Senior Communications Specialist, PR

About This Role

This Senior Communications Specialist will manage public relations initiatives for Seattle Children's, focusing on strategic project management and communications coordination. They will collaborate with stakeholders to identify and pitch compelling stories, develop external communication strategies, and oversee media relations.

Responsibilities

• Manage and assist with various functions within the public engagement team
• Provide strategic project management, oversight, and communications coordination for hospital, research and foundation public relations initiatives
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify compelling stories and manage, develop and pitch content for Seattle Children’s
• Develop external communications strategies and responses for crises and issues
• Oversee proactive and reactive media relations to secure local, regional and national media coverage
• Develop media target lists and pitches, and develop talking points
• Coordinate interviews and lead media training sessions for spokespeople
• Assist in leading and mentoring staff and team members
• Split 24/7 on-call shifts with other members of the PR and social media team

Requirements

• Exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent writing and editing skills
• Ability to produce high-quality content in a timely manner
• Flexibility and proactivity
• Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment and under pressure

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations or closely related field
• A minimum of five (5) years experience in a marketing and/or communications role.

Nice to Have

• Experience in proactively pitching and placing media stories
• Experience in the health care or scientific fields
• Experience in crisis communications and issues management across several topics
• Experience in developing stories and content for owned and earned channels
• Experience managing multi-faceted projects with complex timelines
• Experience in crafting reactive statements
• Experience in writing and copyediting journalistic news and feature articles, media pitches, social media content and spokesperson talking points
• Experience with clinical and research audiences
• Experience serving as a company spokesperson
• Experience pitching local, regional and national media and securing coverage of issues, products and services
• Experience media training spokespeople

Benefits