Director of Communications

Position: Director of Communications

Location: Atlanta, GA

Full-time

FLSA Status: Exempt (salary)

Reports to: Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications and CMO/Team Leader

Number of people managed: 2

Travel required: up to 25%

Schedule: Monday-Friday (Hybrid) In office 3 days and remote 2 days/wk; willingness to work some evenings and weekends

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Description:

The Director of Communications is a proud brand ambassador with excellent writing, communication, and content creation skills; contributes to the successful execution of the National Peanut Board annual Program of Work; and plays a leadership role on the marketing and communications team to help deliver high quality programs and initiatives to increase demand and consumption of USA-grown peanuts.

Reporting to the Vice President of Marketing and Communications/CMO, and supervising a team of two, the Director of Communications leads strategy for media relations, executive communications, crisis management, social media, industry marketing and events to ensure consistent and compelling narratives that align with company goals and enhance brand reputation. 

The Director of Communications serves on the Strategic Planning Leadership Team to develop long term strategies and annual plans as well as serve as the execution leader on one or more Strategy.

Position Responsibilities/Essential Job Functions:

• Reputation management responsibilities include fostering key media/industry relationships and working with agencies and NPB team members to lead corporate communications, crisis management, media relations and executive counsel. Activities include creating press releases, blogs, video, thought leadership posts, earned/paid media, and media training for staff and board members.
• Grower and industry communications responsibilities include the development of marketing plans to increase visibility and engagement of NPB initiatives and successes among board members, growers and other industry stakeholders. Activities include trade advertising, sponsorships, in-person presentations, ambassador program activations, publications, e-newsletters and podcasts.
• Digital Marketing responsibilities include leading owned media strategies across platforms including web, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok to reach target audiences. This includes coordination among internal teams and vendors for planning, content creation, scheduling, posting, community management and analysis. Activities include sharing content, engaging with followers, running targeted ads, and identifying and optimizing trends to drive engagement, foster community and increase loyalty.
• Event management responsibilities include oversight of trade shows, events, conferences, meetings, and speaking engagements. Manages internal and external teams to plan, organize, and execute events from start to finish, overseeing budgets, exhibit space, sponsorships, venues, travel, vendors, marketing, merch, collateral, logistics, and on-site operations to ensure smooth execution.
• Corporate communications needs includes development of presentations, web content, social content and other materials that professionally and graphically convey key information as needed to support strategic communications. Delivers presentations as necessary and appropriate for audience.
• Leadership to manage, guide and motivate direct reports and agency partners.
• Builds and grows relationships on behalf of NPB.

·    Performs other duties to support NPB’s strategic goals as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

·      BS/BA or equivalent, preferably in PR, marketing or communications.

·      7 years of progressive experience in public relations and corporate communications strategy.

·      PR Agency experience or in-house equivalent.

·      Event planning experience.

·      Management experience with at least one direct report.

·      Digital expertise overseeing social media platforms, web content, analytics, and CRM marketing.

·      Strong writing, editing, and storytelling skills.

·      Excellent organizational and team leadership skills

·      Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and Teams)

Organizational Competencies:

To be successful, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies to perform the essential functions of this position:

·     Team Player – Demonstrates an ability to work collaboratively with other employees to achieve National Peanut Board goals while supporting the mission, vision and values of the National Peanut Board.

·     Learns Continuously – Exhibits openness to learning and a willingness to transfer knowledge to others to achieve quality results. Continually seeks to improve knowledge, skills and abilities to improve personal performance. Demonstrates ability and willingness to adapt to change. Possesses ability to grow the position, accepting additional responsibilities.

·     Communicates Well – Uses effective communication and listening skills. Writes and verbally communicates clearly and concisely. Practices respectful two-way open, direct, candid and 360 communication. Is open to feedback from peers and management.

·     Acts with Integrity – Consistently displays a high standard of ethical and moral conduct in keeping with National Peanut Board values. Takes actions which support ethical values and beliefs, following through with commitments, treats all employees with equal respect, works to minimize conflict, takes responsibility for own actions, and shares information openly while respecting confidentiality.

·     Detail Oriented – Consistently maintains attention to detail and is expeditious in following through on tasks and assignments.

Physical demands and work environment:

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

·     Physical demand: The work is mostly sedentary, operating a computer keyboard and phone, with periods of light physical activity, and is performed mostly in office surroundings. At times there may be need for packing materials and lifting up to 25 pounds as well as bending and reaching. There is up to 40% travel to attend and participate at trade shows, industry events and other occasional offsite activity involved that, at times, requires standing for long periods; lifting and carrying up to 25 pounds; bending and reaching. In addition, the work requires the ability to speak and to use normal or aided vision and hearing. Subject to work beyond the normal scheduled hours of work; to attend evening and weekend events and some weekend travel to/from events.

·     Work environment: The noise level in the office work environment is usually low; however, offsite activities such as trade shows will be higher.