Communications Manager

Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in growing mid-sized urban communities across the U.S. With a focus on people and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. Through its subsidiaries, Ardent delivers care through a system of 30 acute care hospitals, 24,000 team members and more than 280 sites of care with over 1,800 affiliated providers across six states.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Communications Manager supports Ardent’s Communications & Corporate Affairs function with a primary focus on enterprise strategy and Optimization and Performance Improvement (OPI) initiatives, operational change, and performance communications.  

This role partners with business owners and workstream leads to create, package and prioritize communications across multiple initiatives – ensuring messaging advances key business priorities while staying aligned with the broader enterprise narrative. The Manager provides writing, content development, and channel management support that helps keep leaders and frontline managers informed, aligned, and prepared for organizational change. 

This role requires exceptional agility and the ability to operate in a fast-paced, evolving environment while aligning with and maintaining Ardent’s internal and external narrative arc. The ideal candidate is a proactive problem-solver who can quickly interpret leaders’ needs, pivot rapidly as priorities shift, and deliver high-quality communication materials under tight timelines. The Manager will be instrumental in developing clear, concise messaging; producing regular performance and operational updates; and coordinating communication needs across multiple functional areas. 

• Develops and executes internal communication strategies that support overall enterprise support overall enterprise support overall enterprise strategy, operations, performance improvement projects, and change management efforts.
• Translates complex information—including operational metrics, change management updates, and process improvements—into clear messaging tailored to diverse internal audiences.
• Collaborates directly with the Optimization and Performance Improvement team and other functional area leaders to anticipate communication needs, synthesize large volumes of information, and provide timely deliverables that drive organizational alignment. Serve as a coordination point across workstream leads to help prioritize communications, manage competing timelines, and ensure deliverables are packaged in a way that is clear and actionable for the intended audience, and delivered in the appropriate enterprise channel.
• Coordinates with regional communications leads to ensure consistent, timely cascade of enterprise messaging from corporate through regional and market levels to frontline teams. Serves as a bridge between corporate communications and local markets, adapting content for regional context while maintaining a unified enterprise narrative.
• Partners with external consulting teams during infrastructure build and transition phases, with the ability to assume full ownership of processes, tools, and cadences independently.
• Helps ensure change communications align with the broader enterprise narrative, voice and channel strategy. Work with Communications and Operations leadership to maintain a consistent, unified message across the organization.
• Develops and supports internal communications across multiple channels, including SharePoint, Teams, email, web, mobile app and other digital platforms.
• Creates high-impact materials such as weekly executive and manager updates, talking points, presentations, toolkits, and summaries that help leaders quickly understand and act on organizational priorities.
• Works cross-functionally with operations, finance, HR, and transformation teams to gather information, verify accuracy, and ensure consistent and aligned messaging.
• Supports change management communication efforts, helping teams understand the rationale, benefits, and expectations associated with enterprise improvement initiatives.
• Monitors and measures engagement and effectiveness of communication channels and implement continuous improvements.
• Provides writing, production and project management support for broader corporate and local market communications needs as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Business, or a related field.
• 5 years of experience in internal communications or corporate communications (healthcare preferred).
• Strong writing, editing, and information-synthesis skills with a portfolio demonstrating clarity and impact.
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently while also contributing positively to a team environment.
• Experience coordinating communications across multiple workstreams, initiatives or stakeholder groups. 
• Expertise with SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, and Copilot tools.
• Exceptional work ethic; consistently delivers high‑quality work with speed, accuracy, and reliability. 
• Strong writing, editing, and information‑synthesis skills; able to simplify complex information quickly. 
• Dependable and detail‑oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast‑paced environment. 
• Highly adaptable and comfortable shifting direction quickly as priorities evolve. 
• Open communicator who seeks clarity when needed and follows direction well. 
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to build productive relationships across teams. 
• Displays professionalism, integrity, and discretion in all interactions. 
• Curious, proactive learner with a desire to grow within the communications field.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting enterprise strategy, operations, transformation, or performance improvement teams.
• Knowledge of healthcare operations, financial drivers, and organizational change management.
• Familiarity with data visualization or dashboard storytelling (Power BI, etc.).