PR Manager - 12 Month FTC

Ideas | People | Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world.

We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high‑growth businesses that fuel the economy - and directly advise the owners and management teams that lead them.

We’ll broaden your horizons 

Our Communications and Corporate Affairs team strives to be a gold-standard team, enabling purpose-led conversations, true to our character. Reporting directly to the Leadership Team, the team advises the firm on external and internal communications programmes. This includes a communications programme for our Managing Partner, strategic announcements, PR campaigns and internal communications campaigns to drive behaviour change. Because we know that great ideas can come from anywhere, you can be sure you’ll be heard and have the chance to make a real impact. You'll be supported to build your career, but also to be yourself in the office. You’ll be rewarded with a great work-life balance and a career with real purpose.

We’ll help you succeed 

Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.

You’ll be someone who is both comfortable working proactively and managing your own tasks, as well as being confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors and BDO’s partners. 

As a near £1bn organisation, BDO’s reputation is a crucial element of our commercial success. The BDO Corporate Affairs team – which comprises PR and Public Affairs - is responsible for protecting and promoting BDO’s reputation through the media, politicians and other stakeholders. We work closely with the firm’s Leadership Team to ensure our communications are strategic, authentic and aligned to our business goals.

We are looking for a PR Manager on a 12-month fixed term contact to provide maternity cover, reporting to the Head of PR.

Our PR approach

BDO’s Corporate Affairs team is responsible for protecting and promoting BDO’s reputation through the media, owned media, politicians and other stakeholders. 

We promote our reputation through a series of PR workstreams that:

• Position BDO as an organisation that prioritises the wellbeing of our people and the public interest
• Highlight our expertise and focus on the UK’s mid market with data driven, issues-led PR
• Enable our people to have ‘profitable conversations’ and engage stakeholders that have a commercial impact on our firm
• Deliver consistent, strategic messaging by telling one story/one BDO narrative.

We protect our brand by:

• Building trusted relationships with journalists and key stakeholders
• Managing reputation issues honestly and transparently
• Ensuring our communications are strategic, authentic and aligned to our commercial ambitions.

This will be a rewarding role where there are three key areas of focus:

Corporate PR:

• You will work closely with the Head of PR on corporate PR activities, ensuring our story, corporate narrative and culture is front and centre of all our communications. This includes corporate announcements, people and culture-related PR, issues management and managing inbound media enquiries as part of our 24/7 press office function.
• The role will involve close collaborative working with the marketing, HR and resourcing teams, as well as several PR agencies, to ensure all messages to the market are consistent and coordinated.

Rethinking the Economy campaign: 

• You will be responsible for the delivery of our Rethinking the Economy campaign, an issues-led campaign that looks at the changing economic and regulatory environment and its impact on the UK economy, specifically mid-sized businesses.
• We do this by using data to understand market conditions (Economic Engine Survey, Business Trends, High Street Sales Tracker, Manufacturing Outlook) – and provide ideas and action to create positive change (Mid Market Manifesto, tax policy and issues-led PR).

Rethinking Accountancy campaign:

• Working closely with the Head of PR and the Corporate Affairs Executive, this campaign looks at the changing face of accountancy and how the profession needs to evolve to remain a jewel in the crown of the UK economy.
• This includes important industry-wide issues such as market reform (led by our Public Affairs team), equality, diversity and inclusion, access to accountancy (social mobility, apprenticeships, graduates) and helping people succeed (agile working, wellbeing, culture and a range of HR policy areas). You will lead on the delivery of our flagship Young Minds survey.

You’ll be someone with:

• Is passionate about delivering ‘PR with purpose’ which raises brand profile and protects our reputation
• Has strong commercial awareness and a good understanding of how PR can enable profitable conversations for the business
• Has high expectations of themselves and is a true team player
• Can confidently communicate with a range of internal and external stakeholders
• Has excellent written and verbal communications skills and is able to adapt their communication style dependent on the audience
• Understands the sector and markets we operate in, and is discrete and trustworthy in dealing with confidential information
• Has a strong understanding of the external communications channel mix (media, social media, digital) and the benefits of both earned and owned media
• Has demonstrable experience of working at PR manager level (either in-house or in agency).

You’ll be able to be yourself; we’ll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to the business. We’re committed to agile working, and we offer every colleague the opportunity to work in ways that suit you, your teams, and the task at hand.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for the companies we work with and satisfying experiences for our colleagues, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future 

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.