Senior Communications Manager – Corporate

Job Description

With the Women's Rugby World Cup taking place here in England this year, it's an incredibly exciting time to join the RFU and working at the RFU means being part of the ‘bigger picture’ at England Rugby: to be rooted in our purpose, which is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union & develop the sport for future generations. If our purpose resonates with you, and you recognise the value that sport can bring to people’s lives, we’d love to work with you. An opportunity has arisen for a Senior Communications Manager - Corporate to join the Communications team on a permanent basis.

Job Title :         Senior Communications Manager - Corporate

Department :  Communications

Reports to :     Corporate Communications Director

Salary Banding : £65,000 per annum

Job Level :          Guide

Location :        This role is contractually based at Allianz Stadium, offering some flexibility to work from home

Employment Type : Permanent

Working Hours : This is a full time role, covering 35 hours per week

Application Information:

• Please submit an anonymised CV (i.e. please exclude personal details).
• The closing date for applications is 09^thOctober 2025 at 5:00 PM.
• The RFU reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.
• Applications may be considered whilst this vacancy is advertised.

Please note; we are currently experiencing an issue with applications using Live,

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Outlookaccounts. Please apply using a different email address if you typically use one of these domains as we cannot guarantee that you will receive communications from us if you use these.

The Role:

We are looking for an experienced and strategic corporate communications professional to support and evolve the RFU’s reputation and narrative across our wide range of stakeholders — from the rugby community and commercial partners to media, government, and the wider public.

This role is central to shaping how the RFU is perceived — not just as the national governing body for rugby union in England, but as a modern, values-driven organisation with a clear purpose and a vital role in sport and society.

We want someone who can lead with confidence and credibility in a fast-moving environment — someone who can manage complex issues, create compelling messaging, and help bring clarity and consistency to how we communicate our work across performance, community, governance, commercial and development areas.

Responsibilities:

Day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Play a central role in developing and delivering the RFU’s communications strategy to support the growth of rugby and enhance the organisation’s reputation with key stakeholders across all levels of the game.
• Elevate the profile of the RFU, covering elite performance, community rugby, and the organisation’s corporate, governance, and commercial activities.
• Provide strategic media counsel to senior leadership and proactively manage their media engagement to reflect positively on both the individuals and the RFU.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key rugby and sports media to promote a transparent and collaborative approach to communications.
• Develop good relationships with World Rugby, Six Nations, Premiership Rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby, and other global unions to help grow the profile of rugby union.
• Ensure close collaboration across departments to deliver a consistent and joined-up communications approach across the organisation.
• Lead communications for the redevelopment of the Allianz Stadium, working closely with internal project teams and the RFU’s external communications agencies.
• Support commercial activations for the RFU and England Teams, working in partnership with the Commercial team, team communications managers, and commercial partners.
• Coordinate with internal teams and Six Nations Rugby to manage fixture announcements for the Six Nations, Autumn Nations Series, and Nations Cup.
• Support media operations on match days, including acting as a key contact for crisis and issue management.
• Promote the work of the RFU’s Professional Game Match Officials, highlighting their excellence while also managing media issues as they arise.
• Assist in communications related to the RFU’s discipline and safeguarding teams.
• Carry out other duties as required that are consistent with the responsibilities of the role and the evolving needs of the organisation.
• Actively collaborate with colleagues to contribute to the development and delivery of the current strategic, business and operational plans.
• Act as an ambassador for, and promote the best interests of the RFU, including the promotion of our culture and core values – This Rose Means Everyone: Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other.
• Undertake other duties as may be required from time to time as are consistent with the responsibilities of the post and the needs of the organisation.

Qualifications, skills & experience:

The skills and attributes outlined in this description are not exhaustive and we welcome candidates who can bring different relevant experiences to the role.

• Experience of reputation management and corporate communications in an environment with a high level of public scrutiny.
• Proven experience in communications within sport, entertainment, or a similar consumer-facing sector.
• Evidence of sound judgment and decision-making capability.
• Experienced in developing and maintaining strong relationships with the media.
• Excellent writing and planning skills with an understanding of tone and audience engagement.
• Experience working in a multi-stakeholder environment, with the ability to build trust and alignment across diverse audiences.
• An interest in rugby and/or wider sport.
• Committed to embodying the ethos our culture by using our three core values – Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other – to guide your day-to-day decisions, actions and interactions.
• Committed to actively contributing and building an inclusive culture in your role and day to day behaviours.

Additional Information:

• We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to recruitment@rfu.com.
• During your application, we will ask questions about your identity. This information is considered highly confidential and will not be seen by hiring managers. You can find out more about why we ask these questions here.

About Us

About England Rugby

England Rugby or Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby in England. We deliver three core activities, and our purpose is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union and develop the sport for future generations.

Our core activities are:

Our Culture

At England Rugby, one of our core objectives is to drive rugby union to better reflect the diversity of society. We are aware that rugby, and sports in general, has not always been as welcoming an environment for everyone as we would like, and we are working hard to make rugby a more inclusive space for all identities.

We believe hiring people from underrepresented groups into positions at all levels is vital to creating spaces and initiatives that better support those identities. We would love to see applications from disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, people from ethnically diverse communities, people of faith, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and women and non-binary people.

We know that representation is more than just getting people through the door, it’s about keeping people by responding to structural barriers relating to identities and valuing the insights that different lived experiences bring. We have network groups that provide peer-to-peer support and drive forward change internally. We support colleagues to develop, and each colleague has access to a personal coaching platform that can provide same-day one-to-one coaching. We are pushing ourselves to create a more inclusive culture every day through role modelling our BACK behaviours which stand for Brave, Accountable, Collaborative and Keep improving.

We know that flexible working is important to our colleagues, so our guiding principles are designed to support everyone to work in the way that suits them, their teams, and the organization in the best way.

We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to

recruitment@rfu.com.

What we can offer you

We are proud of the range of benefits we can provide:

• A variety of corporate discounts.
• Priority access to purchase match tickets
• 25% discount in Rugby Store and EnglandRugby.com
• 25 days of annual leave and your birthday day off
• Free access to the stadium gym
• Life assurance of 4x your basic salary, income protection scheme and Employee Assistance Programme that offers anonymous and confidential, emotional and practical support 24/7
• After 3 months, you will be enrolled in our Aviva pension scheme and we will match and double your contribution up to 10%
• Ride-to-work scheme, eyecare vouchers and season ticket loans

About Our Team

• 85% feel motivated to perform their role to the best of their ability
• 83% feel supported by their Manager
• 90% agree or strongly agree that their Manager empowers and trusts them to deliver while working from home
• 83% feel informed and connected with the organisation

https://www.englandrugby.com/about-rfu/rfu-policies/diversity-and-inclusion/our-approach