Manager, Communication, Public and Media Relations at Exxaro Resources

PURPOSE:

• To create and foster an environment which enables investors and other stakeholders to understand why Exxaro shares are the preferred shares to invest in, relative to industry peers, by setting a high quality, long-term vision for internal and external communication, managing public relations, ensuring coherent and consistent messaging, and promoting a culture of thought leadership, and out-of-box thinking to achieve Exxaro’s strategic objectives
• Facilitate the use, development and introduction of new technologies, processes, and strategies to improve communication and ensure that the channels used are effective and enable stakeholder engagement for the conveyance of the Exxaro message
• Keeping abreast of news and other media developments in the mining, energy, macroeconomic and political sectors and implementing these to improve the company's efficiency, safety, and sustainability through effective communication to inform decision making, inform business strategy and ensure that business is able to share a compelling vision of Exxaro to attract investors and other stakeholders
• Analysing the risks associated with a poor/ineffective communication strategies, brand management, stakeholder engagement or processes and developing strategies to mitigate these risks.
• Work with other departments within the company (e.g., Operations, Marketing, HR, Finance, Sustainable Impact, IM) to integrate effective, innovative communications, brand managements and public relations practices which foster a culture supportive of building and maintain long-term relationships of trust to enable stakeholders to invest and work with us.
• Bring a focus to create a clear relationship between audience and channels, balance media and social content to match comms priorities, use high quality content to consistently reach key audiences, and appropriate use of social spend to target key audiences and regions to create business value.
• Oversees the development, implementation and embalmment of the group brand, engagement, and communication strategy and related projects, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and meet the desired objectives.
•  Identify and track emerging trends to understand how these trends could impact the business and how the business can leverage them to strengthen and protect Exxaro’s credibility and reputation.
•  Set, monitor, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success and impact of the communications, public relations and media strategies implemented.
• To manage all aspects of data collection, analysis, and interpretation to drive efficiency and operational effectiveness within the Group
• To assist the organisation in dealing with complex communication, public and media relations challenges in a simple manner easily understood by all
• Understand and prepare relevant communication, public and media relations solutions in response to brand and reputational opportunities and threats
• Support and business process improvement and change management initiatives to foster business resilience.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• B Degree (Hons) (Relevant) (Essential/Minimum)
• Master of Business Administration (Recommended/Desirable)
• BA (Hons) Communication Management (Essential/Minimum or)

EXPERIENCE: 

• 10 years Senior Management experience in managing complex projects/ programs with organisation-wide and external impact. 

REQUIREMENTS: 

• Psychometric Assessment (Essential/Minimum)
• Certificate of Fitness (Essential/Minimum)

Duties & Responsibilities:

Brand management and strategic positioning:    

• Work with senior management in the development and implementation of comprehensive public relations strategies, overall corporate message architecture and delivery of external communications plans, processes and vehicles that align with the organisation’s strategic objectives and reputational goals
• Build and nurture relationships with members of the media, including journalists, editors, and bloggers, as well as proactively responding to media inquiries and requests for interviews
• Empower and enable the executive team and anyone speaking on behalf of Exxaro to relay the Exxaro message with clarity, coherence, and conviction by collaborating with the Investor Relations function, conducting research, and writing speaker notes and scripts to enable a single united voice from Exxaro
• Assess and recommend corporate sponsorships, advertising, brand- building opportunities
• Propose and manage changes to corporate identity
• Monitor the media reputation of the company amongst stakeholders and proactively protect Exxaro corporate reputation and brand
• Scan, and monitor information sources to track issues of reputational concern as they arise
• Ensure consistent messaging and branding across all communication channels.
• Protect and enhance the organization's reputation and brand through positive, tailored storytelling and image-building that connects Exxaro with its key stakeholders
• Monitor general media trends and industry developments to identify opportunities and potential threats

Corporate Communications Strategy Development:

• Articulate and maintain the Group’s Communications strategy clearly stating the organisational objectives with communications, public and media relations
• Continuously test alignment of the communications strategy with the organisational priorities, investor, employee and other stakeholder concerns and requests, and market opportunities
• Collaborate with all the functions, to ensure that the strategic objectives of the company align and are complementary with the communication strategies of all functions
• Develop an annual communication plan, linked to the communications strategy, encompassing a view of the scheduled communications, content to be presented, and individuals needed to disseminate / execute the communication encompassing a view of the scheduled communications, content to be presented and individuals needed to disseminate / execute the communication
• Implement a transparent internal and external communication, public and media relations pipeline and portfolio management approach which is aligned with the organisational goals
• Implement an idea incubation and development process to ensure that all internal, external communication, public and media relations are focused, align with the business strategy, and informed by relevant internal and external trends and requirements