What are the responsibilities and job description for the Communications Manager position at City of Hillsboro?
About this Opportunity
Join the City of Hillsboro as our next Communications Manager and help shape how one of Oregon's fastest growing and most diverse communities connects with residents, employees, elected officials, and stakeholders.
This is a unique opportunity to lead a high-performing communications team, serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, and drive strategic initiatives that strengthen public trust, advance organizational priorities, and ensure community members receive timely, accessible, and meaningful information.
Position Overview
The Communications Manager leads the City's Communications Team within the City Manager's Office and reports to an Assistant City Manager. This role provides strategic leadership and direction for a talented team of 14, responsible for website management, bilingual and multilingual communications, digital and video media, graphic design, publications, media relations, public information, internal communications, emergency communications, and department-based communications support.
The Communications Manager plays a central role in helping Hillsboro communicate proactively, share accurate and timely information, increase awareness of City services and priorities, and strengthen public confidence by reaching residents through clear, accessible, and trusted communications.
Who You Will Be Leading
The Communications Team is a highly collaborative group made up of a centralized communication team, and experienced Public Information Officers (PIOs) embedded within several key departments, including Library, Parks & Recreation, Economic & Community Development, Water, and Public Works.
The centralized team supports website management, bilingual and multilingual communications, digital and video media, graphic design, publications, media relations, public information, internal communications, emergency communications, and department-based communications support. This includes the City Manager’s Office and internal service departments, including Human Resources, Information Services, Finance, and other Citywide functions.
The PIOs are closely aligned with department directors and serve as trusted communications partners to their departments. The Communications Manager plays a critical role in ensuring communications efforts are strategically aligned, consistent, and effective across the organization while empowering team members to lead within their areas of expertise.
While the PIOs for the Police and Fire & Rescue departments are not part of the Communications Team’s reporting structure, the Communications Manager works closely with these departments to ensure coordinated Citywide communications, emergency communications, media relations, and public information efforts.
Serving a Diverse Community
Hillsboro's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is reflected in its communications. The City strives to provide accessible, culturally responsive information that reaches community members across languages, backgrounds, abilities, and lived experiences.
The Communications Manager will help advance bilingual and multilingual communications strategies, strengthen Spanish-language communications, identify priority community information needs, and develop practical approaches that improve access to City services and information for residents who rely on languages other than English.
Key Responsibilities & Core Competencies
The Communications Manager will provide strategy, structure, clarity, analysis, and refinement of communications policies, processes, standards, and workflows. The position will help the team continue building a positive, creative, inclusive, and service-oriented culture where people do excellent work, support one another, bring fresh ideas forward, and find appropriate moments for humor and connection in a highly dynamic organization. The role requires a leader who can set direction in alignment with City priorities and leadership, develop strategy, clarify expectations, remove barriers, and create conditions for skilled professionals to do their best work.
To achieve these outcomes, successful candidates will be expected to perform the following:
Leadership & People Management
- Lead the City’s Communications Team, including hiring, mentoring, coaching, performance management, workload planning, professional development, and accountability.
- Set direction, develop strategy, clarify priorities, and delegate work effectively across a multidisciplinary team.
- Support ongoing evaluation of the Communications Team’s structure, capacity, and leadership needs as the City’s communications functions continue to evolve.
- Foster a team culture grounded in excellence, respect, responsiveness, reliability, trust, teamwork, creativity, innovation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging — where collaboration, good humor, and care for the work and one another are part of how the team succeeds.
Strategic Communications & Organizational Leadership
- Provide Citywide communications leadership, strategic coordination, and professional support for experienced public information officers embedded with the Library, Parks & Recreation, Economic and Community Development, Water, and Public Works departments.
- Support an embedded communications model in which public information officers are deeply integrated with department leadership, priorities, projects, and operations.
- Provide strategic communications advice to the City Manager’s Office, department directors, public information officers, and City leadership.
- Guide communications for Citywide priorities, major initiatives, department projects, emergency situations, and sensitive or high-visibility issues.
- Develop and implement strategic short- and long-term communications plans, including updates to the City’s communications strategy, brand standards, and visual identity.
- Support City Council and executive leadership by identifying communications opportunities, sensitivities, emerging issues, and key messages.
Communications Operations & Administration
- Oversee a broad suite of communications functions, including storytelling, media relations, social media, marketing, public information, internal communications, digital and video media, graphic design, written publications, website content, and community-facing materials.
- Provide strategic direction for communications support to internal service departments, typically delivered through a Communications Specialist.
- Oversee the City’s graphic design function, including two graphic designers and a lead graphic designer.
- Establish and refine Citywide communications standards, workflows, roles, timelines, and project management practices that support shared ownership and effective execution.
- Manage the Communications Team budget, contracts, temporary staffing, and day-to-day expenses.
Collaboration, Community Relations & Stakeholder Engagement
- Collaborate and coordinate with the Police and Fire & Rescue departments communications staff to support Citywide consistency, while recognizing that those public information officers are outside the Communications Team’s reporting structure.
- Coordinate with the community engagement staff to align communications and engagement strategies and support project-specific engagement.
- Represent the City in meetings with community organizations, regional partners, and other stakeholders to discuss communications priorities and effectiveness.
Equity, Accessibility & Inclusive Communication
- Guide the continued development of bilingual and multilingual public communications practices, including Spanish-language communications, prioritization of community-facing materials, and practical approaches to improving access to City information.
- Apply the City’s values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging by supporting communications that are accessible, inclusive, culturally responsive, and understandable to the communities Hillsboro serves.
Media Relations, Content Development & Internal Communications
- Serve as a media contact when needed and coach City leaders and subject matter experts for media interviews.
- Review, write, edit, prepare, and present communications materials, briefings, reports, news releases, public statements, talking points, web content, and social media content.
- Advise on internal communications, including employee messages, leadership announcements, organizational updates, and change management communications.
For full job classification details, please click here.
The Successful Candidate
The successful candidate will be a thoughtful and experienced public-sector or mission-driven communications leader who can balance strategy and execution. They will be able to lead people, manage systems, advise decision-makers, and produce clear written work under pressure.
The ideal candidate will bring:
- Proven leadership experience managing and developing a multidisciplinary communications team.
- Expert-level communication skills, including writing, editing, messaging, storytelling, media relations, and digital communications.
- Experience advising executive leadership, elected officials, and department directors on high-profile, politically sensitive, confidential, and rapidly evolving issues.
- Success developing and implementing organization-wide communications strategies that support organizational priorities, major initiatives, and public engagement efforts.
- A demonstrated commitment to inclusive and accessible communication, including plain language, cultural responsiveness, and multilingual outreach.
JOB QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS:
Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business, Communications, Public Relations, Marketing, Journalism, or a closely related field; and three years of direct management experience and ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in any combination of communications, public relations, and community engagement involving public policy issues; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.
Application Instructions
To ensure your application receives full consideration, please complete all sections of the online application thoroughly. Please note that Resumes and Cover Letters will not be accepted and should not be submitted in place of the completed application. Please see the guidelines below to successfully submit your application:
- Include detailed information about your work experience, education, and relevant qualifications directly in the application. Taking the time to provide complete and accurate information helps the review panel fully understand your background and experience.
- Please answer all supplemental questions thoughtfully and thoroughly. Your responses provide valuable insight into your qualifications and experience. They will help the hiring manager better understand how your background aligns with the needs of the position.
- Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
- Only job specific work samples and Veterans’ Preference documents will be reviewed as attachments.
Why Work for Hillsboro?
At the City of Hillsboro, we’re committed to supporting employees with a comprehensive package of benefits and resources designed to promote health, well-being, and growth.
When you join our team, you’ll enjoy:
- Competitive pay with City contributions to PERS retirement
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- paid time off for vacation, sick leave, holidays, and more
- Deferred compensation match and HRA VEBA contributions to boost your future savings
- City-paid life, AD&D, and long-term disability insurance
- Extra perks like bilingual pay incentives and wellness reimbursements
- Free TriMet annual Hop pass and SHARC recreation access for you and your family
- Paid time off to volunteer in the community through Hillsboro Helps
- Ongoing professional development and training opportunities
- A supportive workplace that values work/life balance and employee wellness
To learn more about our robust benefits package please click here.
Commitment To Diversity
Hiring a workforce that reflects the diverse community we serve is essential to delivering exceptional City services and programs. The City of Hillsboro is committed to creating and supporting an inclusive and welcoming environment for all employees to thrive. We value, respect, and empower employees as unique individuals with authentic voices and diverse ideas.
Salary : $130,799 - $172,122