Summary of the PR and Communications Manager job at VML

Reporting into the Chief Growth Officer of VML UK, this role will lead communications and PR across the UK, building the agency’s reputation, strengthening leadership visibility and ensuring our best work, people and growth priorities are seen by the right audiences.

Marketing & Communications Strategy

• Proven experience developing and delivering long-term marketing, communications and PR strategies that support business growth, reputation and market visibility.

• Ability to build a clear UK communications strategy aligned to growth ambitions, sector and capability focus areas and commercial objectives.

• Strong understanding of how marketing, communications, PR, thought leadership and content can work together to drive agency profile, credibility and growth.

• Experience translating business priorities into compelling communications plans, with the ability to balance local market relevance with broader regional and global strategy.

• Confidence acting as the key marketing and communications point person for UK, ensuring regular alignment with global marketing and communications leads.

• Ability to build strong relationships with global, regional and local stakeholders to ensure UK plans are visible, connected and strategically aligned.

• Experience advising senior creative and UK Leadership Team on communications opportunities for major work, including awards, festivals, Cannes PR strategies and campaign amplification.Media Relations & Reputation Management

• Strong experience leading trade media relations, ideally within an agency, creative, marketing, communications or professional services environment.

• Established understanding of the UK trade media landscape, with the ability to build and maintain productive relationships with key journalists and editors.

• Ability to guide and support media relations activity where required, ensuring consistency, quality and reputation management across the UK (and beyond to EMEA/Global as

appropriate).

• Experience developing senior leader contact plans with priority journalists across the UK.

• Confident identifying proactive media opportunities that support business priorities, sector positioning, leadership visibility and agency profile.

• Strong judgement in handling sensitive or reputationally important communications, including crisis communications, issue management and escalation to global stakeholders where

needed.

Leadership Communications & Thought Leadership

• Experience developing reputation strategies for senior leaders, helping build their visibility with clients, prospects, media, industry bodies and internal audiences.

• Ability to support UK leaders with thought leadership development that strengthens reputation, supports pitches and contributes to growth targets.

• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to draft clear, credible and engaging leadership communications across internal notes, external commentary, speeches, articles and briefing materials.

• Strong ability to distil complex business priorities into simple, compelling narratives for different audiences.• Experience supporting senior leaders through business change communications with empathy, discretion and sound judgement.

• Comfortable advising leadership teams on tone, message hierarchy, stakeholder sensitivity and communications risk.

• Able to balance strategic counsel with hands-on delivery, ensuring communications are timely, accurate and well-crafted.

Client Profiling & Content Development

• Experience working with client leadership, client management teams or senior stakeholders to identify high-priority clients and opportunities for external profiling.

• Ability to develop thoughtful content ideas for editorial, speaking, awards and on-stage opportunities that benefit both client relationships and agency reputation.

• Strong understanding of how to profile client work in a way that is commercially valuable, creatively credible and sensitive to client priorities.

• Experience working directly with client corporate communications teams to shape and deliver external opportunities.

Agency Profile, Awards & Creative Communications

• Skilled at developing sector-specific content that supports agency positioning, demonstrates expertise and creates meaningful market visibility.

• Strong understanding of how to build agency profile through a combination of PR, awards, thought leadership, events, content and senior leader visibility.

• Experience identifying and shaping stories around agency work, people, culture, capabilities and growth priorities.

• Ability to work closely with creative leadership to identify the strongest work for external amplification.• Strong appreciation of creativity, craft and effectiveness, with the ability to position work in a way that resonates with industry audiences.

• Experience advising on people and agency award submissions, festival communications and campaign amplification strategies. [Creative award submissions sit with another team].

• Ability to support a joined-up approach to agency fame across UK, EMEA, global and WPP communications channels.

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Outstanding relationship-building and stakeholder management skills with senior leaders across VML UK, EMEA, Global, WPP et al.

• Collaborative and diplomatic in approach, with the confidence to challenge constructively when needed.

• Demonstrates emotional intelligence and excellent judgement when navigating complex stakeholder environments.

• Able to work effectively across matrixed organisations, balancing multiple priorities, markets and leadership expectations.

• Comfortable operating as a trusted partner to senior stakeholders, while also driving momentum and accountability across day-to-day communications activity.

PR Agency, Budget & Communications Operations

• Experience managing external PR agency relationships, including briefing, prioritisation, quality control, feedback and performance management.

• Strong commercial and operational discipline, including the ability to manage marketing budgets responsibly and transparently.

• A highly organised and efficient approach in managing press trackers, communications calendars, status updates and reporting processes ensuring accuracy at all times.

• Confident joining and contributing to regional/global press status meetings, surfacing high-value opportunities, new work and priority communications activity.

Communication & Writing Excellence

• Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills.

• Ability to write with clarity and confidence across a wide range of formats, from leadership notes and press materials to thought leadership and internal communications.

• Strong editorial judgement, with the ability to identify the strongest angle, simplify complexity and shape messages for different audiences.

• Meticulous attention to detail and commitment to producing communications of consistently high quality.

• Comfortable working at pace, managing tight deadlines with multiple stakeholders and supporting wider network markets with ad hoc requests.

• Able to maintain quality and composure when handling sensitive, high-profile or fast-moving communications.

Personal Attributes

• Highly proactive, organised and self-motivated.

• Strategic thinker with a hands-on, delivery-focused mindset.

• Calm, resilient and confident under pressure.

• Demonstrates excellent judgement, discretion and emotional intelligence.

• Comfortable operating within ambiguity and shaping structure where it does not yet exist.

• Collaborative, credible and able to build trust quickly with senior stakeholders.

• Curious about the industry, passionate about creativity and committed to building the reputation of VML UK.

• Energetic, commercially aware and motivated by the role communications can play in supporting growth.