Director - Communications at British Council

Purpose Of The Job

To directly contribute to growing British Council Nigeria’s operation, building positive perceptions of the British Council and the UK, with the British Council as a leading global Cultural Relations organisation. To lead on the strategic delivery of (marketing and) communications in Nigeria, including raising the profile of programmes, activities and impact with key stakeholder groups. To  provide leadership for the marketing / communications staff in country, to build communications capacity in the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) project staff, and embed communications at the heart of our projects and programme portfolio, ensuring important media presence, and by contributing to building long-term relationships with all major stakeholders and target groups.
 
The post holder will be a key member of the Nigeria Senior Leadership Team, working collaboratively with the UK and regional SSA MarComms Teams and will be accountable for the MarComms function and line management of the: Marketing Manager; Digital and Social Media Manager; Marketing Insight Manager.

He /she will be comfortable with a highly visible role, during a period of significant growth. He/she will have a broad base of corporate communications experience and have previously led high performing teams.  The post holder must also display a deep understanding of the organisation’s aims, stakeholders and target audiences, the Nigeria operating context and the ability to connect with operational colleagues.

British Council Operating Context
Current: 
Nigeria is now officially the largest economy in Africa. It is also the most populous country with over 180 million citizens. The UK is its largest trading partner. Nigeria holds significant political power in the region and internationally and its society retains a positive attitude to the UK. Therefore, there continue to be major opportunities for the UK and British Council to build on our strong existing relationships with the Nigerian government, institutions and customers/audiences. However, there are complex and substantial risks to this work i.e. security and compliance. 

Nigeria is the British Council’s largest operation in sub-Saharan Africa with offices in 4 cities - Port Harcourt in the south, Kano in the north, Abuja the Federal capital and Lagos the commercial centre. We also have a number of project offices across the country.

Our 200 staff work across a range of states delivering large scale contracts, partnership programmes, examinations, projects as well as services in Arts, Education & Society and English & Exams. We are already achieving substantial impact and income (current annual income is £27.2 million) and have plans to grow and develop our impact further. Partners and clients include government, public and private institutions, foundations, private sector organisations and civil society. We work closely with the wider UK mission including DFID and UKTI. 

Future:  
42% of Nigeria’s population is under 14. The government has recognised that its Vision 2020 must address the aspirations of this young population as part of its drive to achieve peace and prosperity. This has led to unprecedented interest and investment in Education, the Arts and good governance.

This alignment with the UK’s priorities creates a growth environment for the British Council. To be successful in this, we need to build understanding with our UK stakeholders of Nigeria as an emerging economy with substantial commercial and development opportunities as well as the challenges they may be more familiar with. In this we will seek to integrate our approach with that of the wider UK mission.

We intend to expand and scale up our existing programmes, contracts and services in the Arts, Education & Society, English & Examinations and develop offers to fill important gaps such as in Skills. We also intend to ensure that we have a good balance of partnership, customer services and client funded work across all these sectors.

To do all this we need to create the right enabling environment. In addition to developing the professional and technical expertise of our staff, we need to support them to build their relationships within Nigeria, the region and the wider global network. This will ensure we develop as well as adopt and use best practice.

We also need rigorous and compliant frameworks to support our work in areas such as finance, tax & status, security, procurement, compliance and quality management. We have new premises in Kano and have a major premises project under development in Abuja. However, there is still more work to be done, especially in Lagos and Port Harcourt to ensure our premises and technology support our brand reputation for integrity, innovation and professionalism.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main duties

Strategy Development and Implementation:

• Lead the development and delivery of the Nigeria MarComms strategy working with the Nigeria Executive and Senior Leadership Teams, the regional Comms and Digital team and relevant corporate teams.
• Ensure that a robust MarComms plan with agreed targets is developed that reflects the strategic focus for the Nigeria operation.
• Work collaboratively ensuring stakeholder mapping and analysis is up to date and appropriate, enabling deliver of strategy and plans.

Leadership of the Marketing Communications Function:

• Build and lead an engaged and effective MarComms function that operates professionally, flexibly and creatively meeting the needs of the Nigeria operation and regional stakeholders
• Deliver external communications for the Nigeria country operation ensuring consistency of message across all media including print and digital communication materials. Write, proof and edit content.
• Develop and manage relationships with key locally based national and international journalists and media institutions.
• Lead Internal communications to ensure that colleagues in the region, the UK and more widely are fully informed and engaged with the aims and impact of British Council Nigeria’s activities. Write, proof and edit content.
• Work collaboratively with a diverse teams incorporating, SBU heads, project managers, regional and country communication communities, embedding MarComms in all that we do
• Together with the regional / UK digital teams, ensure digital content, for websites, social media sites, e-mail marketing, and online campaigns is created.
• Build capacity in brand management: focusing on consistency, style and tone a of communication, quality in events management and ensure British Council brand compliance of all communication and marketing materials
• Build and lead a team of communication managers across the Nigeria operation to effectively manage the flow of information and planning.
• Create and maintain an up-to-date calendar of events and work proactively with key staff regionally to ensure activities are promoted in an effective and timely way. Develop impact stories and case studies presenting evidence-based impact at country/regional/UK levels
• Maintain and provide reference information as needed to support regional and country based communication and marketing activities
• Work with the regional and country marketing and communication managers to ensure that communications and marketing outcome targets are met
• Provide analyses of communication and marketing activities and brand penetration. Contribute to monitoring and evaluation in respect of communication and marketing for the region and Nigeria
• Manage procurement of MarComms related goods and services ensuring value for money, quality and delivery - in line with corporate standards and policies
• Oversee the commissioning of quality photography & videography which creatively captures our work and impact
• Develop and maintain MarComms ‘collateral’ including images, videography, reach and impact data / stories
• Budget management for the MarComms budget in line with corporate standards.
• Develop and leverage potential for business growth through: research; stakeholder / audience analysis; impact stories; high quality Marketing and Communications campaigns.

Team Leadership and Management:

• Demonstrate effective leadership of Nigeria MarComms staff and ensure that line management of staff is to British Council standards.
• Coach and support individuals and teams.
• Model appropriate leadership styles and British Council behaviours and ensure that staff work in alignment with British Council Values at all times
• Actively support equality and diversity and work to the British Council’s EDI policy at all times
• Ensure that capability and capacity in the MarComms team is fit-for-purpose and able to respond flexibly to changes in the portfolio and operating context.
• Ensure MarComms training for members of the immediate team, operational staff and Senior Leadership Team (where appropriate).
• Actively contribute to the Business Services Leadership team.

Country Team Working and Management:

• As a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), contribute actively on country level strategy, leadership, planning and delivery. 
• Maintain close working relationships with all senior colleagues, seeking out and maximising collaborative working opportunities e.g. with Education and Exams to support achievement of impact in Nigeria.
• Provide MarComms support as required to the West Africa country cluster.

Continuous Professional Development:

• Manage talent and succession planning effectively within the Nigeria MarComms team and SBU teams.
• Ensure career planning, development planning and continuous professional development are embedded in the MarComms and SBU teams.
• Engage in professional networks and continuous professional development to ensure that knowledge and expertise are kept updated.

Key Relationships:

• Country Director, the Nigeria Executive Team and Senior Leadership Team
• Regional Communications & Digital teams
• UK based Marketing, Brand and Communications teams (including Press Office)
• Key colleagues in Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
• National and International media
• Suppliers including marketing, communications, PR and events management
• Key partners and customer groups
• Relevant colleagues in British High Commission

Qualifications and Experience

• Established experience in multi-channel marketing and communications including on-line, offline, internal and external communications, branding and media relations, events management.
• Experience of managing marketing campaigns effectively with successful outcomes
• Experience of building and managing effective relationships with media and suppliers
• Experience managing a team
• University degree
• Professional qualification in communications, marketing, PR or journalism

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