Head of Communications and External Affairs

Starting salary:  £74,460 rising to £80,072 per annum through annual increments being paid each year (pro rata for part time applicants)

Contract type: Permanent

Work pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
(Part time, annualised hours, compressed hours or term time working considered - discussions at interview stage welcome)

Interview date: 22 May 2025

Post number: 201780

The role

As Head of Communications and External Affairs, you will occupy a critical leadership position within Natural Resources Wales (NRW). This high-profile role offers a unique opportunity to shape how NRW communicates, engages, and influences. You will play a central part in our mission to deliver the sustainable management of Wales’s natural resources.

You will lead the development and delivery of a bold, integrated communications and external affairs strategy that builds trust, drives advocacy, and strengthens NRW’s reputation across all stakeholder groups. Your portfolio will include strategic communications, government relations, public affairs, stakeholder engagement, and media relations.

As a trusted advisor to the Chief Executive and Board, you will provide expert counsel on reputational matters, crisis communications, and high-stakes external engagement. Your ability to navigate complex political, social, and environmental landscapes will be key to positioning NRW as a confident, credible, and authoritative voice across Wales and beyond.

In this role, you will also contribute to the strategic direction and leadership of NRW, working collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation to support our transformation and ensure alignment with national priorities and statutory responsibilities.

This is a rare opportunity to lead at a national level, shape public dialogue, and play a pivotal role in safeguarding Wales’s natural environment for current and future generations.

As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the nearest NRW office to your home and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Sarah Jennings at sarah.jennings@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk  

Candidates who are successfully shortlisted will be invited to attend a Staff Engagement Panel during the week commencing 19 May 2025. Final stage interviews will be held in person on Thursday 22 May 2025.

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

 

What you will do

As Head of Communications and External Affairs, you will be responsible for:

• Lead, inspire and motivate a department of professional communications and external affairs specialist alongside, influencing Leadership Team members over bigger spend in other departments
• As head of profession for communications, provide strategic communications leadership for the organisation, responsible for overall standards, professional development, and strategic direction.
• Lead an effective bilingual, integrated communications service.
• Oversee and maintain all corporate relationships with a range of external partners across all sectors.
• Provide strategic advice to the CEO and Chair and work with the board and Executive Team in their understanding of building advocacy for NRW through their existing networks.
• Establish and maintain good working relationships with a range of external partners and stakeholders, but in particular communications and digital professionals in: Welsh Government; other public sector; Local Resilience Warning and Informing partners, UK partner agencies, Wales and UK media.
• Support innovative approaches to delivery of the sustainable management of natural resources through both direct and enabling activities.
• Develop and lead the communications and external affairs strategies for the organisation.
• Have overall responsibility and decision-making over all marketing, design and print spend in NRW by effective oversight of design and print framework.
• Maintain brand integrity and effective brand growth through setting and maintaining brand standards and working with the business to develop the brand in the most effective way.
• Develop and maintain strong governance across all communications and external affairs function
• Formulate and keep under review any major departmental and functional policies, procedures and practices, being responsible for their implementation, which may be technical or specialist in nature.
• Providing technical expertise on PR & media, design and brand, event management, stakeholder relations, campaigns, crisis communications, issues management, incident communications. 
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
• Be committed to your own development and that of your staff through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills

In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method.

1. Degree level qualification, or equivalent higher education qualification (or equivalent experience).
2. Professional communications and external affairs experience at a senior level.
3. Extensive experience of working as part of a senior management team with experience of developing strategic direction and working with and influencing multiple stakeholders at a senior level.
4. Ability to communicate and influence effectively with a range of audiences using a high standard of written and oral communication skills.
5. Ability to provide motivational leadership through empowering and enabling others.
6. Experience of crisis and incident management from a communications perspective, with the ability to stay calm under pressure, make good decisions and ensure team motivation and well-being.
7. Ability to prioritise deliverables within your work area having a performance mind-set and a proactive can-do attitude
8. Ability to exercise good judgment and decision making, with a demonstrable track record of success.
9. Ability to act as media spokesperson for the organisation across a broad range of topics and scenarios.

Welsh language level requirements

• Essential: C2 

Benefits 

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• commitment to professional development
• health and wellbeing benefits and support
• weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

Please keep reading

If you think you have what it takes to do this role, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch and we will be happy to discuss the role with you in more detail.

We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, neurodivergence, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender expression and gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, culture, or religion.   We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.  

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards.  Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills. 

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