Communications & External Affairs Specialist

Joining the Hope Gas team means being part of a company that truly values its employees and fosters a supportive and inclusive work environment. We have built a strong reputation in West Virginia by prioritizing our commitment to the local community and the well-being of our dedicated team. With the state's abundant natural resources and thriving energy sector, Hope Gas offers the perfect platform for ambitious individuals seeking career growth and stability. Not only will you find fulfilling career opportunities with us, but you'll also contribute to the sustainable growth and prosperity of West Virginia through our community engagement and environmental stewardship efforts. As we continue to deliver essential energy services to the region, we invite you to join us and become an integral part of our history, shaping our future together. Read more to discover the exciting possibilities waiting for you at Hope Gas!

Position Summary

The Communications & External Affairs Specialist builds meaningful connections between the company and the communities it serves across West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Indiana. The Specialist also supports efforts across the growing footprint of the company’s water division. Supporting natural gas, water, and wastewater operations, this role blends hands on outreach with high impact digital communication. The specialist ensures customers, local leaders, and stakeholders receive clear, timely, and accessible information—whether about safety, infrastructure projects, service reliability, or community projects.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with community organizations, local governments, emergency responders, environmental groups, and civic associations across WV, OH, NC, and IN.
• Represent the utility at public meetings, community events, safety fairs, school programs, and environmental education initiatives.
• Support outreach related to natural gas pipeline safety, water quality, infrastructure upgrades and other company initiatives
• Serve as a liaison during planned and unplanned service disruptions—including natural gas outages, water main breaks, boil advisories, and wastewater system impacts—ensuring timely, accurate communication.
• Tailor engagement strategies to the unique needs of rural, suburban, and urban communities across four states.
• Support government relations initiatives across geographic footprint.
• Lead the creation of compelling digital content to include social media posts and campaigns, short form videos and educational clips, infographics, animations, and visual explainers, customer program campaigns, web articles, FAQs, and service alerts.
• Translate complex technical information—such as natural gas safety and water quality standards—into clear, accessible, and engaging content.
• Manage social media channels with region specific messaging and proactive community engagement.
• Ensure timely information sharing on company’s digital platforms.
• Monitor digital conversations to identify emerging issues, misinformation, or customer concerns.
• Maintain and update community facing website content
• Analyze available data and build strategies to strengthen engagement and storytelling opportunities
• Support proactive and responsive media strategies and inquiries
• Draft press releases, media statements, talking points, and briefing materials for natural gas, water, and wastewater topics.
• Support media inquiries by coordinating responses with subject matter experts and ensuring consistent messaging across all four states.
• Assist in crisis communication efforts, including rapid digital updates during emergencies such as gas leaks, water quality advisories, or other business/PR crisis.
• Lead responsive and strategic media relations efforts during crisis
• Educate internal audiences on general media and crisis communications protocols
• Build and maintain relationships with local journalists, broadcasters, and digital news outlets.
• Plan and execute community engagement programs, including safety awareness campaigns, environmental education initiatives, and stakeholder briefings.
• Track engagement metrics across digital platforms and community events to evaluate program effectiveness.
• Prepare reports and presentations summarizing community trends, feedback, and opportunities by region and utility service area.
• Collaborate with operations, customer service, compliance, and regulatory teams to align messaging with state specific requirements for natural gas, water, and wastewater services.
• Develop, coordinate and fulfil advertising buys to meet strategic company and compliance objectives
• Lead communications research initiatives; analyze data and results; use research to build strategy and strengthen engagement and storytelling
  
  

Supervisory Responsibilities

The team member in this role will:

• Serve as an Individual Contributor without supervisory responsibilities.
• Support and contribute towards team goals and objectives.
  
  

Required Skills & Abilities

Strong writing, editing, and storytelling skills across digital and traditional formats.

• Ability to utilize research and data to drive strategic direction
• Proficiency with social media management tools, content creation platforms, and analytics.
• Ability to translate technical and environmental information into clear, accessible messaging.
• Comfortable presenting to groups and representing the company in public settings.
  
  

Education & Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations, Marketing, Public Affairs, Environmental Studies, or a related field
• At least two (2) years of experience in community engagement, digital communications, public relations, utility communications, and/or targeted education and/or experience related to company initiatives
• Experience in energy/utilities, across multiple regions/jurisdictions, and experience and/or coursework in communication research and analytics, preferred.
  
  

Physical Requirements

The ideal candidate must be able to complete the following physical requirements of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation:

• Remain stationery for prolonged periods of time.
• Operate a computer and other office productivity machinery as necessary.
• Adjust or move objects up to 30 lbs.
• Communicate with others to accurately exchange information and ideas.
• Observe details at close range.
  
  

WORK CONTEXT

• Minimum travel for work-related purposes is expected approximately 75% of the time which includes some overnight and/or weekend visits to locations and industry events throughout WV, OH, NC, and IN.
• Participate in the media hotline on-call rotation. This includes being on call 24/7 from Monday – Sunday as part of the team rotation.
• This is a full-time exempt salaried position.
  
  

At Hope, we offer a variety of plans and programs that reflect the wants and needs of our employees. As part of our mission to support our employees within the workspace and outside of it, we provide a comprehensive benefits package that offers health insurance including Medical, Dental, Vision, FSA and HSA with a company match. Income protection such as Company-Paid Life Insurance, Sickness Benefits, and more are also available. Hope Gas offers a 401(k) plan that incorporates a company contribution and a company match. Paid vacations, paid holidays, floating holidays and sick time are available alongside other lifestyle benefits such as Adoption Assistance, Auto/Home Insurance, Education Assistance Programs, and so much more! These benefits, programs and perks are offered to enhance your physical, mental, emotional, and financial wellbeing because here at Hope you are not just an employee, you are family.

Join our team because together we can accomplish a job worth doing, and a life worth living.