Head of Brand & Communications

Company Description

Salary: up to GBP70,000 per annum, plus performance bonus & benefits

We re Together the market leading property finance experts with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Based in Cheadle, South Manchester, we ve been established since in 1974 and have built a team of over 750 colleagues who are passionate about supporting individuals and businesses achieve their property ambitions by making finance work for them.

We pride ourselves on our common sense approach to lending and offer a range of mortgage and secured loan products to individuals and businesses who are typically underserved by mainstream lenders. Our customers are central to everything we do and we work hard to support them to turn challenges into opportunities which make our customers' property ambitions a reality.

We have very clear growth ambitions for our business, but more importantly, we re clear on how we re going to get there. We re proud of our sustainability strategy which has very clear targets across our planet, our communities, our customers and our colleagues and we re determined that together, our impact is greater.

We re looking for great people from all backgrounds and experiences who love working together and putting our customers at the heart of everything we do and that starts with our awesome team of people.

Our Marketing Team

We re an in–house marketing team of 23 that operates like an agency. We work with every area of the business and see our internal customers as clients as well as valued colleagues. We work together to deliver the very best outcomes using insights, creative thinking and idea generation that solves a problem, targets a new audience, enhances our brand, introduces something new and everything in between.

We re a well–rounded bunch which creates an environment for young talent to thrive and the more experienced to mentor and advise the business of the best strategy to support it to where it needs to be.

We re committed to the philosophy that great teams are created from great people with common goals, collaboration, diversity and respect. We are a supportive and friendly team driven by exceptionally high standards

Job Description

The role:

Reporting to the Marketing Director, the Head of Brand and Communications is a crucial role on the marketing leadership team, working alongside the Channel Marketing and Digital Marketing functions.

The purpose of this role is to set the strategic direction and lead the delivery of the Brand and Comms activity for Together. This role is accountable for PR, Content, Social Media, Brand and Design and will work across the broader marketing team to act as the ultimate brand guardian.

This role will also support the delivery of Channel Marketing concepts & propositions, as well as the execution of Channel and Digital activity through brand disciplines such as PR, social, content and design.

The Head of Brand will be accountable for our brand book including brand positioning, tone and identity as well as brand activation; building awareness of Together, our sector and our people. The role is also responsible 3rd party agency management and all creative outputs both internally and externally for Together.

The Head of Brand will coach, manage and develop a team of 11, and work with senior stakeholders across the business to create buy in, enthusiasm and value for the brand strategy at a senior level.

What you'll be doing day to day:

• Lead, coach & develop the brand and communications team currently 11–strong.
• Lead the creative thinking and delivery of brand & comms for Together across B2B and B2C markets
• Liaise with and influence senior stakeholders across the business to share outputs, create buy in and demonstrate value for the brand & comms activity.
• Ensure all activity is measured and reported on, using key learnings to inform future strategies.
• Manage the 3rd party agency relationships
• Lead major projects relevant to Brand & Comms within Together including the Sustainability Comms strategy
• Lead the maintenance of the crisis communications plan and act as Crisis Communications Team Leader when required.
• Deputise for Marketing Director as required.
• Own the brand budget, its allocation, management and forecasting.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate:

An experienced and creative all–round brand and communications leader with excellent influencing, communications and leadership skills:

• Extensive experience in a similar senior brand or communications role across multiple disciplines
• Creatively strong with ability to generate ideas and lead the team through to execution.
• An outstanding people leader with the ability to develop and grow the members of the team according to their individual needs.
• Grounded, confident and ambitious with the ability to develop strong relationships at Exec and Senior Management level
• Possess a strong passion for building brands through brand awareness campaigning, as well as a track record in delivering value demonstrated by clear KPIs and measurement of results.
• Calm under pressure and have experience leading and delivering crisis communications.
• Experience utilising brand tracking research and other measurement tools to create strategy and articulate success.

Nice to have:

• Experience within financial services or regulated environment
• Experience of both B2B and B2C markets

This is a fast paced, high volume role, ideal for someone who thinks creatively and can execute compelling brand communications activity across all disciplines in equal measure, developing integrated communications strategies to best benefit our clients, our customers and our business.

Additional information

Benefits working at Together

27 days holiday (increasing with service), plus bank holidays

Buy & sell holidays

Discretionary annual bonus

Matched pension contribution

Life assurance

Critical illness cover

Health cash plan

Private medical insurance

Free access to company holiday homes

Travel season ticket loans

Ride to work scheme

Free local gym access

Local bar / restaurant discounts

Together Money embraces diversity and inclusion, and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Not only do we welcome difference we celebrate it, support it and really value our colleagues for who they are. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills.