"Senior PR and Communications Manager (Arts & Social Sciences)"

About Us

Founded in 1829, King’s College London is the 31st best university in the world and the 5th best in the UK. With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s is home to more than 42,000 students from over 190 countries.

With an ambitious vision for the future, effective and inspiring communications are crucial. As Senior PR and Communications Manager (Arts & Social Sciences), you will play a pivotal role in telling stories about King’s across arts, humanities and social sciences research. Working within our award-winning Communications team, you will lead proactive media relations and deliver compelling stories that strengthen King’s brand and reputation in national and international media. You will work closely with faculties, academics and senior leaders to uncover and tell stories that showcase King’s research and education excellence.

You will provide strategic leadership and direction to faculty communications colleagues, creating and placing compelling and engaging content aligned to the university’s strategic priorities in national and international news outlets, on the website and across King’s digital channels. You will run communications campaigns that resonate with staff, students and external audiences. You will also assist the university’s issues communications response offering strategic advice on messaging and lines to take.

About the Role

You’ll be a curious, driven communicator with a proven track record of securing high-profile media coverage and leading successful communications campaigns. You will have excellent relationship building skills, with strong contacts across national and international media and key influencers. You will also have a strong understanding of how to use digital and social media platforms to amplify stories and reach diverse audiences.

To be successful in this role, you will have experience managing communications professionals, shaping content for multiple channels and translating complex ideas into accessible, eye-catching narratives. You will be highly organised and adaptable and thrive in fast-moving environments while maintaining exceptional attention to detail. You will be a creative self-starter, with a collaborative attitude who can bring people together to deliver impactful results.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite term contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Excellent track record of generating and executing successful, proactive PR campaigns that deliver measurable, positive reputation outcomes for an organisation.
2. Strong understanding of how to leverage social media and other digital platforms to amplify PR efforts and enhance global brand reach.
3. Ability to translate complex material into clear, engaging narratives that inspire and excite diverse audiences.
4. Experience managing communications issues and external reputation challenges, with the ability to provide strategic advice and protect institutional reputation under pressure.
5. Experience using evaluation tools to measure impact, including the use of insights, analytics and emerging trends to inform content and improve performance.
6. Excellent news sense and the ability to craft, brief and pitch compelling stories to journalists and influencers.
7. Experience managing and developing communications professionals, fostering a proactive, creative and collaborative team culture.
8. Excellent stakeholder management skills, with a collaborative approach to working across teams, senior stakeholders and external partners.

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge and/or experience of working in the higher education sector.
2. A professional qualification in journalism, communications or PR.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our How we Recruit pages.

Interviews are due to be held on 4th and 5th February.

Grade and Salary: Grade 7 £53,947 - £63,350 per annum, inclusive of London Allowance

Job ID: 135885

Close Date: 01-Feb-2026

Contact Person: Rebecca Lewis

Contact Details: Rebecca.s.lewis@kcl.ac.uk