Communication Manager - Central East & West Africa at IBM

Job Description

Responsible for:

• Coordinating and leveraging relationships with key influencers (primarily media, influencers and analysts) as part of IBM's market conditioning in East, West and Central Africa,
• Creating and driving a pro-active programmer of external relations initiatives such as media announcements, executive interviews, by-liner article placement etc.
• Managing projects such as press conferences, social media campaigns, thought-leadership events, executive interviews as well as issues management.
• Writing and localizing strategic press materials such as press releases, by-lined articles, speeches and briefing documents which can be leveraged in East, West and Central Africa.
• Maintaining strong personal relationships with key media, analysts and influencers.
• Ensuring activities are in line with IBM's corporate strategy and vision while benefitting local business growth and leveraging local experience and expertise.
• Ensuring horizontal interlock with the East and West African CGMs, business executives, sales leaders, other support functions etc.
• Ensuring vertical interlock with the IBM External Relations function and ensuring adherence to IBM guidelines and standards.

Essential skills:

• Advanced media relations skills
• PR in-house or agency, analyst relations or journalism experience
• Team coordination and management skills.
• PR agency management skills.
• Event management skills.
• Advanced writing skills.
• Deep understanding of African business, political, social and cultural issues and ability to translate IBM global themes/messages into locally relevant material.
• Ability to form meaningful relationships with various stakeholder groups.
• Understanding of the application of technology and familiarity with the IT business sector.
• Strong team player, able to work effectively as part of a local team and a large, global enterprise.
• While this person must display a strong degree of independence and pro-activity in order to succeed, he/she must also be also to work in a complex corporate environment and be willing to develop an understanding of and passion for IBM’s global communications strategy, principles and approaches
• As External Relations is a critical discipline of IBM Communications, it is essential that the candidate for this position should possess strong interpersonal, writing and editing skills along with sound organizational abilities. The candidate will work closely with MEA and Global communications specialists, marketing managers, IBM executives, media outlets and analyst organizations to establish a full network of contacts.
• Essential to have strong existing media contacts.
• While this person must display a strong degree of independence and pro-activity in order to succeed, he/she must also be also to work in a complex corporate environment and be willing to develop an understanding of and passion for IBM’s global communications strategy, principles and approaches.

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

Personal attributes

• Strong interpersonal skills – an energetic and enthusiastic ‘people’ person
• Networking skills – the ability to network effectively and build relationships
• Teaming skills – the ability to be accessible and responsive; be prepared to act as a support for the External Relations discipline and team and/or give assistance on projects, and share information, knowledge and experience with broader communications teams.
• Proactive, productive and results oriented – must be able to take a hands-on approach to projects/programs and see them through to completion.
• Collaborative – works well as part of extended teams - ability to work with colleagues in other countries.
• Service oriented – must be able to execute work quickly and maintain high service levels with an ability to provide value to the business

Preferred Tech And Prof Experience

N/A

EO Statement

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.