the communication teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Internal communications advice - works as a Corporate Affairs leader with the business to plan and deliver key initiatives, assuming responsibility for the success of the Corporate Affairs activities including related plans, targets and execution of all activities
• Able to offer counsel and advice on issues relating to engagement, execution and the effectiveness of the strategy and plan
• Equipped and able to influence and persuade leaders to support new colleague experience ideas
• Identify risks and issues that could impact external reputation and proactively manage them
• Activation of communications strategy and plan – manage communication activations to support business objectives, demonstrating benefits of modern 2-way engagement strategies as a means of building the colleague experience
• Project and campaign execution - constant campaign and project management, including updates to Corporate Affairs, EMEA Leadership Team, etc.
• Measurement and analysis of campaigns and projects, using insights to inform future activities and drive continuous improvement.

About you

• Degree level education, or equivalent, with a preference for graduates of Communications
• Strong knowledge across a full range of face to face, digital, print and broadcast communication channels to reach a mix of connected and non-connected employees
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with cultural awareness, sensitivity to the audience and medium in use
• Passionate storyteller and content creator, able to mine for stories across a European wide network of stakeholders – from commercial to operational teams
• Able to turn complex information into brief, relevant and engaging content to reflect the nature of the stakeholder, audience and message
• Excellent technical skills in applications such as Poppulo (or similar Email client), Qualtrics, MS suite, Adobe (InDesign and Premiere) and digital collaboration and engagement tools
• Excellent project management skills - the ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously, while able to be resilient and deliver results under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Experience of collaborative working and building strong relationship to influence stakeholders to enable the delivery of effective communication activations.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Discretionary bonus
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Pension scheme, life assurance and income protection
• Salary sacrifice electric car scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee Discounts
• Cycle to work scheme

Location: UK/ London (Paddington) – hybrid

To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.

Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.

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