Senior Communications Manager, Media and Public Relations

Title:                           Senior Communications Manager, Media and Public Relations

Reports to:              Director, Media and Public Relations

Job Summary:          The Senior Communications Manager is responsible for all aspects of strategic communications for Heritage campaigns relating to foreign policy, national security, immigration, and combatting China. This position organizes and executes earned media campaigns relating to these issues to achieve policy results and enhance Heritage experts’ positions. The Senior Communications Manager also coordinates with other communications managers to achieve public relations results for the portfolio.

Job Duties:

• Develop messaging and communications strategies for issues within the issue portfolio, working with policy experts to maximize their impact in the media and use public relations tactics to drive Heritage’s policy message.
• Responsible for media strategy through generating daily pitches on relevant issues on multiple platforms, including print, broadcast, and digital.
• Build and maintain relationships with media who cover relevant issues including print, television, radio, and digital.
• Proactively work with the government relations team and policy experts to identify key legislation to drive media coverage.
• Coordinate with other communications departments within Heritage to ensure unified messaging on policy priorities.
• Book experts to discuss key policies on national broadcast media and with high-profile reporters.
• Monitor media for experts through various means and brief the Director on relevant threats.
• Maintain and share, in an easily accessed manner, media lists on relevant issues for institutional use.
• Draft news releases, web content, and talking points.
• Work closely with campaign leads and Heritage management in leveraging the media to accomplish policy goals.
• Share information with other Communications department staff working on relevant issues.
• Create periodic reports on media progress.

Qualifications:

Education:                   BS/BA required

Experience:                 5+ years of relevant experience

Communication:         Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including demonstrated proficiency in writing and editing

Technology:                Microsoft Suite

Other Requirements:           

• Understand and support the Heritage mission and vision for America, and the department’s goals and objectives.
• Promote policies consistent with Heritage’s priorities; speak with one voice.
• Existing contacts among print reporters and broadcast producers.
• Knowledge of daily newspaper operations and needs.
• Strong writer capable of creating messaging across a wide variety of issue areas.
• Must be aggressive, detail-oriented, and highly creative.
• Experience with national security, immigration, and/or foreign policy preferred.

Benefits and Salary:

The Heritage Foundation offers a highly competitive benefits package that includes, but is not limited to, best-in-class health care, vision, and dental insurance, employer-sponsored retirement funding, “take what you need” PTO and sick leave, 14 weeks of paid leave for new moms and 6 weeks of paid leave for new dads, among other programs.

The salary range for this role is $90,000 - $115,000 annually. This range is a good-faith estimate, and the final salary offered to a selected candidate depends on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, and other qualifications; internal and external market pay for comparable jobs; and level of hire based on aforementioned qualifications.