Vice President, External Communications

The Vice President, External Communications is accountable for media relations, social media, reputation management, crisis communications, and public-facing executive communications for Ascensus and the company’s four lines of business. These efforts must accelerate commercial growth, boost familiarity, and amplify our voice and influence across audiences, including financial institutions and intermediaries, national and state governments, and investors.

The Vice President, External Communications will have strong existing media relationships and have demonstrated ability to build effective new relationships with key national, financial and retirement- and technology-focused trade media. He/she will also have a “nose for news” with the ability to lean into current news cycles, as well as create new news based on Ascensus thought leadership views and proprietary data, product innovations and launches, as well as M&A. This leader will also understand the complexities of the current media environment, with strategies to activate social media, including discussion boards, as external communications and reputation management channels. The Vice President, External Communications must demonstrate recent experience building strong executive relationships, establishing, managing and executing CEO and President executive platforms, and writing for those executives.

Section 2: Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Set vision for media relations, social media and reputation management that amplify our voice and influence with financial institutions and intermediaries, national and state governments, and investors in line with commercial goals and priorities. Document plans, execution milestones and metrics.
• Build effective relationships and partner closely with executive leadership, Corporate Development/M&A, lines of business, Product/Technology and Government Relations to source.
• Develop media-worthy platforms and content – including press releases, position papers/thought leadership, executive talking points and prep documents, and related social media – resulting in frequent, high-quality earned media opportunities, active social media presence and executive speaking engagements.
• Monitor Ascensus and competitor media positioning and news impact, staying current on industry trends and regulatory issues that impact our business.
• Collaborate effectively across the organization and other centers of excellence.
• Work closely with the Insights & Analytics team to leverage Ascensus data and expertise to pursue media relations objectives.
• Prepare regular reports covering recent media opportunities and press releases for the executive team.
• Protect, secure, and properly handle all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
• Support our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always® through visible actions on a day-to-day basis and modeling our organizational culture.
• Assist with other tasks and projects as assigned.
• Responsible for protecting, securing, and proper handling of all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
• Our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always® should be visible in your actions on a day-to-day basis showing your support of our organizational culture.

Supervision  

• The Vice President, External Communications will have supervisory responsibilities for the Director of Media Content and Director of Enterprise Social Media, as well as contractor and agency resources as needed; coordinating with vendors, publications, and web properties as required; and leading enterprise, cross-functional projects and initiatives supporting both reputation awareness and media presence and engagement.

Section 3:  Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements

• A minimum of 10-15 years of financial services industry experience in media relations, reputation management, crisis communications, executive communications, and social media with a track record of success is required. Retirement industry background preferred.
• Strong writing skills—succinct and compelling, including executive writing required.
• Established and active financial services industry media contacts and the proven ability to work positively and constructively with national, financial and trade media. Established technology media contacts a plus.
• Proven success and high confidence in written and oral communication, influencing skills, issues management, and cross-enterprise initiative leadership -- bringing an effective presence as a presenter and counsel and demonstrating ability to think and act strategically.
• Strong proficiency in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well as experience leveraging and collaborating with digital media outlets, content developers, and sponsors
• Strong bias toward progressing Ascensus’ reputation and growing its impact is a must.

For all virtual remote positions, in order to ensure associates can effectively perform their job duties with no distractions, we require an uninterrupted virtual workspace and there is also an expectation of family care being in place during business hours. Additionally, there is an internet work speed requirement of 25 Mbps or better for individual use. If more than one person is utilizing the same internet connection in the same household or building, then a stronger connection is required. If you are unsure of your internet speed, please check with your service provider. Note: For call center roles specifically, it is a requirement to either hardwire your equipment directly to the internet router or ensure your workstation is in close proximity to the router. Please ensure that you are able to meet these expectations before applying.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

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