Simmons had been head of HR since December 2012, working under former HR director Rachel Stock, who has moved on to the role of group HR director at Trinity Mirror.
Simmons has worked in HR since 1996, where she took on a role of graduate store personnel manager. She told HR magazine this is where she had her "grounding in HR".
From 1999 to 2012 she held roles at various telecommunications companies, most recently at Sony Ericsson, where she was head of HR UK & Ireland from 2008 to 2012.
Simmons believes the main challenges in stepping up from a head of HR to HR director role will be a shift from operational work to more "strategic and long-term planning" considerations. She also believes this can be accentuated by the transient nature of the media industry.
"With all the changes taking place it's really important we keep up with the evolving skillsets people need to succeed within the developing media landscape," she told HR magazine.
"This means adapting to market pressures by bringing in the right kind of people and also adapting the skills we already have within the business."
