Parent Experience & Communications Manager

Role Purpose

The Parent Experience & Communications Manager is responsible for crafting and delivering a seamless, end to end experience for parents that combines clear, consistent communications with structured engagement programmes. By aligning the parent journey with Cognita’s brand voice and values, this role fosters deep connection, trust and loyalty while ensuring staff are trained to deliver excellent service.

Key Responsibilities

1. Parent Experience Strategy Implementation

• Implement the parent experience strategy and segment the parent journey and tailor communications, events and support to each stage.
• Use feedback and data from parent and student surveys, as well as feedback loops and QA cycles continually refine the experience, addressing pain points and enhancing moments that matter.

2. Communications Leadership

• Develop clear communication strategies and channels for schools.
• Develop and execute multi channel communication plans that ensure consistent messaging across all schools, in line with best practices.
• Develop frameworks and quality assurances/ best practices to oversee the production of parent handbooks, newsletters, digital announcements and crisis communications.
• Maintain governance over communication platforms and ensure adherence to brand standard.

3. Training & Capability Building

• Principal, Admissions and PX Teams Communications Training: Work closely with Principals, Admissions Managers and PX teams to strengthen their written and spoken communication with parents. Deliver training sessions and toolkits on effective communications (emails, newsletters, parent updates) and comms tools, embedding best practices across schools.
• Assess communication skill gaps among school staff and design training programmes to address them.
• Visit schools and accompany reception and PAs training them on comms skills, comms strategies, comms tactics and channels.
• Deliver workshops, e learning modules and toolkits that build competencies in messaging, writing, presentation skills and parent engagement.
• Monitor training effectiveness and adjust content based on participant feedback and performance metrics.

4. Engagement Events & Onboarding

• Create annual engagement calendars featuring onboarding sessions, transition events, cultural celebrations and community building activities.
• Ensure events are well communicated, well staffed and aligned with parent needs and cultural context.
• Coordinate high impact events that encourage parent advocacy and deepen brand connection.

5. Voice of the Parent & Insights

• Manage the Voice of the Parent (VoP) programme, gathering feedback through surveys, focus groups and digital channels.
• Analyze data to identify trends in satisfaction, communications quality and experience gaps.
• Translate insights into improvement actions and measure the impact of changes.

6. Collaboration & Advocacy

• Partner with Heads of Experience, Principals, Marketing and Sales to embed parent experience and communications goals into broader school strategies.
• Support alumni communications and engagement, leveraging alumni as advocates and storytellers.
• Coordinate referral initiatives, ambassador programmes and testimonial campaigns to enhance advocacy.

Qualifications & Experience

• Educational Background: A bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, public relations, education or a related field is essential. An advanced degree or professional certification (e.g., Certified Professional in Training Management) is an advantage.
• Industry Experience: 3–5 years of experience in a communications, customer experience or learning and development role. Experience in the education sector or a service-oriented environment is highly desirable.
• Training Expertise: Proven track record in developing and delivering training programmes, including conducting needs assessments and measuring impact.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional writing, editing and verbal communication skills. Ability to tailor messaging for diverse audiences and channels.
• Leadership & Project Management: Strong leadership, organizational and project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple initiatives simultaneously and meet deadlines.
• Technical Proficiency: Experience using communication platforms (email marketing, CMS, CRM) and training tools (LMS, virtual meeting platforms). Comfortable analysing feedback data and presenting insights.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking and ability to align communication and training initiatives with broader parent experience goals
• Collaborative mindset with the confidence to partner effectively with Principals, Heads of Experience, Marketing, Sales and external vendors.
• Adaptability and problem-solving skills to respond to feedback and evolving parent needs.
• Attention to detail and commitment to maintaining brand standards.

Cognita is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers, and other third parties to share this commitment. Safer recruitment practices and pre-employment background checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.