Senior PR & Communications Manager

About Irvine Partners

Irvine Partners is a leading creative communications agency operating across South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, the UK and Germany. We help brands build reputation, drive influence and create meaningful connections through strategic communications, creative storytelling, content and digital engagement.

The Role

A Music streaming client is looking for an experienced communications professional to lead and deliver its communications priorities across West Africa, working closely with the Head of Communications for Sub-Saharan Africa. 

This is a senior, hands-on role spanning strategy, cultural storytelling, consumer communications, reputation and campaign delivery. You will translate global priorities and regional business objectives into communications programmes that reflect the distinct audiences, cultures and media environments of West Africa. 

We are looking for someone who identifies what needs attention, develops a clear recommendation and takes responsibility for making it happen. You will own a substantial portfolio, coordinate and direct local PR agency execution on the client's behalf, and build strong stakeholder relationships, while contributing ideas and insights to our wider SSA strategy.

What you’ll do:

• Build audience-first communications strategies: Reach Gen Z and Millennial audiences across traditional media, social-first publishers, creator communities, podcasts, newsletters, and emerging cultural platforms.
• Own the West Africa communications agenda: Develop and deliver market priorities aligned with SSA strategy, identifying opportunities, anticipating challenges and making clear recommendations about where to focus.
• Turn insight into strong ideas: Develop proposals with a clear audience, cultural or business insight, narrative, execution plan and intended impact.
• Lead programmes from start to finish: Take responsibility for strategy, planning, stakeholder alignment, delivery and measurement across multiple concurrent campaigns.
• Tell compelling consumer and subscription stories: Help audiences understand the client’s value through relevant stories about discovery, everyday listening, music, fandom, creators and culture.
• Strengthen the client’s presence across the region: Leverage an established network to immediately activate relationships with journalists, creators, cultural commentators and industry voices across entertainment, lifestyle, business, technology and youth-focused platforms.
• Find stories beyond the familiar circles: Identify emerging scenes, communities and voices, developing approaches that reflect differences between markets rather than applying one regional formula.
• Expand market reach across key West African hubs: Tailor communications strategies to address the distinct media landscapes and audience behaviours of primary markets including Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire.
• Direct local PR agency teams with clarity and ambition: Set priorities and briefs for external agency partners, challenge recommendations, strengthen creative thinking and hold the agency accountable for quality, deadlines and results.
• Build alignment across the business: Work with Music, Marketing and relevant regional and global teams to understand priorities, shape opportunities early and coordinate effective communications.
• Support reputation and issue preparedness: Monitor emerging narratives, assess risks and develop messaging, Q&As and briefing materials. Resolve matters within agreed authority and escalate significant issues promptly, with a considered recommendation.
• Maintain strong operational control: Manage timelines, dependencies, agreed budgets and approvals. Keep stakeholders informed through concise updates that make progress, decisions and risks clear.
• Measure what the work achieves: Assess coverage quality, message pull-through, audience relevance, sentiment and creator amplification, using the findings to improve future programmes.
• Contribute to wider SSA priorities: Bring West African insights and ideas into regional planning and support selected cross-market campaigns within agreed priorities and capacity. 

Who you are 

• You have 7+ years of relevant experience in PR, communications, consumer technology, music, entertainment, culture, lifestyle, policy or reputation management.
• You have a strong understanding of Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire’s media, cultural and business landscapes, alongside experience or relationships in other West African markets.
• You have independently led substantial communications programmes and can show how your judgement, ideas and execution contributed to their results.
• You can interpret a business objective, identify the communications opportunity and develop a clear, culturally relevant strategy.
• You are an excellent writer, comfortable producing campaign plans, press materials, messaging, briefing notes, creator briefs, Q&As and senior stakeholder updates.
• You have experience directing agencies and can distinguish a strong recommendation from an activity list. You give clear feedback and hold teams accountable constructively.
• You navigate complex organisations confidently, build trusted relationships and know which decisions you can make independently and which require alignment or escalation.
• You anticipate problems, weigh options and bring practical recommendations. You remain calm and decisive when priorities change.
• You understand creator communications and can brief talent in ways that preserve their voice and credibility.
• You are curious about African music, streaming, fandom, youth culture and the wider creative economy.
• Experience across both agency and in-house environments, multi-market campaigns and reputation-sensitive topics would be valuable. 

How we’ll work 

You will work in regular strategic alignment with the Head of Communications for Sub-Saharan Africa, with clear priorities, decision boundaries and escalation routes. Within that framework, you will independently drive the West Africa portfolio, manage agency and stakeholder relationships, and maintain visibility of progress, risks and opportunities. 

Success means the client shows up through stories that are locally relevant, strategically useful and well executed. It also means stakeholders can rely on you to bring sound recommendations, follow through on decisions and deliver work that requires limited day-to-day oversight. 

Availability and application 

The successful candidate must be available to start in the first week of January 2027, ready to take ownership of the portfolio from the outset. 

Please submit your CV and examples of communications work you have led, outlining your personal contribution, the decisions you owned and the results achieved.