Communications Strategist - Media and Public Relations

Lead the conversation. Inspire change. Gillette Children’s is seeking a Communications Strategist to develop media and public relations strategies, build thought leadership, and create meaningful connections with audiences locally and beyond. Join a mission-driven organization making a difference every day. Hybrid opportunity for candidates in Minnesota or Wisconsin, who can come onsite to St. Paul, MN a minimum of 2x/week. Participate in a shared on-call rotation for media relations, serving as a media contact during incidents and responding to press inquiries as needed.

Purpose of position

Develops and executes external communications and media strategies that position Gillette Children’s as a local, national, and global leader in delivering care to patients with brain, bone, and movement conditions.  This person will develop Gillette’s external communications strategy, including oversight of Gillette’s media relations and thought leadership, and digital community management.  This position also will provide external communications support, strategy and content development for gillettechildrens.org and other digital platforms including social media. As a communications strategist, the role also includes supporting internal stakeholders on communications initiatives. The position requires both strategic and technical skills.

Compensation & Benefits Information

The annual salary range for this opportunity is $77,313.60 to $115,918.40, with a median salary of $96,616.00. Pay is dependent on several factors including relevant work experience and internal equity. Salary is just one component of the compensation package for employees. Gillette supports career progression and offers a competitive benefits package, including a retirement saving match, tuition and certification reimbursement, paid time off, and health and wellness benefits.

Core Responsibilities and Duties 

Manages production of a variety of communications channels with a strong focus on earned media.

• Develops and implements an external communications strategy for generating media coverage that supports Gillette’s strategic objectives.
• Works with clinical care staff to identify and develop stories in target areas.
• Collaborate with colleagues to identify and evaluate media opportunities.
• Serves as a partner to team members, leaders, and other internal partners to coordinate multichannel communication strategies and tactics. 
• Research best practices and develop measurements to determine effectiveness of media efforts.
• Serves as the organization’s primary contact regarding public relations and media needs and provides leadership and guidance.
• Creates statements, serves as spokesperson and manages crisis communications planning.
• As needed, serves on incident command as public information officer (PIO).
• Manages press events and serves as on-site media escort.
• Supervises story development and recommends social and traditional media outlets to maximize story placement.
• Prepares clinicians, executives and other leaders for media interviews.
• Handles reactive media relations scenarios that may include sensitive situations.

Monitors audience sentiment, including media monitoring and online community management. 

• Oversees governance of Gillette Children’s social media monitoring.
• Crafts responses to audience messages across a variety of digital channels.
• Tracks audience sentiment and engagement, flagging emerging reputational risks and opportunities. 

Serves as a partner to team members and other internal stakeholders to coordinate communication strategies and tactics.  

• Partners with team members, leaders, and other internal stakeholders to coordinate multichannel communications strategies and tactics, including content production.
• Actively brings forward ideas and innovations; research best practices and benchmarks in external communications within industry and outside healthcare and leads implementation.
• Continuous reviews and reports on communications metrics and overall effectiveness of external communications efforts.

Performs other job duties and projects as assigned.

Qualifications 

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (journalism, public relations, English or communications preferred)
• Minimum of five (5) years of media relations or communications experience including writing in a variety of media to a variety of audiences

Preferred

• Healthcare experience

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Good presentation (both verbal and written) and public speaking skills
• Advanced writing, proofing, and editing ability (appropriate tone/style, clear and concise, well organized, complete and accurate)
• Demonstrate effective management of projects from concept to production
• Provide leadership in process and procedure development and implementation
• Advanced computer skills and demonstrated strong ability to use a variety of digital tools
• Independent problem solving/decision making
• Experience in developing strong working relationships with a wide range of staff within an organization
• Intuitive organizational skills
• Understands the evolving media landscape and can identify opportunities beyond traditional earned media, including digital, social and emerging platforms.  Understanding of legal issues around sharing stories.
• Must be able to translate complex, clinical information into compelling content that is appealing to broad audiences.

At Gillette Children’s, we foster a culture where every team member feels a sense of belonging and purpose. We are dedicated to building an environment where all feel welcomed, respected, and supported. Our values are embedded at the heart of our culture. We act first from love, embrace the bigger picture, and work side-by-side with our patients, families, and colleagues to help every child create their own story. Together, we work to ensure patients of all backgrounds and abilities reach their full potential.

Gillette Children's is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of an individual's race, color, creed, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation or gender identity, military status or any other class protected by federal, state or local laws.

Gillette Children’s is a global beacon of care for patients with brain, bone and movement conditions that start in childhood. Our research, treatment and supportive technologies enable every child to lead a full life defined by their dreams, not their diagnoses.

To learn more about working at Gillette Children's, please visit https://www.gillettechildrens.org/careers.

Gillette Children's participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) E-Verify program which is an internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, Gillette will give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact DHS or the Social Security Administration (SSA) to resolve the issue before Gillette takes any further action. Please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/ for further details regarding E-Verify.

Salary : $77,314 - $115,918