Corporate Affairs Manager, Middle East & Africa at Haleon

About the role

Haleon is seeking a dynamic and experienced Corporate Affairs Manager to join our growing team in Africa, with primary focus on South Africa. In this role, you will play a critical role in shaping and executing our corporate affairs strategy across the African continent, helping us build brand reputation, drive stakeholder engagement, and achieve our business goals. The role will be based out of South Africa (Johannesburg), with frequent travel across key African markets.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive corporate affairs strategy for Africa region to support business objectives and optimise opportunities in the external environment, to building networks of key external stakeholders (media, policy makers, industry groups, patient advocacy groups, NGOs) with a view to shaping and supporting relevant public policy agendas in support of the industry and the business.
• Position Haleon as a leading voice in the African healthcare industry. This includes managing both internal and external communications, identifying key issues and opportunities, and developing proactive messaging to mitigate risks and enhance reputation.
• Champion and drive the design and implementation of programs to deliver on our ESG commitments with a focus on social impact.
• Partner with wider BU teams to build integrated communications campaigns that educate consumers, media and policy makers and drive condition awareness to ultimately drive categories growth and brand penetration.
• Work effectively with external partners (comms/PR/GA agencies) and internal stakeholders (Legal, HR, Regulatory, Commercial) to deliver against the strategy.
• Represent (or identify and prepare company representatives) the company on industry trade associations and building trade association strategy across key markets (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria).
• Monitor external environment, track policy and consumer trends, spot risks and opportunities for business; deliver coherent environmental analysis to business to help shape corporate affairs plans and strategies.
• Build sustained and productive engagement programmes, as well as executive profiling programmes that support and promote Haleon’s leadership.
• Identify, manage and support local issues which may have an impact on Haleon’s reputation, developing proactive and reactive messaging to mitigate potential issues.

• Provide strategic counsel to marketing teams on issues with potential to negatively impact the reputation of our brands.
• Support cross MEA BU Corporate Affairs initiatives.
• Stay up to date on industry trends and best practice to continuously improve the communication strategy.

Qualifications and skills

Essential

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Communications, Public Relations, or a related field. A specialization in Public Policy is a strong plus.
• 8+ years experience in a similar corporate affairs role with a global FMCG. Experience in healthcare / pharma will be a plus, but not essential.
• Experience in issues management and crisis communications.
• Proven ability to develop trust-based relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders such as professional bodies, national governments and advocacy groups.
• Strong stakeholder management and excellent people leadership skills, ability to influence effectively.

Preferred

• Ability to work in a fast-paced and growing environment.
• The ability to work across multiple areas and demonstrate good agility.
• A positive, can-do attitude and a real team player.