Communications Director, North West & Central England
Job description
Our passengers and freight users are at the heart of everything we do. We serve the nation with greener travel choices, connecting friends and families and getting goods to where they need to be. A public sector company, we employ around 40,000 colleagues at locations across the country to make sure that Britain's rail network is available 24/7. People matter here at Network Rail - watch our video to find out more. We're continuing to build a more diverse and inclusive organisation so we're more representative of the nation we serve. To do this, it's essential we become more open and better at celebrating people bringing their authentic selves to work. To learn more about how Diversity and Inclusion is important to Network Rail please click here. About our people and the recruitment process - We're an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly, as we know traditional working patterns don't always fit. If you want to consider working flexibly, just let us know and we'll do our best to help and invest in your career with us, whilst you have a healthy work life balance. We're also a Disability Confident Leader employer and we'll try our best to adapt the process and offer a reasonable alternative to help support people with disabilities access, apply and interview for roles. Brief Description The North West and Central Region employs 8,000 colleagues and links London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, four of Britain's biggest cities, representing 24% of our railway infrastructure. On a typical day we look after nearly 7,000 trains, over a million passenger journeys, and we run one of the busiest freight routes in Europe. We carry 40% of all UK rail freight traffic and each freight train takes up to 76 heavy good vehicles off the road and supports ambitious government decarbonisation targets - with each train producing 76% less carbon emissions than HGVs on average. As a key member of the senior People leadership team, you will make a real difference to how our passengers, our local communities and our colleagues feel about Network Rail. You will set the direction for and lead in the delivery of all aspects of our external and colleague communications, including the cultural aspects of colleague engagement. We are looking for a dynamic, resilient, and passionate leader who can demonstrate a track record of success. You will have a challenger mindset, be able to work at pace when needed and possess the teamworking and influencing skills necessary to achieve results in the right way. This is a 6 month fixed term , you can be based at any of our NW&C Regional offices (Manchester, Birmingham, or Milton Keynes). About the role (External) What You Will Do · A member of the Region's HR leadership team, contribute to the development and delivery of our Regional people strategy, and plans, driving continuous improvement, ensuring delivery of our business priorities, getting the right results in the right way. · Lead the team to ensure a simpler, better ways of working that ensure people from all backgrounds can 'play their part' in the NW&C team. · Role modelling collaborative working across the Region, HR / Comms, TOCs and other key stakeholders to deliver sustainable business performance. · Lead on the Region's business and colleague communications, including branding and the cultural aspects of engagement and ED&I so that we truly do create a culture of high performance. · Set the direction for and lead the delivery of plans for effective external and stakeholder communications, public affairs and community relations, providing strategic advice and responding to emerging events and ensuring adherence to relevant code of practise, undertaking annual assessments with all stakeholders and the production of an annual report. · Lead and ensure effective delivery of the major incident communications plans for the Region. · Drive quality and compliance assurance activity for Communications and engagement, on behalf of the Regional executive team. Qualifications and Experience Required · Educated to degree level or equivalent. · Able to demonstrate success in the field of engagement & change. · Able to demonstrate the ability to motivate, coach, develop and set performance standards, creating a high performing team in a complex and fast-moving communications environment. · Demonstrate passion for communications and understanding of organisational culture, the links between well-being, diversity and engagement, and track record of achieving results in a complex work environment. · Proven ability of developing and delivering comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, integrated communications strategies. · Extensive experience in working in a political environment, working with both local and national government stakeholders Proven understanding of relevant political calendars and legislative assemblies. · Proven influencing and negotiating skills at a senior level. · CIPD preferrable but not essential. How to apply (External) Salary: Band 1B, starting salary £97,850, raising to £110,081 per annum. Closing date: 27th July 2023. Please get your application in as soon as possible, we may close the advert before the listed closing date if we receive enough applications. Late applications will not be accepted. Click apply now to apply. Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our safety vision Where possible we will offer a gender diverse interview panel for this vacancy. Interviews will take place on 2nd August 2023. We value the commitments you may have outside of work and will consider flexible working applications. However, please note that this role would require occasional travel and work from our regional offices. This is a 6 month fixed term opportunity. This role has the potential to become . Our Drugs and Alcohol Standard has changed. All prospective candidates will be required to undergo and pass a drugs and alcohol test. Your application will be rescinded if you record a positive test. All positive drugs and alcohol test results for prospective candidates will be securely held on Sentinel database and a 5-year suspension from applying for a safety critical role, a role which requires PTS certification or a Key Safety role on Network Rail Managed Infrastructure will be enforced. You can visit for advice on accessibility support if you're unsure of the options available. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application. Network Rail Benefits - All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Network Rail
