Head of Communications, Culture & Engagement
Dublin, IE
Canada Life Assurance Europe plc (‘CLE’) is a dynamic insurance company with over 700 people across our offices in Germany and Ireland. We have been operating in Germany since 2000 and have established a fast-growing presence in one of the world’s largest and most established markets. We specialise in providing innovative unit-linked pension, savings, and protection solutions and have become a trusted partner for life insurance products distributed through independent brokers. It is our priority to support our customers at every stage of life with the best products and service, tailored to their needs - and we’re doing it all in a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees.
Role Overview
We are undergoing a significant strategic programme of work to drive growth through product innovation, better efficiencies and experiences through digital and automation and to foster the engagement and energy within the CLE team to execute this transformative ask in the context of changing market dynamics.
Based in Dublin, we are recruiting a Head of Communications, Culture and Engagement for our German business.
This is a strategic leadership position with responsibility for shaping how we communicate, engage, and inspire our people and stakeholders to deliver on our ambitions.
This role will be pivotal in translating strategy into compelling narratives, aligning diverse stakeholder groups, and ensuring clarity, consistency, and credibility at every touchpoint. At its core the role holder will:
• Own and deliver a cohesive communications and engagement strategy and implementation plan of activities aligned to business growth and transformation priorities
• Act as a trusted adviser to senior leaders on messaging, positioning, and stakeholder engagement
• Build confidence, connection, and momentum across our employees and our wider European and global companies as part of the Great-West Lifeco organisation.
What you will help us to achieve
Strategic Communications
• Develop and execute an integrated communications and engagement strategy supporting growth, transformation, and brand objectives
• Develop a strategic narrative for CLE that translates strategy to ownership
• Translate complex strategic, regulatory, and commercial topics into clear, compelling narratives
• Ensure consistency of messaging across our business, channels, and audiences
Leadership & Executive Communications
• Partner closely with the CEO and Executive Team on leadership messaging, speeches, presentations, and key announcements, townhalls
• Support leaders through periods of change, growth, and organisational evolution
• Prepare executives for internal and where relevant, external engagement moments
Culture, Employee Engagement & Change Communications
• Lead internal communications to drive alignment, trust, and engagement across geographically dispersed teams
• Partner with the Executive Team and People & Culture Team to embed the desired culture to sustain growth and ambition of the organisation through its people
• Translate values and cultural ambition into clear everyday messages and stories than resonate with audiences
• Build and execute a communications heartbeat that incorporates storytelling and content creation
• Streamline communication channels
• Design and deliver change communication plans for transformation initiatives
• Strengthen two-way communication, feedback loops, and employee voice
• Lead and activate actions to support culture and engagement activities
• Measure and calibrate engagement to ensure that the plans are perpetually improving
More specific responsibilities
Stakeholder Engagement
• Collaborate with Executive members to align on key strategic communication narrative
• Partner with senior business stakeholders to understand key strategic priorities and objectives and translate these into the overall communication and engagement strategic plan and activities
• Communicate complex technical topics in a people and business-friendly manner
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders and partners across the enterprise
• Tailor communications for diverse stakeholders including employees, Board, cross European and global entities and shareholder
• Ensure cultural sensitivity, effectiveness and cohesion across German and Irish contexts
Leadership
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing Communications and Engagement team
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, learning and continuous improvement
• Ensure a collaborative culture between the IT team and the rest of the organisation as well as partners to enhance efficiency and enablement
• Ensure robust succession planning across the team and use talent strategies to build and retain capability
Capability & Governance
• Establish clear governance, standards, frameworks and measurement for communications effectiveness
• Build and lead internal capability (directly or through partners) as the function matures
• Leverage data and insight to continuously improve engagement outcomes
Innovation
• Develop innovative solutions to support strategic objectives and the needs of the Executive Team
• Implement creative methods to regularly assess organisational progress and sentiment
What you will need to be successful in the role
You will bring a combination of strategic mindset, narrative strength, creativity and executional excellence, with credibility at senior leadership level.
• Proven track record leading communications in a complex, multi-stakeholder, multi-national environment
• Excellent track record in internal communications, culture, engagement, and change management
• Experience advising executive teams and operating at enterprise level
• People Developer - proven leadership excellence to inspire and passionate about team development, fostering a culture of excellence, learning, and inclusion
• Exceptional communicator - written and verbal communication
• Compelling storyteller – with the ability to simplify complexity and create compelling, authentic narratives
• Experience in cross-country and cross-cultural environments, preferably including German-speaking contexts
• High emotional intelligence and stakeholder management capability
• Strategic Visionary - ability to align communications strategy with business goals and long-term vision
• Change Agent - ability to manage transformational change at scale, including cultural shifts
• Data-Driven Leader - experience leading data and analytics programs to unlock insights
• Collaborative Partner - strong stakeholder engagement and executive relationship-building skills
• Results driven mindset with a passion for outperformance
• Commercial with the ability to leverage business value from communication capabilities
• Resilient with proven ability to prioritise and deliver under pressure, with strong project management skills.
• Demonstrable expertise in digital marketing, social media, and content marketing and event planning and execution
• Strong interpersonal, influencing, and collaboration skills
• Ambitious, curious, and committed to driving positive change
• Ability to successfully navigate within varying degrees of ambiguity in a fast-paced environment
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in internal communications, with at least 5 years in a leadership role within a fast-paced environment
Other requirements
Desirable:
• Fluency in English and German (written and verbal)
• Experience across German and/or Irish business contexts
• Experience in financial services, insurance, or another regulated industry
Success Metrics
Strategic Clarity
• Employees understand and can explain the strategy
• One clear, consistent narrative across leaders and markets
Engagement & Culture
• Improved engagement and trust-in-leadership scores
• Positive movement in eNPS and participation in listening forums
• Values and behaviours visibly shaping day-to-day decisions
Leadership Communication
• Leaders rated as clear, authentic, and aligned communicators
• High engagement in leadership-led events, townhalls and forums
Change Effectiveness
• Strong change readiness and confidence scores
• Faster adoption of transformation initiatives
• No issues caused by miscommunication or uncertainty
Cross-Market Alignment
• Shared group identity across Germany and Ireland
• Consistent cultural understanding with local nuance
Reputation & Employer Brand
• External perception reflects internal reality
• Stronger talent attraction and advocacy
The company reserves the right to draw up a shortlist as part of the selection process. Where Agency assistance is required the Canada Life Recruitment Team will engage directly with suppliers. Unsolicited CVs / profiles supplied to Canada Life by Recruitment Agencies will not be accepted for this role.
Even if you don’t see yourself reflected in every job requirement listed on the posting above, we encourage you to reach out and apply if you feel you are a good fit for the role. We are committed to creating a more equitable, inclusive and diverse company, and we strongly encourage applicants of all genders, ages, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, sexual orientation and life experiences to apply.
Canada Life Group Services is proud to be an Equal Opportunities employer. We have created an environment of inclusion and growth to help people achieve their potential, to ensure they can bring their whole selves to work and to feel valued. We celebrate diversity of thought and perspective and want all of our employees to feel valued, respected and supported. We have built a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees and strive to ensure that our behaviours, processes and practices are aligned to this culture.
If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process please contact lifecareers@irishlife.ie and we will be delighted to ensure you are fully supported to be your best.
CLGS supports Equal Opportunity and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.