If you’re a forward-thinking, creative content creator and enjoy shaping key messages in the form of press releases, newsletters, social media management and blogging, a career within PR and comms can be incredibly rewarding – with lots of opportunity for growth and promotion.

When working in PR, you will be expected to build strong relationships with industry influencers, journalists, bloggers and key industry professionals as they will play a crucial part into determining the success and growth of a company.

Valuable content creation would be the main one, shaping key messages to internal and external audiences through a variety of channels. You could be utilising the media, sending out press releases, managing the press, liaising with journalists, or you could be sending key messages to your staff through internal channels such as the intranet and email platforms. These days you’ll be expected to construct newsletters, blogs, social media updates and more. Building strong relationships with journalists and industry influencers like bloggers can also be crucial depending on the industry.

When looking at PR & Communications on a more senior level, you are likely to be responsible for directing and managing junior members of the comms team and you’ll ensure everybody achieves their objectives. This is usually a fast paced environment, where you could be responsible for crisis management as well as the usual day to day, but there’s loads of variety and you never know what the next day could bring.

Press Officer
Public Affairs
Media Relations
Digital Communications
Public Relations Specialist
Marketing & Communications Executive
Internal Communications Specialist
External Communications Specialist
Marketing Communications Manager

Communications Officer
Communications Executive
PR & Communications Manager
Head of PR & Comms
PR & Comms Director

We’ve outlined the latest salary benchmarks for PR & Communications roles in the guides below:

B2B Marketing Salary Guide – South West

B2B Marketing Salary Guide – London & South East

B2C In-house Marketing Salary Guide – London & South East

B2C In-house Marketing Salary Guide – South West

Agency Client Services – South West

Agency Client Services – London & South East

Communications is everything within this industry, the ability to write good content to a variety of audiences is key across all of the roles.  To manage the press and external stakeholders you’ll need good verbal communication skills as well, so understanding how to translate key messages to a variety of audiences, through numerous channels, is the key to success within this industry!

There are certain types of degrees that can help you with getting started in this industry, naturally, Public Relations being the main one, followed by Journalism, Media Studies, English and similar. More senior candidates can often be expected to hold their CIPR and relevant CIM qualifications.

Salary:

£22k – £27k

What They Do:

Supports the PR or comms team with media lists, admin, event logistics, drafting press materials, and monitoring coverage.

Skills Needed:

• Strong writing and proofreading skills
• Organisation and time management
• Social media literacy
• Media monitoring and reporting
• Basic understanding of PR tools (e.g. Gorkana, Cision)

Salary:

£27k – £33k

What They Do:

Delivers press releases, liaises with journalists, helps manage internal comms, and supports social media and event activities.

Skills Needed:

• Press release writing and distribution
• Media relations and outreach
• Internal comms content creation
• Event coordination
• CMS and intranet tools

Salary:

£38k – £50k

What They Do:

Leads campaigns, develops communication strategies, manages agency relationships, and advises on crisis comms and employee engagement.

Skills Needed:

• Campaign planning and media strategy
• Stakeholder management
• Strong crisis communication skills
• Content and channel strategy
• Measurement and reporting (coverage, sentiment, engagement)

Salary:

£50k – £60k

What They Do:

Oversees company-wide messaging, crisis planning, and brand reputation. Manages senior stakeholders and aligns internal/external communications.

Skills Needed:

• Senior-level messaging and storytelling
• Experience handling sensitive or high-risk communications
• Leadership and line management
• Channel integration and campaign measurement
• Business and cultural change communications

Salary:

£65k – £85k

What They Do:

Owns the comms function. Develops overarching strategy, manages reputation risk, and ensures consistent tone and alignment with business objectives.

Skills Needed:

• Comms and reputation strategy
• Crisis and issue management
• Board-level influence and advisory
• Communications planning and governance
• Media and internal comms integration

Salary:

£90k – £120k+

What They Do:

Sets and leads enterprise-wide comms strategy. Oversees internal, external, and executive comms. Often works with legal and HR during sensitive issues and with C-suite on strategic alignment.

Skills Needed:

• Enterprise-wide strategy ownership
• Trusted advisor to executive leadership
• Crisis, reputation, ESG and investor comms
• Team structure and budget ownership
• Policy, compliance and risk comms oversight