Senior Communications Specialist

Be a part of a dynamic team whose work enriches the health of communities by strengthening city and county health departments. At the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), we are united by our work to improve our country's over 3,300 U.S. local health departments. We represent the voice of local public health while striving to live out our core values which include excellence, participation, respect, integrity, leadership, science, and innovation. We provide our employees with meaningful work, opportunities to learn and grow, a strong work/life balance, and a flexible, hybrid work schedule while being a part of a collaborative team.

We are interested in growing our team with passionate, committed, and innovative individuals. The Senior Communications Specialist will serve a vital role in the Communications Department.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Communications Specialist position will be responsible for branding, marketing, and building a robust communications strategy to promote initiatives and products related to several of NACCHO’s program portfolios, including, but may not be limited to, Public Health Infrastructure and Systems (PHIS), Maternal Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH), STI/HIV, and Immunization. This role reports to the Director of Communications with additional supervisory support from program leaders.

The position requires substantial knowledge related to the development of strategic communications plans. This individual will be responsible for successfully implementing communications strategies and tactics and working with evaluation subject matter experts to track success of communications metrics.

Position responsibilities will require working in close collaboration with NACCHO’s program staff, NACCHO’s Marketing and Communications team, and consultants. In addition, the work involves significant collaboration with Federal agencies, local and state public health departments, organizational partners, and other NACCHO partners. A Senior Specialist is considered a career level professional that works with minimal supervision and provides guidance to other professionals and administrative staff either in a supervisory, project management, or technical capacity.

COMPETENCIES AND EXPECTATIONS:

• Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; collects and researches data; uses intuition and experience to complement data; designs workflows and procedures.
• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.
• Project Management - Develops project plans; coordinates projects; communicates changes and progress; completes projects on time and budget; manages project team activities.
• Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others.
• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.
• Interpersonal Skills - Focuses on solving conflict, not blaming; maintains confidentiality; listens to others without interrupting; keeps emotions under control; remains open to others' ideas and tries new things.
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions; demonstrates group presentation skills; participates in meetings.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet needs; presents numerical data effectively; able to read and interpret written information.
• Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; supports everyone's efforts to succeed.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; keeps commitments; inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically; upholds organizational values.
• Organizational Support - Follows policies and procedures; completes administrative tasks correctly and on time; supports organization's goals and values; benefits organization through outside activities.
• Motivation - Sets and achieves challenging goals; demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles; measures self against standard of excellence; takes calculated risks to accomplish goals.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Quantity - Meets productivity standards; completes work in a timely manner; strives to increase productivity; works quickly.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; determines appropriate action beyond guidelines; reports potentially unsafe conditions; uses equipment and materials properly.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; arrives at meetings and appointments on time.
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan.
• Initiative - Volunteers readily; undertakes self-development activities; seeks increased responsibilities; takes independent actions and calculated risks; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities; asks for and offers help when needed.
• Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• Develops a strategic marketing communications plan for all assigned NACCHO programs and products through traditional, online, and social media.
• Successfully implements strategies and tactics identified in the communications/marketing plan using NACCHO’s programmatic communication vehicles.
• Performs editorial and technical writing and adapts writing styles for different audiences.
• Proofreads to fix mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.; copyedits for style, voice, brevity, and tone; and edits or rewrites to improve logical flow, clarity, or organization.
• Works with NACCHO personnel, members, committees, partner organizations, and vendors and serves as editor-in-chief for all assigned NACCHO program newsletters and publications.
• Works in collaboration with program teams to edit and layout documents and other products to ensure all NACCHO materials look professional and meet the standards set by NACCHO’s style guide.
• Stands ready to serve appropriate roles within incident command structure during emergencies.
• Designs and implements protocols and systems to track communications and marketing initiatives to ensure quality control, consistency in branding/messaging, and return on investment.
• Supports communications strategies and plans for major NACCHO initiatives, including, but not limited to, NACCHO University, performance improvement, adaptive leadership, MAPP 2.0, management essentials, Workforce, RISE, and other funded projects.
• Supports communications strategy and implementation of program activities during NACCHO annual conferences such as NACCHO360 and Preparedness Summit.
• Supports various NACCHO member-based workgroups.
• Identifies NACCHO messaging opportunities (articles, factsheets, talking points, op eds, letters to the editor, customizable templates, etc.) that correspond to current events.
• Provides oversight of web pages within the assigned program portfolios to ensure content is user- friendly and up to date. Ensures compliance with policies and procedures for team members to update their web pages on NACCHO.org.
• Monitors and captures statistics for e-newsletters and web pages and explores ways to increase readership.
• Works with MarComm colleagues to develop or identify communications tools and resources for local health department officials to use in their own communities.
• Works with MarComm colleagues to develop new and maintain existing media and photo libraries, including B-Roll, stock photos, etc. for use by NACCHO programs.
• Develops program promotional material including brochures, PowerPoint presentations, and fact sheets, targeted to project officers, potential funders, interested local and state sites, partner organizations, etc.
• Assists program staff in the promotion of conferences, seminars, podcasts, or video (virtual learning) webinars.
• Provides leadership, guidance, and mentorship to other NACCHO communications staff.
• Serves as lead staff liaison on communications, marketing, and product branding for NACCHO program portfolios, workgroups, collaborative organizations, Federal partners, consultants, and funding agencies.
• Provides editorial assistance on project proposals, periodic reports to funding agencies, and other documents.
• Responds to program inquiries from local health departments and other entities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:

Bachelor's degree and certification in relevant professional field with a minimum of 5-7 years relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education (Communications, English, Journalism) and experience in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism or Marketing. Master’s degree in a relevant field preferred.

• Ability to read and interpret technical and academic documents such as journal articles, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
• Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.
• Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the organization.
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form.
• Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
• Experience in managing information, including using Excel and Word; developing presentations, including using PowerPoint, and with data collection, management and qualitative and/or quantitative analysis is required. Experience designing and administering surveys, using Qualtrics, Survey Monkey or similar systems is desired.
• Experience with local health departments is preferred.
• Experience in developing editorial and technical written materials is required. Interest in public health is preferred.
• Skilled in publicly delivering content, including training, and facilitating groups to meet project deliverables.
• Knowledge of public health concepts, strategies, and approaches, particularly in the areas of behavioral health, workforce development and training, mental health, public health transformation, and health equity and social justice is expected, with deeper subject matter expertise in at least one of these areas required.
• Substantial knowledge of strategies and tactics for building public awareness and branding campaigns that are applicable to a particular agency (i.e., local health departments) and for broader issues (i.e., public health).
• Excellent copyediting of reports, brochures, articles, and other external documents.
• Effective understanding of communications and marketing strategies to promote programmatic activities using social media sites including LinkedIn and Facebook.
• Strong skills in the use of social media, e-marketing, and web application software to achieve program, publications, and communications and marketing goals.
• Competent and proficient in the use of website content management software (e.g., Craft, HTML,etc.) and communications and e-marketing software (e.g., MagnetMail or similar products).
• Competent and proficient with writing posts for social media platforms on behalf of an organization.
• Competent and proficient in use of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, or other page layout programs.
• Competent and proficient in the use of Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.).
• Familiarity with Microsoft Forms, Microsoft Planner, and SmartSheets would be helpful.
• Travel required (approximately 2 times per year).

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Occasionally required to sit.
• Occasionally required to walk.
• Occasionally required to reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally required to talk or hear.
• Occasionally required to bend, lift or climb stairs.
• Occasionally required to lift light weights (less than 25 pounds).

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• The noise level in the work environment usually is moderate.

SELECTION PROCESS:

The selected candidate must reside in the Washington, DC – Maryland – Virginia (DMV) area within 30 calendar days of their start date.

We only accept applications that follow the electronic process. No phone calls please. This position is subject to background screening. Qualified applicants should send a cover letter with salary requirements, resume, one writing sample to: PN – 284 Senior Communications Specialist

https://naccho.clearcompany.com/careers/jobs/fd610975-1953-41d2-8074-09828dcb89a7/apply?source=3602638-CS-2909

NACCHO offers generous benefits package such as:

• Medical, Dental, Vision, STD, LTD insurances
• 15 days of paid vacation & 13 days of sick leave and other types of leave
• 403(b) Retirement plan,
• Hybrid Remote Work Available
• NACCHO is a qualified employer under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.