Group Vice President, Communications Planning & Operations

 The Vice President - Communications, Planning & Operations sets the strategic direction for Group Communications, ensuring the function fully supports DP World’s business strategy and brand objectives. Reporting to the Chief Communications Officer, the role provides global oversight of planning, integration and performance, aligning priorities across regions while maintaining flexibility for local adaptation.

The VP is accountable for building and optimising frameworks, processes and tools that underpin effective governance, leadership connectivity and day-to-day operations. This includes leading the annual planning cycle, managing the global budget, overseeing the measurement and insights programme, and driving continuous performance improvement through robust KPIs and data-driven decision-making.

A core responsibility of the role is driving regional integration: working closely with regional communications leaders to ensure their plans align with the global overarching strategy, while enabling the connectivity, collaboration and ways of working required for effective execution. This ensures consistency of approach, efficient deployment of resources, and strong regional ownership of outcomes.

The VP has accountability for global agency relationships, ensuring they provide strategic value and cost-effectiveness as well as ensuring their delivery supports the global communications strategy goals. The VP manages all agency relationships, chairs the global Inter-Agency Team, and ensures suppliers deliver maximum value through integrated programmes and strong commercial stewardship.

A key responsibility of the role is capability acceleration: embedding innovation, best practices and learning programmes to ensure the function remains world-class.

As a member of the Communications Leadership Team, the role chairs leadership routines, acts as a trusted advisor to the CCO, and provides general reputational management counsel across the business. The VP also oversees strategic communications for the DP World Foundation and strengthens alignment with commercial functions such as Group Procurement, Finance and Internal Audit.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Strategy

• Work with the CCO and Communications SLT to develop and maintain the long-term Group Communications Strategy, supporting global and regional business vision, delivering on the DP World Brand Purpose, and strengthening Masterbrand value.
• Provide general reputational management counsel to senior leadership, advising on strategic communications challenges and opportunities.
• Oversee strategic communications activity for the DP World Foundation and other special intiaitives as appropriate

Planning & Regional Integration

• Lead the development and operational management of the Annual Global Communications Plan, informed by performance data and insights.
• Define communications objectives that balance global priorities with regional imperatives.
• Work closely with regional communications leaders to ensure plans are aligned to the global overarching plan, and that connectivity and ways of working across regions support effective execution.
• Oversee the global budgeting process and ensure integration of Head Office COEs and regional activities.

Implementation

• Establish and manage the operating model and supporting processes, enhancing connectivity across global and regional teams.
• Lead the Project Management Office (PMO) with technological support to ensure delivery discipline and governance.
• Deploy global systems that strengthen collaboration and alignment across regions.
• Chair all SLT routines (offsites, calls, conferences), ensuring effective decision-making and delivery against priorities.
• Manage all external agency relationships, chair the Inter-Agency Team, and lead procurement and contract processing for the function, ensuring maximum value from supplier partnerships.

Measurement

• Oversee the global Measurement Framework to track and report against strategic KPIs.
• Analyse campaign-level and media performance, translating data into actionable insights for decision-making.
• Monitor supplier value delivery, leading reviews and tender processes where appropriate.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive the professional development of the function, embedding innovation, best practices, and structured learning to accelerate capability and sustain a world-class team.
• Maintain oversight of innovation in the communications profession, embedding best-in-class approaches and building strong partnerships to strengthen the function.

Tactical Responsiveness

• Ensure the function remains agile in responding to short-term opportunities, emerging issues, and crisis management situations.

Leadership & Team

• Act as a trusted advisor to the CCO, chairing all leadership meetings and forums.
• Serve as primary business partner for Group Communications with Procurement, Finance and Internal Audit.
• Manage and develop a high-performing, engaged team, setting clear objectives, promoting collaboration, and ensuring alignment to DP World’s values, culture and code of conduct.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

Overall, the VP of Communications Planning & Operations brings an organisational capacity, further cementing all parts of the fast-growing Communications function, in line with business expansion. Following are required qualifications, experience, and skills:

• Business or functional leader with 20+ years of experience, including plan development to support functional leadership within the Communications function of DP World.

• Self-starter with good ability to lead global planning and operations approaches to further streamline the organization and ensure the function delivers against DP World’s ambitious business strategy.

• Have experience serving as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, able to provide counsel to C-suite level executives. 

• Experience of coaching and advising global communications leaders and wider teams to ensure strategic integration 

• Understand how a proactive communications and campaigning approach can help realising commercial value for DP World.

• Bring a passion to the role in order build, create and make things better. Possess strong influencing/motivating skills and the ability to drive delivery through others.

• Be intellectually curious.

COMMUNICATIONS & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:

INTERNAL: Group Communications, Regional teams

• Communications departments at Head Office and across the region.

• Act as primary business partner to other functions and businesses within DP World (Procurement, Group Finance, GIA, Legal etc) 

• Work closely with the Chief Communications Officer

EXTERNAL: Act as primary lead for value extraction and relationship enhancement, with:

• Key vendors of the Communications function

• Inter-Agency Team of DP World

• Professional Communications bodies in the Middle East (such as MEPRA) and at global level (such as the Institute of PR, Arthur Page Society, and AMEC).

• Training & Education partners