Corporate Communications Lead

Company Description
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands. At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview
​​​The Corporate Communications lead will drive executive communications, external engagement opportunities including press and speaker events, as well as developing multi-stakeholder communications strategies and narratives to support business goals and priorities. This person will also develop a deep understanding of the external environment and our corporate strategy including our digital growth plan to proactively identify opportunities and evaluate risks. The role reports to the Head of Global Corporate Communications and is a part of the broader Global Corporate Communications and Public Affairs team.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

* Develops and maintains relationships with key business and financial press covering retail/apparel; maintains and provides team and business partners with insights on key trends and media conversation happening with competitors in the industry.
* Supports Chief Impact & Communications Officer and Head of Corporate Communications in the development and execution of financial communications plans, including: media plans, messaging and Q&A for earnings; proactive and reactive strategies around annual shareholder meetings; and proactive media planning around investor conferences and other financial events.
* Partner to Finance, Strategy, IR and Legal teams to support the above, including managing inputs, reviews, and providing counsel from a communications and reputation management perspective.
* Contributes to the development of overarching corporate communications strategies and narratives that seek to differentiate RLC from competitors and showcase leadership.
* Collaborates with Head of Corporate Communications to secure proactive and vet reactive opportunities for thought leadership and visibility for the CFO.
* Support the Head of Corporate Communications and other Corporate Communications Leads on corporate issues and matters as the need arises, including monitoring, drafting responses, and contributing to issue briefs.
* Maintains crisis playbook and collaborates with agency team to develop and refresh.
* Shared responsibility for corporate media relations strategy and operations.
* Ensure alignment with regional brand and PR teams.
* Prepare communications strategies, key message documents, talking points, press releases, briefing documents, memos and leadership advice notes
* Shared responsibility in managing agency partner
* Collect and utilize internal and external insights to support the development and execution of effective communications strategies
* Participate in relevant industry events to support own development and expertise.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

* ​​​​​Strong business acumen, specifically in luxury, retail, and/or consumer industries with demonstrated ability to connect business objectives and communications strategies
* ​Demonstrated expertise in media relations, including working with financial press.
* ​Proficient in developing impactful, clear and effective communications strategies
* ​Financial acumen with an understanding of and familiarity with financial markets, the regulatory landscape, and the investment community.
* ​Strong writing and storytelling skills with hyper-attention to detail
* ​Experienced spokesperson
* ​Ability to lead oneself; prioritize and manage workload and to work collaboratively across a highly cross-functional environment
* ​Experienced in managing direct reports including delegation and workflow
* ​Experience partnering/providing counsel to senior executives, with courage to champion new ideas and approaches, challenge positions, express unpopular views, and influence outcomes
* ​Extensive knowledge of MS Office Suite (PPT, Word, Excel, SharePoint) and Collaborative Working with Microsoft 365 and Team with ability to quickly learn other applications, as necessary
* ​Collaborative
* ​Ability to facilitate meetings with internal and external stakeholders
* ​Ability to distill high volume of data and insights into executive summaries, reports and presentations. #LI-CE1