Communications Lead Asia-Pacific and Africa

Description

Position Summary

The Communications Lead for Asia-Pacific and Africa (APACA) serves as communications counselor and provides leadership and support in the creation and delivery of communications strategies aligned to business objectives, helping to advance commercial priorities as well as culture and colleague engagement. This role will partner with various stakeholders across Zoetis to develop and execute a comprehensive communications strategy for the region.

This position is a member of the Corporate Affairs, team reporting to the Head Regional Communications Europe/Middle East and Asia-Pacific/Africa.

The role is accountable for communications strategies that drive business priorities and change in a fast growing and evolving business. This role leads communications alignment across countries in the region and supports strategic communications for the Regional President, APACA.

Position Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic communications advisor to the commercial leaders in the region
• Prepare leaders for external and internal speaking engagements including the development of talking points, briefing documents and PowerPoint presentations
• Support executive thought-leadership platforms aligned to strategic business priorities
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with business press, consumer media, key industry opinion leaders and external stakeholders and industry organizations
• Rollout and pull through internal communication, colleague engagement strategies and plans that engage, align, and inspire colleagues with Zoetis Vision, Mission and Core Beliefs in alignment with the Leadership and Colleague Communications team.
  • Lead the preparation (agenda and content) and organization (logistics, with administrative support) for Town Halls, quarterly People Manager Meetings, Annual Meetings (POA), Central Customer and Media Events
• Coordinate communications for above brand initiatives
• Support product launches through PR and proactive storytelling
• Manage agencies and vendors as appropriate
• Ensure brand consistency at a local level by developing and executing messaging that is aligned to corporate Brand and strategic priorities
• Protect Zoetis’ reputation by anticipating and mitigating potential crises and issues
• In-directly foster and grow communications talent within countries as appropriate
• Serve as the point of contact for local Public Affairs

Organisational Relationships

The Communications Lead APACA must possess a combination of strategic thinking, project management, relationship management, communication and leadership skills and have experience leading and managing through cross-functional influence. To be successful, the candidate must have the ability to:

• Leverage exceptional written and verbal communications skills
• Lead communications strategy and execution leveraging resources in corporate communications and in the business, areas including change management
• Articulate complex issues into an easy-to-understand manner
• Prioritize competing needs in a fast-paced environment
• Provide strategic and analytical communications counsel to senior commercial leaders
• Lead and influence without authority as needed
• Establish common ground while being adaptable to the cultures of teams across our diverse businesses
• Partner with colleagues across Corporate Affairs, Center of Excellence and the International Communications Network, local Leadership and Commercial teams to achieve common goals and leverage resources
• Proactively anticipate and manage opportunities and issues
• Advocate for support, allocate and manage resources in line with the business need/opportunity
• Understand when to communicate critical information with appropriate stakeholders
• Bring innovative and pragmatic thinking to communication issues across the enterprise
• Champion internal and external stakeholder perspectives and provide context as needed
• Act with integrity, candor and a sense of ownership for the business.

Education & Experience

Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in communications, journalism, English or related field
• Master’s degree, MBA or certifications in areas of communications a plus
• Animal health, pharmaceutical, diagnostics or petcare experience a plus

Technical Skills Requirements

Capability requirements:

• 10+ years of experience and demonstrated skills in developing, managing and delivering internal and external communication strategies and plans in multinational matrix organization
• Ability to understand business needs and develop strategic communication plans to support those goals and demonstrate the impact and contribution of plans with an enterprise point of view
• Highly organized and detail-oriented approach to balancing multiple priorities and deadlines
• Ability to create, execute and measure strategic communications plans and frameworks to introduce new ideas and concepts spanning a variety of content (portfolio communications, customer experience, precision animal health, genetics, leadership communications, change communications)
• Capability to maintain grace and professionalism under pressure
• Ability to synthesize complex and technical information and convert it into clear and concise messages for colleagues and other stakeholders
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Ability to successfully counsel and direct senior executives as well as mentor colleagues/direct/indirect reports
• Ability to work effectively within and across functions and levels and build cross-disciplinary teams
• A drive for results and ability to achieve results through cross-functional teams, leveraging organization resources and exerting influence
• Ability to self-direct and direct/lead others to prioritize activities to meet the demands of the business
• Experience managing direct reports; capabilities to develop talent
• Freelance, vendor and agency relationship management experience

This role will require occasional Travel < 20% and occasional after hours/weekend work.

No relocation assistance is not available for this role

About Zoetis

At Zoetis, our purpose is to nurture the world and humankind by advancing care for animals. As a Fortune 500 company and the world leader in animal health, we discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other technologies for companion animals and livestock. We know our people drive our success. Our award-winning culture, built around our Core Beliefs, focuses on our colleagues’ careers, connection and support. We offer competitive healthcare and retirement savings benefits, along with an array of benefits, policies and programs to support employee well-being in every sense, from health and financial wellness to family and lifestyle resources.

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