Senior External Communications Manager

Some careers open more doors than others.

If you’re looking for a career that will unlock new opportunities, join HSBC and experience the possibilities. Whether you want a career that could take you to the top, or simply take you in an exciting new direction, HSBC offers opportunities, support and rewards that will take you further.

The Senior External Communications Manager, Wealth & Personal Banking (WPB), is a member of the Communications team with responsibility for managing communications plans, projects, policies and campaigns for WPB. Being a key part of a team who are specialists in both internal and external communications to position HSBC as a leading provider of personal banking, wealth, insurance and asset management products and services.

The role holder has responsibility to deliver a proactive programme of media relations activities that are aligned to HSBC’s commercial strategy. This will range from managing executive profiling for the Global CEO of WPB, including tier 1 media engagements, speaking opportunities and conferences, written articles, speeches and commentary, and corporate storytelling to investor audiences – through to supporting larger scale co-create projects on key strategic priorities, such as Wealth, Digital and International Services. The candidate would also take a leading role in crisis and issues management.

As an HSBC employee in the UK, you will have access to tailored professional development opportunities and a competitive pay and benefits package. This includes private healthcare for all UK-based employees, enhanced maternity and adoption pay and support when you return to work, and a contributory pension scheme with a generous employer contribution.

In this role, you will:

• Advise senior executives on all aspects of external communications including the Global CEO of WPB and senior colleagues in other functions, such as Communications, Marketing and Risk.
• Lead the development and delivery of communications plans for the Global WPB CEO.
• Liaise with journalists at global top tier media outlets, both proactively and reactively.
• Safeguard the reputation of HSBC and provide crisis/issues management for WPB for global issues as required.
• Play an active role within Global Communications in support of functional excellence and alignment on external engagement and reputation issues. Including in-depth understanding and risk escalation of business and customer trends that could impact the business reputation and performance.
• Manage external PR and social media agencies including strategic planning, agency selection, budget management, monitoring performance and outcomes and managing the vendor relationship.
• Manage executive LinkedIn strategy and content.
• Work seamlessly with counterparts in the Internal Communications team, our Communications team for Asia Pacific, Group Reputation, and wider Communications function, on external engagements and issues management and planning.

To be successful in this role you should meet the following requirements:

Essential:

• A proven track record in developing, managing and implementing external communication plans, translating into solid and practical delivery programmes.
• Ability to understand business issues and devise communication solutions that deliver results, constructing fresh approaches where appropriate and making connections to other issues.
• Able to work within an ambiguous environment, prioritise and reconcile competing demands and resolve complex issues.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including the ability to work confidently and effectively with senior executives across regional/global geographies.
• A strong team player who can work collaboratively with peers and encourage / deliver excellent performance from teams and individuals.
• Ability to work quickly, managing time and multiple priorities effectively.
• Excellent interpersonal, strategic planning and project management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Experience of working with social media channels, in particular LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Desirable:

• Broad knowledge of financial services industry and global marketplace.
• Strong knowledge of communication trends and best practice.
• Strong experience of managing PR agencies, including the ability to manage and interrogate budgets. Or a senior member of a global PR agency team working with similar global FTSE 100 clients.

The base location for this role is London/Hybrid.

You’ll achieve more when you join HSBC.

At HSBC we look to enable our employees to better balance their work / life priorities and have the flexibility required to meet challenging needs as they progress through different life stages. Where possible we will consider the following flexible working options: part-time working, job sharing, term-time working, and working from home and staggered hours. If in considering a role with HSBC you have a need for some flexibility in your working arrangements please discuss this with the recruitment team in the early stages of the application process.

HSBC is committed to being an inclusive employer and providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all. We will provide reasonable adjustments to remove any disadvantage to you being considered for this role. We are proud members of the Disability Confident Scheme, and will offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role. If you would like to receive any information in a different way or would like us to do anything differently to help you apply for our roles, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk:
Email: hsbc.recruitment@hsbc.com
Telephone: +44 2078328500

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions. HSBC has processes in place to avoid nepotism. This means we will avoid circumstances in which the appearance or possibility of conflicts of interest may exist within the hiring process.