Clients and Industries Communications Leader - Director

At EY, we’re all in to shape your future with confidence. We’ll help you succeed in a globally connected powerhouse of diverse teams and take your career wherever you want it to go.

As the Brand, Marketing and Communications (BMC) function, we collaborate with the business to deliver innovative, future-focused, audience-centric brand, marketing and communications. We have an integrated network of over 2,500 professionals worldwide and together we are building a distinctive brand, driving growth, inspiring people, and bringing our purpose to life.
Join EY and help to build a better working world. 

The opportunity

Clients & Industries has a central role enabling the EY organization to achieve the All in ambition. Communications is a fundamental component of connecting ambition to growth. As a business we need to supercharge the communications around market activation as part of this goal. The pivot to industry makes the go-to-market lens more relevant to accounts with the last mile activation key to our collective growth. 

As the Clients & Industries Communication and Engagement leader, you will be responsible for developing a global strategy and consistent approach for Clients & Industries communications across EY, thereby helping EY to shape the future with confidence, drive purposeful growth and facilitate exceptional client service from the business. You will lead EY’s global communications for Clients & Industries across its domain areas, working closely with service lines and regions. 

A strategic focus for the business is to invest to win in the market. This includes investing in EY people; evolving our sector model; continuing to invest in audit quality; amplifying our leadership in core services; and making differential investments in areas where we are uniquely positioned to accelerate growth. In this role, you will work closely with business stakeholders and CE leaders to ensure communications are supporting this focus and enabling client servers to win in the market. 

Your key responsibilities

This would include reviewing any existing communication protocols and governance models, setting clear frameworks and revised prioritization approaches that can be applied and leveraged across the business with the objective to better connect messages, reduce the volume of communications being sent and eliminate duplication. 

• The Clients & Industries Communications and Engagement Leader will be responsible for driving impactful communications and engagement strategies, programs and initiatives. It is a player/coach role. This includes defining and actioning the global program as well as facilitating support in service of the regions. 


• This role will lead communications for Clients & Industries working in lock step with Clients & Industries teams, sectors, service lines and regions to support EY client service priority programs and ensure the Global Vice Chair, Clients & Industries and the executive leadership team within Clients & Industries is supported. 


• It is important to call out the interconnect with regions. With the All in strategy now live, delivering impact for Regions is paramount and the scope of how this is defined has been redrawn – moving from a cascade to 3 areas to an interlock with 10 regions. This role is instrumental in driving successful teaming, setting the example for the rest of the organization to follow. 


• The role will lead a team of on-shore, off-shore and agency relationships to deliver a world-class communications and engagement strategy. A key objective is to oversee the development and deployment of consistent communications plans that reach key internal audiences globally, while allowing for local input, customization and integration of messages in appropriate channels.


• Significant areas of focus include reviewing existing communication protocols and governance models, setting clear frameworks and revised prioritization approaches that can be applied and leveraged across the business with the objective to better connect messages, reducing the volume of communications being sent and eliminating duplication.


• This role will maintain and refine an approach for audience segmentation to improve the impact and relevancy of communications and to utilize technologies for stronger measurement and performance tracking.


• Strategizing, overseeing and creating meaningful, memorable and impactful content will be a constant priority. 


• While the focus is primarily internal, the role will also contribute to the external profile management of the Global Vice Chair – Clients & Industries, pulling a single narrative together across all audiences.


• Success in this role will be the delivery of relevant, targeted and engaging communications, measured through EY’s Global People Pulse Survey engagement scores, business linkage study, the global brand survey and ongoing analysis of communication metrics. 

Skills and attributes for success

The holder of this role will have:

• Extensive global and area/regional level experience (15+ years) in internal communications and engagement and managing complex programs in a matrix environment 


• Demonstrable attention to detail with meticulous copy-editing skills and commitment to delivering the highest quality output


• Strong experience in digital communications as well as a strong understanding of digital channels, content strategy and audience-centric internal communications


• Proven track record of developing people and nurturing talent


• The ability to challenge views/perspectives while securing buy-in within BMC and beyond


• The ability to develop strategic communications plans which turn vision into action with clear success measures


• Communications that supports transformation and change management, both at the organization and functional level


• Innovative and creative mindset and ability to translate this into EY’s organizational culture


• Elite stakeholder management skills with the ability to convey ideas clearly and influence senior stakeholders


• The curiosity to challenge, the vision to inspire, the heart to empathise, the will to succeed  

Additional qualities

• Vocational expertise: An elevated knowledge of best-in-class communication and engagement practices


• Commerciality: Expertise in how content drives outcomes that lead to business goals 


• Strong leadership: the ability to lead and inspire teams effectively within a global organization


• Project management skills: the ability to think strategically and manage complex global projects to completion.


• Business acumen: the ability to analyze market trends to guide strategic decisions


• Agility: the ability to adapt quickly to change and manage ambiguity in a high-pace, dynamic environment


• Strategic thinking: the ability to support the development and implementation of strategies, demonstrating creative problem-solving skills


• Cultural competence: the ability to embrace diversity and foster an inclusive workplace

What we look for

The person in this role should bring an intimate knowledge of how EY operates and the powerful network across the organization. External candidates will need to show clear evidence of how they have been able to immerse themselves in complex organizations and build advocacy quickly.