Head of Financial Communications
Takeda · Tokyo
Job Description
About the Role:
A Director level leadership role responsible for defining and advancing Takeda's financial communications strategy and shaping how the company's growth story is communicated to and understood by shareholders, retail investors, analysts, employees and other key external stakeholders. This leader serves as the architect of Takeda's financial growth narrative, ensuring clear, consistent and compelling communications that build stakeholder confidence, deepen engagement and strengthen understanding of the company's strategy, performance and long-term value creation.
This will role will serve as communications partner to the CFO and Finance Leadership Team on communications, with a direct report taking the lead on Global Finance internal communications.
Working in close partnership with Investor Relations, Finance, Corporate Strategy, Legal and integrating with the Communications team around the world, this role will establish the frameworks, governance, and strategic alignment needed to effectively communicate Takeda's business performance and growth ambitions and ensure a seamless connection between enterprise strategy, corporate narrative and brand and financial stakeholder engagement.
How You Contribute:
- Lead Takeda's global financial communications strategy, ensuring a coordinated and enterprise-wide approach to communicating the company's two-horizon growth strategy, business performance, long-term ambition and value creation.
- Serve as the lead communications strategist and advisor to the Chief Financial Officer, developing executive communications strategies that strengthen visibility, credibility and influence with internal and external stakeholders.
- Spearhead Global Finance functional communications, including internal transformation and communications counsel across the Finance Leadership Team.
- Serve as communications partner for CFO and FLT related to employee engagement and non-financial matters.
- Lead the strategic partnership with Investor Relations, ensuring collaboration and impact across investor relations and communications teams that contribute to shareholder and analyst engagement activities.
- Define and continuously evolve Takeda's growth narrative, ensuring consistent activation across earnings materials, investor conferences, executive engagements, annual reporting and shareholder-facing communications. Drive alignment and integration across communications, business units and R&D.
- Serve as the strategic hub for investor-related communications, providing counsel to senior leaders and communicators on financial messaging, stakeholder perceptions and opportunities to strengthen investor and analyst confidence, while aligning business unit or brand communications teams around unified approaches and best practices.
- Set strategic direction for earnings communications and ensure excellence in execution, ensuring compelling and consistent messaging across earnings announcements, supporting materials, executive talking points and stakeholder communications, including media relations.
- Build and maintain strategic relationships with key financial and business media globally, including in Japan, to strengthen understanding of Takeda's strategy, business performance and long-term growth story among investors, analysts and other external stakeholders. Act as a company spokesperson as needed and ensure executive media readiness.
- Oversee communications strategy and amplification for major financial milestones (e.g., conferences and Takeda investor events) and contribute to or direct the creation of key financial stakeholder content and reports (e.g., shareholder meeting materials, annual shareholder letter and annual filings).
- Define and lead Takeda's retail shareholder engagement strategy, ensuring communications effectively support understanding of the company's strategy, performance, purpose and long-term value proposition. This includes monitoring retail shareholder sentiment and emerging trends and designing strategic engagements that enhance engagement and trust.
- Identify and assess emerging business, financial and reputational risks that may impact shareholder confidence, partnering with Investor Relations, Finance, Legal and Communications leaders to develop proactive messaging, engagement strategies and response plans.
- Represent Financial Communications as a key voice within the Corporate Communications leadership team and across the broader Global Communications & Governance organization, ensuring alignment between enterprise communications priorities and investor-facing activities.
- Serve as a member of the Disclosure Committee, providing strategic communications counsel to support governance, transparency, compliance and disclosure requirements.
Enterprise Leadership
- Lead and develop the Financial Communications team, fostering a high-performing global team and community of communications professionals that drives measurable impact through strategic thinking, collaboration and operational excellence.
- Serve as a member of the Corporate Communications leadership team, contributing to enterprise communications strategy, organizational effectiveness, talent development and long-term capability building.
- Champion Takeda's values, culture ambition and ways of working through leadership, communications strategies and role modeling.
- Establish governance, standards, and best practices that strengthen consistency, effectiveness, and measurable impact across financial communications, investor-facing activities, executive communications and shareholder engagement globally.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in communications, public relations, finance or a related field.
- 12 years of communications, investor relations, finance or related experience, preferably within the biopharmaceutical industry. Experience with a Japan-based global company and the capital markets in Tokyo is a plus.
- Strong understanding of financial markets, shareholder dynamics, investor relations practices, disclosure requirements and corporate governance considerations.
- Demonstrated experience developing financial narratives and communicating corporate strategy, business performance, and growth priorities to investors, analysts and other external stakeholders.
- Proven experience counseling and influencing senior executives, including CEOs, CFOs, and other C-suite leaders, on investor communications, executive visibility and stakeholder engagement.
- Experience working across multiple functions and senior stakeholder groups, including Finance, Investor Relations, Legal and executive leadership teams.
- Proven success leading and developing global, geographically distributed communications teams and building organizational capability.
- Extensive experience establishing enterprise communications strategies, governance frameworks, operating models, and measurement approaches that drive business and stakeholder outcomes.
- 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 financial, strategic and business topics into clear, compelling narratives.
- Strong business acumen and strategic thinking, with the ability to connect communications outcomes to enterprise priorities, financial performance, shareholder confidence and corporate reputation.
- Exceptionally high degree of integrity, professionalism, judgment and discretion, with experience managing sensitive financial, regulatory and business matters.
Takeda Compensation and Benefits Summary:
Allowances: Commutation, Housing, Overtime Work etc.
Salary Increase: Annually, Bonus Payment: Twice a year
Working Hours: Headquarters (Osaka/ Tokyo) 9:00-17:30, Production Sites (Osaka/ Yamaguchi) 8:00-16:45, (Narita) 8:30-17:15, Research Site (Kanagawa) 9:00-17:45
Holidays: Saturdays, Sundays, National Holidays, May Day, Year-End Holidays etc. (approx. 123 days in a year)
Paid Leaves: Annual Paid Leave, Special Paid Leave, Sick Leave, Family Support Leave, Maternity Leave, Childcare Leave, Family Nursing Leave.
Flexible Work Styles: Flextime, Telework
Benefits: Social Insurance, Retirement and Corporate Pension, Employee Stock Ownership Program, etc.
Important Notice concerning working conditions:
It is possible the job scope may change at the company’s discretion.
It is possible the department and workplace may change at the company’s discretion.