Communications Manager

Maple Leaf Foods announced that it will be separating into two independent public companies. The new Pork Company, Canada Packers, will be unleashed as a world leading organization producing sustainable meats. This will provide both businesses with a sharper focus to execute their own growth strategy and both are committed to best-in-class strategies.

Canada Packers will be a leader in sustainability produced, premium quality and value-added products. Canada Packers is building its team, and this is an exciting opportunity to join a premium company that is unlocking significant growth potential.

**Our job is to make great food.**:
Canada Packers will embrace Maple Leaf Foods strong values-based culture, where our people are deeply engaged in work that is purposeful, fast-paced, and challenging. We cultivate an open, non-bureaucratic and inclusive workplace that fosters safety and transparency, along with individual leadership and accountability. Each team member has a voice and plays an active role in helping all of us achieve our goals with passion and discipline. We support one another to grow professionally, to learn new skills and to take on challenging experiences in the spirit of continuous improvement.

**The Opportunity**: Reporting to the General Counsel, the Manager, Communications will be responsible for building and managing strategic partnerships with media and agency partners, upholding the reputation of Canada Packers by proactively delivering meaningful communications to various audiences including consumers and customers through strategic public relations campaigns.

This role demands a combination of superior writing, strategic thinking, planning, leadership skills, a track record of flawless execution and delivery with an exceptional understanding of public affairs, media relations and internal communications.

**Snapshot of a Day-in-the-Life**: External Communications
- Manage external media and agency partners in developing public relations campaigns for a variety of initiatives which include the creation of project execution plans, development of communications materials, budget management and ensuring the successful execution of key deliverables.
- Develop external corporate communication materials such as press releases, key messages, Q&As, spokesperson briefing documents, media pitches, media lists, web content and corporate fact sheets.
- Oversee contract management and relationship with Canada Packers key corporate communications vendors. Negotiate competitive contracts with vendors ensuring cost savings and ensure services provided accurately meet the needs of the department (e.g. multimedia distribution and video production services, daily media monitoring services and news release wire distribution services).
- Monitor and respond to issues of corporate concern including drafting key messages, corporate responses and post-issue media and analysis reports.
- Provide strategic communications and material support to Canada Packers senior leaders for business engagements, including media analysis, briefing documents, memos and slide deck content.
- Build and maintain proactive relationships with key media, manage and respond to media inquiries, including media relations for crisis, issues and reputational management situations.
- Support social media strategies and content for external and internal platforms for matters that influence communication and brand reputation.
- Manage daily media monitoring and distribution, including analyzing media reports, distributing sensitive articles to internal departments and employees.
- Develop quarterly earnings media report for the leadership team.
- Provide support to the leadership team in crisis and issues management situations, including development of proactive and reactive strategies that support media and consumer engagement.
- End-to-end flawless event management of high-priority corporate events employee engagement events.

Internal Communications
- Manage and support internal communications within the organization to enhance team members’ awareness and understanding of corporate priorities and initiatives.
- Develop and execute highly confidential change management projects within the organization with thoughtful communication plans and consultation to support cross-functional teams throughout their change needs.
- Create a strong communication bridge from corporate office to hourly team members ensuring awareness of corporate initiatives and consistency of messaging and tone.
- Actively amplify and promote Canada Packers strategic initiatives with internal audiences via engaging communication campaigns.

**What You’ll Bring**:

- Bachelor’s degree in communication, public relations or journalism
- Several years of experience in external and/or internal communications
- Superior writing, editing and content production skills
- Proven ability to create digital corporate content for a wide range of audiences and formats
- Must be p