Executive Head: Group Marketing and Communication

About this role

VKB Group is a South African agricultural group that supports farmers and produces food from farm to consumer. Its Corporate Services division is looking for an Executive Head to lead Group Marketing and Communication from its Bloemfontein office.

The job covers reputation, brand, stakeholder engagement and customer experience across the whole Group, which runs several regional and consumer brands.

What you’ll do

• Build and carry out one integrated Group marketing and communication strategy that fits the Group’s business goals.
• Turn that strategy into brand, communication, customer-experience and digital priorities.
• Lead the senior heads of Corporate Marketing, Corporate Communication, Commercial Marketing Services and Client Services, including CSI, Agri H2O, Edutrace and the CRM environment.
• Set mandates, performance expectations and governance rules for each specialist portfolio, while keeping their professional ownership.
• Guide brand governance and the positioning of corporate, regional, commercial and consumer brands.
• Oversee crisis communication, media relations and executive messaging, and advise senior leaders on sensitive matters.
• Plan engagement with shareholders, farmers, customers, employees, communities, government and industry bodies.

What you need

• A completed Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communication, Public Relations, Journalism, Corporate Communication, Business Management or a directly related field.
• At least 12 years of progressively senior experience in marketing, communication, brand management, corporate affairs, CSI, stakeholder engagement or closely related fields.
• At least seven years of senior leadership or strategic leadership experience.
• Proven leadership in a large, diversified, multi-brand or comparably complex organisation.
• Experience with enterprise-wide marketing, communication, brand or stakeholder strategies.
• Experience in media relations, public relations, reputation management and crisis communication.
• Experience leading digital transformation, CRM or customer-engagement initiatives.
• Experience managing budgets, resources and performance reporting.
• A track record of leading senior functional leaders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Advantageous: a postgraduate qualification, Master’s degree or MBA.
• Advantageous: professional accreditation in marketing, communication, public relations or a related field.
• Advantageous: experience in agriculture, agribusiness, food production, FMCG, manufacturing, retail, logistics or financial services.
• Professional proficiency in English, and the ability to communicate credibly with Afrikaans-speaking stakeholders in writing, speeches and interviews.
• Willingness to live in Bloemfontein by an agreed date, and to travel nationally on a regular basis.

Is this job for you?

This job suits a senior communicator or marketer who has led a large, multi-brand business. You should be comfortable leading other senior specialists rather than doing every task yourself. Fluent Afrikaans is a core part of the role.

Tips before you apply

• Have your degree certificates, proof of professional accreditation and a clear record of your years in senior roles ready.
• Show your CV with examples of multi-brand or Group-level strategy, crisis communication and budget responsibility, with clear results.
• Describe your Afrikaans skills in concrete terms, such as speeches, media interviews or stakeholder sessions you have handled.