Group Head of Communications and Public Relations

**Overview**:
Omnia has been in business since 1953 and is listed in the Chemicals sector of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. The Group’s corporate office is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As of 31 March 2021, the Group has a physical presence in 25 countries and operations extending into the African continent, including South Africa, with additional focused operations in Australasia, Brazil, and China.

The purpose of this role is to develop and manage a best practice framework for the Omnia Group communications function.

This must be achieved by:

- Supporting the Omnia Brand and Marketing Strategy
- Designing appropriate communication channels to implement the approved communication framework, leading to:

- An effective internal communications roll-out
- Dissemination of market information for stakeholder engagement design and planning
- Engaging appropriately with external stakeholders to drive brand reputation (aligned to defined brand narratives) and business growth

The Group Communications function is responsible for:

- Being a center of excellence that disseminates information and best practices to divisions to make sure their methods match corporate goals
- Planning, measurement, tracking
- Driving cost efficiencies (e.g. shared services from agencies, agency value extraction)
- Corporate internal comms, managing external media placements
- Managng Group assets (e.g. web, digital platforms), whilst allowing for divisional distinctiveness and brand execution
- Enabling and supporting divisional execution

**Qualifications**:

- A relevant degree in Communications
- Additional business degree an advantage

**Experience**:

- +10 - 15 years’ relevant experience in a related role / sector
- Corporate experience essential
- Understanding of listed entity requirements an advantage
- Agency experience an advantage
- Global, beyond South Africa experience beneficial

**Duties**:
Environmental Scanning
- To remain abreast of current market and environmental trends and dynamics to enable an informed communications response from Omnia Group
- To track daily media and communications activities from Omnia and its divisions to ensure alignment, as well as competitor positioning and narratives, supported by the services delivered by relevant service providers
- To track daily digital and social media activities of the Group, competitors and other relevant stakeholders, supported by the services of relevant service providers

Strategic and Design Planning
- Measure and manage of Omnia Group Communications end-to-end within the defined approval processes
- Enhance and refine the communications strategy to ensure implementation
- Contribute to strategies and related processes to continuously grow Omnia’s market position
- Land appropriate narratives through the correct mediums to target specific audiences
- Design and manage communication processes in close collaboration with divisional marketing and communications representatives for efficiency, alignment and overall effectiveness of Group communication
- Maintain the Group communications calendar (internal and external)

Content Development
- Oversight of the copywriting of, and editing and approvals, of all internal communication
- Support Investor Relations commununications requirements
- Research and compile material as required, including press releases, advertorials, thought leadership pieces, social content
- Provide content as required by divisional marketing functions
- Put in place standards for editing, checking and quality processes within the overall approval protocols
- Support the Events Management team(s) to ensure appropriate narratives are landed with audiences
- Develop speaker notes for executive presentations
- Ensure that all communication and documentation is in line with legislation
- General Public Relations across stakeholder groups

Social Media Strategy
- Work with social media agency to drive implementation of Omnia’s social media plan
- Website content review and management
- Continuously research and monitor the impact of communications using internal and external data resources to identify areas of improvement and effectiveness/success

Agency Relationship Management
- Develop strong relationships with external agencies to enable and enhance the Omnia communications function (e.g. IR, PR, digital, video and events)
- Co-ordinate and facilitate divisional interactions with these agencies to ensure a One Omnia positioning
- Manage and track benefits realisation in agency relationships to ensure Omnia derives the requisite value from suppliers

General
- Budget planning and management
- Implement internal (e.g. newsletters) and external communications (e.g. paid for media) to position Omnia optimally to build earned media opportunities
- Continuously strive to enhance and improve the Omnia communications processes
- Support strategic programmes from a communications point of view (e.g. Culture, Brand, etc.)
- Whe