Corporate Relations Manager/Senior Advisor

Purpose

The Corporate Relations Manager / Senior Advisor is responsible for shaping and delivering the firm’s global approach to media engagement and proactive campaigns, triaging incoming requests from external sources, overseeing responses to sensitive and fast-moving issues, and supporting major corporate reporting and firmwide communications priorities.

Operating as a senior adviser and centre of excellence, you will protect and enhance Linklaters’ reputation, provide authoritative counsel to senior stakeholders, and ensure consistent, high-quality communications across jurisdictions.

You will manage and develop talent across the global team, share best practice, and work closely with communications colleagues globally to deliver clear, compelling and impactful communications.

Your key responsibilities

• Act as a key point person for media relations for internal and external stakeholders, establishing a reputation as a trusted source of strategic advice, practical support and best practice.
• Assess incoming requests strategically, using judgement and experience, while responding in a timely and professional manner.
• Reporting into the Communications and Corporate Affairs Lead, develop and deliver global media strategies and communications campaigns that support the firm’s strategic priorities and strengthen its external profile.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with journalists, industry commentators, external agencies and other key stakeholders, leading proactive engagement and managing significant media enquiries.
• Advise senior leadership and communications colleagues on major announcements, thought leadership, sensitive issues and reputational risks, ensuring clear, consistent and coordinated messaging.
• Act as a senior escalation point for crises and high-profile issues, providing counsel, coordinating rapid responses and ensuring appropriate governance, confidentiality and stakeholder alignment.
• Design, embed and continuously improve global policies, playbooks, Q&A documents, statements, toolkits and response frameworks for media relations and crisis communications.
• Lead the drafting, editing and quality assurance of key external communications, including press releases, statements, briefings and campaign materials, distilling complex issues into clear and compelling content.
• Oversee global media monitoring and analysis, using coverage, sentiment and emerging trends to provide actionable insights and briefings for executive and partner audiences.
• Oversee selected major corporate reporting and firmwide communications projects, ensuring content accuracy, transparency, compliance, brand alignment and effective delivery across teams.

Your experience

• Extensive experience in media relations, crisis communications and broader corporate communications for a global organisation, ideally within a leading agency or in-house within professional services or another complex or regulated sector.
• A proven track record of advising senior leaders and delivering high-stakes media engagement, crisis responses, major announcements and proactive communications campaigns.
• Strong relationships with relevant media and experience of developing media strategies and identifying opportunities to promote and enhance positioning.
• Experience of handling sensitive enquiries in order to protect organisational reputation, both handling matters with confidence and good judgement about when to escalate.
• Significant experience drafting and editing high-quality external communications, including press releases, statements, Q&A documents, executive briefings and thought leadership content.
• Strong experience coordinating cross-border, multi-stakeholder projects and working effectively across functions, jurisdictions and cultures, particularly during periods of scrutiny or change.
• Experience contributing to major corporate reports and a sound understanding of the legal, regulatory and risk considerations affecting external communications and public disclosures.

Additional Skills

• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distil complex information into clear, precise and compelling messages for different audiences.
• Strong strategic, influencing and advisory skills, with the confidence and credibility to counsel senior leaders, build trusted relationships and engage effectively with external stakeholders.
• Calm, structured and solutions-focused under pressure, with excellent judgement and the ability to lead an effective response to sensitive or fast-moving situations.
• Commercially aware and proactive, able to identify reputational opportunities and risks and translate the firm’s priorities into impactful communications.
• Advanced analytical skills and confidence using media monitoring, data, digital platforms and AI tools to improve insight, quality and efficiency.
• Excellent organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, contributors and deadlines while maintaining close attention to detail.
• Culturally aware and collaborative, committed to sharing knowledge, embedding best practice and working effectively across a global team.
• Ability to lead, coach and inspire colleagues, fostering professional growth, accountability and consistently high standards.

The Team

The Corporate Relations team acts as Linklaters’ central hub for all major communication activities, supporting divisional practice groups as well as leading firmwide initiatives. The team is responsible for media relations, crisis and issues management, internal communications, and thought leadership. Members work closely with senior leadership to deliver consistent, impactful messaging and uphold best practices. The team plays a key role in maintaining and enhancing the firm’s global reputation.

Linklaters

What sets us apart

At Linklaters

• We offer a truly global work experience and the opportunity to be involved in strategic projects that drive innovation and shape the future of our business
• We belong to a firm that embodies its corporate social, environmental, and governance responsibility commitments
• We remain focused on talent and having the best people which will result in a diverse workforce
• Having got the best people, we want them to feel included, valued and respected so they can perform at their best
• We advocate a speak-up culture to empower our people in sharing their voices and an open-door policy to ensure they are listened to
• We invest in custom-fit career paths for our people in line with their talents and aspirations
• We provide agile working solutions to meet the changing needs of our people and our business
• We are committed to people-first relationships based on mutual trust, respect, and appreciation
• We support the health and wellbeing of our people, providing a safe space to talk about emotions and mental health with access to expert advice as needed
• We invest in developing leaders of the future who demonstrate emotional intelligence and a passion to discover, coach and develop the talents of others

Technical Skills

This list of duties and responsibilities above is not exhaustive.  It is intended to describe the general content of, and requirements for, the performance of this job. As such, the role may also include the undertaking of additional tasks as required.

Application Policy

Applications and CVs (direct or via agency) are only accepted online via the portal. Queries related to our roles must be directed to the relevant recruitment team and not the partners, practices or stakeholders (lateralrecruitment@linklaters.com for legal roles or ukbtrecruitment@linklaters.com for business team roles).