Executive Director, Communications

Job Summary
Build the profile of the Americas business and management externally and internally within the region with a focus on strategy, business capabilities and achievements, thought leadership, management expertise, regional initiatives, and community impact aligned to the Bank's overall strategic agenda.
Responsibilities
Strategy

• Develop and implement communications strategies to build and protect the reputation of the Bank in the Americas region and ensure business agendas in the region are well communicated, delivered, and consistently aligned with the Bank's global strategy.
• Drive regional consistency of internal and external communications for the geographic region (Americas) covering four countries (eight locations).
• Manage internal and external resources to execute on the communications plan for the region.
• Develop and maintain a network of press contacts to ensure a proactive external messaging strategy is delivered.
• Contribute to overall Corporate Affairs and Brand and Marketing (CABM) priorities as a member of the Europe and Americas (EA) CABM Regional Management Team.
• Manage crisis communication planning and process for the region aligned to global crisis strategy.

Business

• Work in close partnership with Country / Regional CEOs and Business heads, Group CABM teams and others to align on strategy and identify opportunities which directly support the achievement of business goals, and provide strategic and tactical communications advice to business leaders.
• Lead the team to develop communications plans for priority business areas and products in the Americas to ensure coordinated communication plans across all channels, press, thought leadership, web and social media etc.
• Deliver quality communications internally and externally to drive exceptional market level penetration of strategy and messaging in a timely manner.
• Work closely with the Brand & Marketing team for Europe & Americas to identify profile opportunities around marketing activity and ensure consistency of key messaging.
• Identify opportunities for cross EA regional communications by working closely with communications colleagues in UK/Europe and ensuring consistency of messaging across the region.
• Collaborate with colleagues across CABM and the wider organisation to ensure continuous best practice sharing and improvement.
• Lead effective and close collaboration with Europe team for shared Europe & Americas region objectives and priorities.
• Work with the Group, regional and business CABM teams to manage and implement CABM strategy and key projects across the Bank.
• Build strong relationships with colleagues across the organisation; serve as a trusted advisor.

Processes

• Be the centre of excellence for communications and provide guidance across the regional with a view to raising the quality and consistency.
• Manage PR agency partners ensuring briefs are clear and accurate along with the delivery of quality results.
• Manage project budgets where applicable, ensuring alignment with procurement and contract processes.
• Ensure communications activity is measurable. Build explicit understanding with stakeholders of how corporate affairs activities impact awareness and sentiment and ultimately drive business results.
• Ensure adherence to media and external communications policies including appropriate training for spokespeople and ensure access to press is controlled.
• Identify areas for process improvement and recommend ways to increase functional effectiveness and improve operational efficiencies.

People & Talent

• Act as Deputy to the Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing, Americas in her absence, including but not limited to being a Delegated Authority, representing CABM at leadership and business meetings.
• Lead the Americas communications team, ensuring employees are engaged and motivated, providing guidance.
• Share and advise on best practices within the team and with colleagues in UK/Europe and globally.
• Coach team members to enhance their professional and management skills and provide advice for their continuous development.
• Perform as an experienced leader and excellent stakeholder manager, able to work closely with multiple internal and external partners.
• Lead through example, fostering the Bank's culture and values. Set appropriate tone and expectations across the team, working collaboratively with all partners.

Governance

• Lead on delivering governance and operational and reputational risk across the region within the communications team.
• Ensure all communications are in line with the Bank's media and communications policy and

relevant regulatory frameworks.

• Ensure a full understanding of the risk and control environment in the communications team.
• Manage reputational risk identification and communications process in conjunction with relevant function and business representatives to ensure issues are proactively identified and mitigated in-country and all issues are timely reported/escalated in line with Group and local policies and procedures.
• Provide leadership and co-ordination of issues and crisis communications to the functions at regional and country levels.
• Ensure adherence to the Risk Management Framework, Group Code of Conduct and various Policies, Procedures, Guidelines, regulation and controls as set by the Bank and external regulatory authorities.
• Maintain awareness and understanding of the regulatory framework in which the Group operates, and the regulatory requirements and expectations relevant to the role.

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group's Values and Code of Conduct .
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key stakeholders

Internal

• Regional Business and Function heads
• Regional & Country CEO's
• Global CABM teams
• Regional Brand and Marketing team, Sustainability and Employee Engagement teams
• Employees

External

• Media
• Key Agency Partners
• Key vendors and suppliers

Other Responsibilities

• Embed Here for good and Group's Brand and values in CABM.
• Perform other responsibilities assigned under Group, Country, Business or Functional policies and procedures.

Our Ideal Candidate

• Proven experience in communications
• Understanding and experience in issues management
• In-depth knowledge of the local business and political environments
• Experience in developing and implementing successful communications strategies and content campaigns across all channels and platforms
• Proven track record in managing people
• Influencing a culturally diverse team across functions and geographies
• Hands-on self-starter that works well in a fast-paced, dynamic, team-orientated environment
• Proactive, results-orientated and organised with the ability to succeed in a highly matrixed organisation
• High energy individual with a positive attitude
• Strong business/product knowledge and enough expertise to command respect and credibility with senior stakeholders
• Excellent working knowledge of the media including deadlines, interests, agendas, etc.
• Excellent relationships with media at all levels
• Strategic advocacy and communications planning skills
• Incredible attention to detail
• Experience managing budgets and suppliers
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to meet deadlines
• Passion for working as part of a team
• Superior communication skills, both written and verbal for different platforms and formats
• Commercial understanding of Standard Chartered business model and how our narrative can support it

Role Specific Technical Competencies

• Business Markets
• Strategy & Business Model
• Data Gathering and analysis
• Brand Management
• Marketing Strategy & Positioning
• Effective Communications
• Creativity
• Media Channel Management

About Standard Chartered
We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 160 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents. And we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.
Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion. Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Be better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations
• Time-off including annual, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 weeks maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment assessments - some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.
Expected annual base pay range for the role is $157,982 - $217,225 .The final offer will be determined on an individualised basis using a number of variables, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience and education, internal relativity, and specific work location. At Standard Chartered Bank, Base pay is only part of the total compensation package. Discretionary variable pay and a range of attractive bank sponsored benefit programs are available and designed to foster employee overall health and well-being including, but not limited to, a best in class 401k plan with up to 8% employer match, robust medical plan coverage with employer funded Health Savings Accounts, inclusive family building benefits, and flexible/hybrid working arrangements for many of our positions subject to role specific considerations. Learn more about what we offer ( https://www.sc.com/us/careers ).