Group Communications & Public Affairs Director
About Us
London Marathon Group works to inspire, champion and increase activity in all ages, abilities and demographics. London Marathon Events is a world-leading events management company and a social purpose organisation and together with our parent charity, the London Marathon Foundation, we work to inspire activity in all ages, abilities and demographics.
The London Marathon Foundation is one of the UK’s major funders of projects and initiatives that inspire children and adults across the UK to lead active and healthy lives.
Beyond our funding, we want to be a leading voice in championing accessible, inclusive and sustainable sport and physical activity, so that everyone – regardless of age, ability or background – can lead an active life.
Our values are integral to who we are, how we work and what we do:
* Impact – together we create positive change
* Innovate – together we enable new ideas
* Everyone – together we champion inclusivity
* Customer first – together we go the extra mile for all
Overview
The London Marathon Group (LMG) is seeking a new Group Communications & Public Affairs Director to lead strategic communications, public affairs, and advocacy for the London Marathon Foundation (LMF) and London Marathon Events (LME). Reporting to the CEO of LMG with a dotted line to the CEO of LME, this senior leadership role will manage the Communications and Customer Engagement teams and collaborate with key departments to deliver the LMG communications strategy. You will also lead the development of an advocacy strategy to drive policy change supporting children and young people's physical activity.
Key Responsibilities:
Communications & PR:
* Lead the delivery of the strategic communications plan for LMG, amplify the Group’s narrative, manage media relations, and ensure consistent messaging across internal departments.
* Development and maintenance of partnerships to deliver the VMOSA (including NBA, Youth Sport Trust, parkrun)
* Lead the relationship with BBC Sport for planning of the broadcast for the TCS London Marathon and amplification of the event across all platforms in the network
* Strategy for editorial narrative for broadcast of TCS London Marathon and other televised events.
* Oversee the customer-first strategy, ensuring best-in-class service across all communication channels, from event registration to customer interactions at events.
* Lead on crisis communications and incident management strategies, ensuring effective responses to escalated media and stakeholder inquiries.
* Work with LME CEO on regular reviews of entry and deferral policies and other topics
Public Affairs:
* Develop and manage key stakeholder relationships, particularly with London boroughs, sports organizations, and local government.
Advocacy:
* Build and lead a CYP advocacy group to create and execute a strategic plan for policy change to mandate daily activity in schools by Q4 2025.
* Build and maintain relationships with MPs, government officials, policymakers, regulatory agencies, and other external stakeholders to advocate for the organisation's interests
About you:
You will have a proven track record in strategic communications, campaign delivery, and reputation management, bringing strong relationship management skills and the ability to engage with stakeholders at all levels. Your knowledge of national government operations, coupled with a passion for promoting physical and mental health benefits through physical activity, will drive your commitment to making a positive impact.
Diversity, inclusion and wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do, and we want to ensure they are at the heart of our company. We strongly value diversity within our workforce and recognise that different people bring different perspectives, lived experience, ideas and culture to the company. This difference brings with it great strengths, including diversity of thought and innovation.
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