Corporate Communications

Senior communications recruitment calls for genuine specialist insight. With reputations at stake around the clock and the rules rewritten almost overnight by social media, organisations rely on talented communications professionals to protect their brand, and the head of public affairs is a very different appointment from the investor relations lead or the internal communications director. Our consultants work closely with communications teams across the UK and beyond, which gives them a real understanding of where the talent sits and how to reach it. This is specialist PR recruitment, public affairs recruitment and corporate affairs search, applied to the appointments that shape an organisation’s reputation.

Communications leaders we appoint

Most of our assignments in this field sit at director and senior leadership level, where a single appointment shapes how an organisation is perceived by its stakeholders, its media and its people. We appoint across the full breadth of the communications and corporate affairs function.

• Communications directors and corporate affairs directors leading the whole function and advising the executive on reputation, supported by our board level practice
• Heads of media relations and press office, and senior PR and external communications leaders
• Heads of public affairs and policy, managing relationships with government, regulators and stakeholders
• Heads of internal and employee communications, engaging the workforce through change
• Investor relations and financial communications leaders, and the senior managers developing as the directors of the next few years

Disciplines we cover

Corporate communications is not a single discipline, and the right leader for media relations is rarely the obvious appointment in public affairs or investor relations. Stone Executive recruits across the full range of disciplines found in a modern communications and corporate affairs function, matching each search to consultants who understand that specific market.

• Corporate communications & reputation
• Media & press relations (PR)
• Public affairs & policy
• Internal & employee communications
• Investor relations & financial communications
• Brand & marketing communications
• Crisis, issues & sustainability communications

This is the in-house communications function across every sector we serve. Where the brief leans towards demand generation and brand marketing, our sales and marketing practice works alongside us so the right leader is appointed to the right remit.

What is changing in Communications leadership

The communications landscape has changed radically, and the appointments organisations make now reflect it. The growth of social media has rewritten the rules almost overnight, a fragmenting media environment has made reputation harder to manage, and audiences expect far greater openness and transparency than before. Each of these has widened what a senior communications appointment has to deliver.

It shows most clearly in the brief. Where organisations once wanted a capable press office, they now look for a communications director who can advise the board on reputation and risk, engage employees and stakeholders as genuine audiences, and protect the brand across every channel at once. The organisations that treat communications as a strategic, board-level function are the ones that come through difficult moments best.

Why specialist Communications search matters

Senior communications appointments are easy to get superficially right and expensively wrong. A brilliant media operator does not always make a strategic corporate affairs director, and a strong campaigner is not necessarily the person to steady a reputation in a crisis. A search that screens for a polished profile rather than the fit with the organisation’s culture and the demands of the role is the usual reason a senior appointment disappoints, and at this level the cost is measured in reputation, not simply salary.

This is where specialism earns its place. Our consultants spend their time in the communications and corporate affairs market, so they understand the difference between a technically able communicator and a genuine leader who can protect and build a reputation at board level. That judgement, applied at the briefing stage, is what produces a shortlist an organisation can act on with confidence. It is the same research-led discipline that runs through all of our wider executive search work.

Our Corporate Communications search process

Every communications search follows a clear, research-led sequence, scaled to the seniority of the role and the organisation it sits in. A named consultant leads the engagement from first conversation to appointment, supported by our in-house research team, and the four stages below move in order, with timing shaped by the organisation’s availability and the discretion the search requires.

Understanding the role. We begin with the chief executive, board or leaders who own the appointment, building a clear picture of the organisation’s reputation, its stakeholders and audiences, the culture, and what the right person needs to achieve. For a communications director hire, that includes a candid conversation about how much the role is expected to shape strategy, not just deliver messages.

Mapping the market. Drawing on our network and structured research, we identify the communications and corporate affairs leaders who genuinely fit, across competitor organisations and adjacent sectors where the right experience can be found. Senior communications moves are sensitive, so this stage is handled with particular discretion.

Approaching candidates. The strongest communications leaders are settled and well looked after, so they are not responding to advertisements. Reaching them takes a credible, confidential approach and a clear reason why this organisation and this role are worth the conversation, and the standing of our consultants in the market is what opens that door.

Shortlist to appointment. We present a considered shortlist, each candidate backed by a written profile covering communications experience, fit against the brief, and our own assessment. From there we manage the process through interviews and any assessment required, and on to offer and acceptance.

FAQs

To discuss a communications director, head of communications, or senior corporate affairs appointment, please contact our team on 0333 800 1560.