Head of Media Relations & Issues Communications

3310 Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.•Washington DC, MA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

This Sr. Director leadership role is responsible for defining and advancing Takeda's brand and reputation globally through enterprise media relations, external stakeholder engagement, issues management, and crisis communications strategy. This leader serves as the architect of Takeda's corporate media approach, strengthening stakeholder trust, building strategic external relationships with key global, pharmaceutical, and policy-based media, and helping ensure the company can effectively navigate an increasingly complex operating environment. Working in close partnership with Communications, Public Affairs, Legal, Investor Relations, and business leaders around the world, this role will build the capabilities, governance, and readiness required to proactively shape Takeda's reputation through proactive media engagement and respond with speed, consistency, and confidence to emerging issues. Reporting to the Head of Corporate Communications, the Head of Media & Issues leads a global team of communications professionals and serves as a key member of the Corporate Communications leadership team. This role is responsible for establishing enterprise-wide media relations, issues management, and crisis communications strategies and capabilities that protect and enhance Takeda's reputation, support business priorities, and enable coordinated communications approaches across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, marketing, or a related field.
15 years of communications and media relations experience, preferably within the biopharmaceutical industry, including leading a team of media relations professionals.
Demonstrated experience leading enterprise media relations programs and building integrated reputation strategies across large, complex, global organizations.
Deep media relations expertise, with existing relationships with key top-tier national, international, business, healthcare, and trade media.
Proven experience leading issues and crisis communications in the pharmaceutical industry, including proactive planning, executive preparedness, stakeholder engagement, simulation exercises, and hands-on crisis response.
Experience working across and collaborating with multiple functions and senior stakeholder groups, including Business communications teams, Legal, Investor Relations, Public Affairs, and executive leadership teams.
Proven success leading and developing global, geographically distributed communications teams and building organizational capability.
Strong executive presence and demonstrated ability to advise, influence, and partner with senior leaders, including C-suite stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to lead through complexity, influence without direct authority, and align diverse stakeholders across functions, regions, and cultures.
Exceptional written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex business, reputational, scientific, and industry issues into clear, compelling strategies and narratives.
Strong business acumen and strategic thinking, with the ability to connect communications outcomes to enterprise priorities, organizational performance, stakeholder trust, and corporate reputation.
Demonstrated ability to serve as a company spokesperson and provide credible, confident counsel to executives during high-stakes situations.
Exceptionally high degree of integrity, confidentiality, professionalism, judgment, and discretion, with experience managing sensitive business and financial matters.

Responsibilities

Define and lead Takeda's global, integrated enterprise media relations strategy through the execution of proactive approaches that advance Takeda's business priorities and narrative, strengthen corporate reputation, and elevate awareness of the company's purpose, innovation, unique culture, and patient impact.
Partner across communications, public affairs, and business functions to identify and maximize opportunities that enhance Takeda's profile at key corporate, business, scientific, and societal milestones, as well as create high-impact opportunities to tell unique and compelling stories that highlight Takeda’s science, brands, and values.
Ensure Takeda's policy point of view is part of the conversation in key centers, including D.C., New York, Brussels, London, and Tokyo.
Work closely with the social and digital team on integrated content.
Build and maintain consistent and strong relationships with key journalists, editors, influencers, and media organizations globally to strengthen Takeda's credibility and visibility.
Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and communicators on media engagement, thought leadership, executive visibility, and reputation management.
Act as the company's primary spokesperson on enterprise topics and ensure appropriate spokesperson readiness and training across the organization.
Lead Takeda's enterprise global issues and crisis communications capability, ensuring the success of the vision, governance, frameworks, and standards that support effective management of reputation-sensitive situations.
Oversee enterprise application and ongoing improvement of Takeda's Issues and Crisis Communications Framework, ensuring consistent approaches to risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, message development, activation, response management, and post-incident evaluation.
Ensure global readiness and rapid response capability through clear governance, follow-the-sun operating models, training programs, simulation exercises, and regional support models.
Provide strategic counsel to executive leaders on issues preparedness, crisis management, stakeholder expectations, and reputational risk mitigation.
Establish and lead Media and Issues Communications Centers of Excellence to strengthen capabilities, consistency, and best practices across Takeda globally.
Define the operating model, governance structure, accountabilities, services, and consultation framework that support communications teams across the company.
Develop enterprise-wide media relations, issues management, and crisis communications standards, methodologies, tools, and training programs that improve organizational effectiveness and preparedness.
Establish measurement frameworks and performance indicators that assess impact, effectiveness, and sentiment.
Foster a culture of continuous improvement by identifying emerging trends, industry best practices, new technologies, and innovative approaches that enhance Takeda's media and issues capabilities.
Lead and develop the Media Relations & Issues Communications team, fostering a high-performing global team and community of communications professionals that drives measurable impact through media engagement and issues management.
Serve as a member of the Corporate Communications leadership team, contributing to enterprise communications strategy, organizational effectiveness, talent development, and long-term capability building.
Partner closely with communications leaders across locations, functions, and business areas to ensure alignment and consistency of processes, procedures, global messages, and best practices, and to support execution of communications activities.
Champion Takeda's values, culture ambition, and ways of working through leadership, communications strategies, and role modeling.