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Hey Reader,

Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from an internal communicator in the UK who is job hunting. He asks:

Hey fair question and a good one to ask so that you know your market rate when applying for jobs. In my experience, salaries in internal comms are genuinely all over the place. It can feel impossible to figure out what you're worth and what you should be asking for and there isn't much benchmarking data out there to rely on.

So I reached out to Andy Macleod at Comma Partners, a recruiter who specialises in internal communications roles, to get data from him on current salary ranges for different internal comms roles. Here's what salary ranges he gave me for private sector roles. Bear in mind this data is from the UK market and salaries will vary from country to country, for example salaries in the US are probably higher. So use these as a guide to the relative differences between levels rather than exact figures.

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Ok let's look at some numbers. Here's the salary ranges you can expect to see in internal comms roles right now, all listed in GBP:

Junior roles: £25k to £45k

Junior roles will often have a job title like like Internal Communications Executive or Internal Communications Specialist or Internal Communications Assistant. You can expect a salary somewhere between £25,000 and £45,000.

That's a pretty big range, I know. Where you fall in this range will depend on factors like your location (London roles tend to pay more), the sector (financial services pays better than charities) and any relevant experience or qualifications you bring to the table that make you more valuable to the employer.

At this level, you're typically doing lots of hands-on tactical work: writing, editing, creating content, formatting content for channels, maybe some event support or video work. You're building your skills and probably doing a very varied workload all based on execution and delivery.

Mid-level roles: £45k to £75k

Once you move into a management position (think Internal Communications Manager or Internal Communications Lead), you're looking at a salary range of £45,000 to £75,000.

At this level, you're shifting from pure execution into management territory. You might be managing junior team members, owning the editorial calendar, coordinating the channels, developing annual plans and taking responsibility for content quality and deadlines. You're starting to think more strategically about how comms supports the business and you have more responsibility overall.

Senior mid-level roles: £75k to £100k

There's a tier between manager and director that we can call "senior mid-level roles", your title might be "Senior Internal Comms Manager" or "Senior Internal Comms Lead" or "Senior Internal Comms Business Partner". At this level you can expect to earn between £75,000 and £100,000.

These roles typically involve more strategic responsibility, perhaps leading a larger team or owning a significant chunk of the communications function. You're advising senior leaders, influencing strategy and demonstrating measurable impact.

Head / Director roles: £100k to £200k

And finally we come to the senior leader roles where you may be called "Head of Internal Communications" or "Director of Internal Communications". These roles pay well but there's a huge range, anywhere from £100,000 to £200,000. And in the private sector you can often get performance-based bonuses on top of your salary too, in a previous job of mine I got an annual 20% bonus on top of my salary which was based on both my own individual performance as well a the broader performance of the company.

At Head of/ Director level, you're setting the strategic direction for internal comms across the organisation, building relationships with the executive team, leading and developing your team and demonstrating how your function contributes to business outcomes. Broadly speaking, at this level you're focused more on thinking rather than on doing - you shouldn't be writing the newsletter or optimising a Sharepoint page or editing a video at this level.

These salary ranges are a general guide for the private sector in the UK. If you're in the public sector or charity sector, expect salaries to be at the lower end. If you're in financial services or tech, you might be at the higher end. You can use these as benchmarks to help you negotiate your salary when you get a new job offer (yes, you should always negotiate, every single time). If a recruiter offers you £45k for a senior manager role, you now have data to push back and ask for more and suggest what your market rate is.

Before I finish I would add that salary isn't everything. Benefits, bonus, flexibility, career development opportunities and the quality of the role itself all matter too. A slightly lower salary in a brilliant role with a great team might be worth more to you than a higher salary in a dysfunctional organisation.

I hope this gives you a clearer picture of what you could expect to earn at different levels. Thanks to Andy Macleod at Comma Partners for sharing these salary ranges with me!

Thanks for reading and stay curious,

Joanna

Find me on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and check out my book​

Want to work together?

• Join The Curious Tribe. This is my membership community for ambitious, curious communicators who want to achieve more in their roles and have fun at the same time. Membership allows you to work directly with me for 12 months, make deep connections with other communication pros who 'get it' and improve your skills through training and learning. More info here.
• Ready to review your channels and content but don't know where to start? Download my practical Internal Comms Audit Playbook to guide you through a DIY audit - no expensive consultant needed.​ This has ready-to-use templates and checklists to give you a systematic way to do your own audit which you can repeat every single year. Get it here.
• Take a shortcut. I've developed a collection of tried-and-tested templates, checklists and how-to guides for the key processes you'll need in your role as an internal communicator. You can download my Internal Comms Cheat Sheets here.​

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