Head of strategy, engagement and delivery candidate in London, England, United Kingdom

Summary

I'm a committed, organised, high-performing communications and marketing leader with 22+ years experience across B2C/e-commerce, B2B, Third Sector and Government - as well as 20+ years leadership and people management experience at senior level.
I hold in my armoury 22+ years of experience in delivering high-performing, result-driven communication, content and marketing campaigns. For the past 6 years, I devised and delivered strategic, multichannel digital communications and content strategies and plans for HMRC. These are heavily weighted towards digital channels and content, across owned, earned and paid activities on social media, search engines, CRM & email marketing, GOV.UK guidance, newsletters, press & media, webinars and YouTube videos.
I possess advanced skills in both written and oral communication: I adjust my storytelling and communication style & approach to the audience I wish to engage on an ongoing basis. I dial up and down to present, negotiate and collaborate with colleagues at various grades, across teams within and outside HMRC, including third parties, external agencies and providers, and a wide range of stakeholders. In my role, in any given day youll find me presenting at a Policy Partnership meeting, updating Project Board senior members on the latest successes of the communication campaigns I lead, acting as the trusted communication advisor to senior leaders, whilst discussing very technical website tracking, content and performance optimisation with IT, GOV.UK and Project Teams.
Im particularly adept at strategising content and campaigns that tell engaging, action-led stories in the audiences language to deliver tangible business objectives, aligned with strategic objectives and corporate priorities over the long term. I believe this is down to my personal passion for delivering concrete outcomes. I have successfully achieved this in the private sector, working in very competitive industries such as finance and travel for many years. At HMRC, Ive worked on various key top priorities including: Alcohol Duty Review, Plastic Packaging Tax, Tax Avoidance, Brexit communication and the HMRC Story campaign. I have 22 years experience managing budgets up to £300k per month in the private and public sector, from initial scoping through to procurement and delivery via external agencies and internal partners.
I have a very strong track record of successful campaign delivery, enabling the achievement of strategic priorities and SMART business objectives - whilst being able to demonstrate the tangible contribution made by my communication campaigns. All of the campaigns mentioned above have over-achieved on their communication objectives targets, and also received excellent feedback on the strategy, pace and business results delivered.
I am particularly proud of what I have achieved through the Plastic Packaging Tax campaign. I have driven change in the industry behaviour towards sustainable practices, by reaching businesses with targeted and engaging content - making them aware of the tax implications, bolstering their readiness and driving action to comply and innovate for future-proofing.
I also strategised, planned and lead on delivering a multichannel integrated campaign for the Alcohol Duty Review (the biggest change to this duty in 140 years, supported by a brand new digital duty service). To date this campaign directly drove a minimum of 36% tracked total unique visits and a minimum of 39% tracked engagements with the GOV.UK assets. These results are an outstanding contribution, which keeps growing sustainably - thanks to a rigorous, ongoing cycle of tracking, evaluation, testing & learning, and innovative digital solutions implementation. I achieved this through my expert use of platforms and technology to deliver digital communications such as Google Analytics (including attribution modelling), X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, A/B testing and CRO Google tools, Brandwatch, Google Trends and SEMRush, Moz, SpyFu, Hootsuite, Asana and Trello.
Im commercially aware and experienced at owning teams P&L and clients' / brands' digital financial performance. I recently held a senior post as Head of Department, delivering sustained growth and significant cost-saving (i.e. YoY +57% Revenue, +64% Sales, +97% ROI and -20% budget spent).
Im highly analytical and inquisitive, with a genuine passion for understanding the meaning behind trends and data. I enjoy extrapolating insight that can then be actioned by formulating hypotheses that can be tested to drive continuous improvement and innovation. In my career, I found that my best content-led campaigns were born from real-life audience-led insights. This informed the product / service proposition and positioning, the content & message strategy and execution, and the communication channels selection. My background is solidly rooted in digital communication and marketing since the early 2000s. This is where my passion and expertise lie and where I can make a difference by engaging the right target audience at the right time, with engaging content & messaging to deliver real-world outcomes.
I enjoy working with others, and building long-lasting professional relationships. I position myself as the communication expert for senior to junior colleagues and external stakeholders / third parties. I employ active listening, timely and consistent servicing, honestly advising and steering the business through communication challenges. I recently attended the Steering Board driving the digitalisation of the VAT registration process. This is part of HMRCs drive towards simplification and removal of administrative burden on businesses, delivering on HMRC purpose of being a trusted and modern tax and customs authority. I advised senior board members on the best communication strategy, channels, messaging and targeting as well as highlighting reputational, customer-related and operational risks offering solutions and mitigations to all of these.
I have very strong leadership skills, honed over 20+ years of being a leader and manager at senior level. In my previous role I recruited, led and coached a specialist team of 20 digital experts managing 60 international campaigns, whilst being based in 5 different locations. In my role at HMRC, I directly recruited, led, coached and managed a team of 5 direct reports working together remotely to deliver an organisation-wide, multi-annual campaign during COVID-19 lockdowns. That tested my leadership skills and ability to build a team from scratch during very difficult times. I succeeded by being a genuine, approachable leader who brings the whole self to work and who leads by example to engage others.
Finally, Im an active advocate for equality and inclusion in the workplace. All my teams have been diverse, having recruited them based on skills and not on bias. I see diversity as an asset to any business, one that generates solutions to todays and future challenges. Im an active member of several colleagues' ED&I groups, around aspects and issues that are close to my heart.

Expectations

Looking for a meaningful role, where I can use my skills to make a difference. Particular interest in environmental sustainability, strong skills in communications, marketing, data and insight, 22+ years professional experience and 20+ management and leadership experience.