Communications Officer

Position Summary  

Reporting to the Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Communications, the Communications Officer has overall responsibility for leading the development, planning, implementation, and monitoring of internal and external communications for the College-Institute. Utilizing best practices in communications, they will inform, engage, and welcome a diverse, international, and intergenerational audience to sustain HUC-JIR’s mission, to compel tomorrow's Jewish professionals to kickstart their careers as leaders at the College, and to invite the public to learn with our community. An exceptional writer and storyteller, the Communications Officer must excel at strategy and execution, have strong management and interpersonal skills, and the ability to effectively prioritize and communicate assignments to ensure the team’s success. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

The essential functions include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Lead College-Institute content strategy, including content planning and execution, leveraging public relations and storytelling skills in alignment with HUC-JIR mission and strategic goals.

• Work closely with recruitment, development, alumni relations, and academic leadership teams to lead in the creation and implementation of effective content strategies that attract and engage prospective students and supporters. 

• Promote student, faculty, and alumni achievements to help drive recruitment and retention, community and engagement in addition to awareness and reputation. 

• Provide editorial supervision to ensure the excellence, originality, and diversity of stories and participants for production, and the accessibility and relevance of content to diverse audiences. 

• Align strategic communications across HUC-JIR to ensure a consistent, branded college identity. 

• Identify and develop written communications in support of media relations activities, including fact sheets, talking points, press releases and similar materials. 

• Serve as a contact for media outlets. 

• Partner with colleagues across all campuses to communicate public events, recruitment and fundraising campaigns and events, special offerings from the Libraries and Museums, student and faculty activities. 

• Assign writers, photographers, videographers as needed to cover/report on campus events through internal communication channels. 

• Review and edit all HUC-JIR print and digital communications. 

• Collaborate with Digital Marketing Manager on email and e-newsletter production, including the management and scheduling of all communications requests, writing and editing copy to ensure HUC’s messaging and branding guidelines; assembling appropriate photo and video content; and engaging designers as needed. 

Supervisory Requirements  

• Organize, plan, and prioritize work by developing specific goals and communicate expectations to team members and colleagues.  

• Provide active guidance and direction to direct report, including setting performance standards, motivating employees, addressing conflict, and monitoring performance.  

• Develop and help build functioning teams working toward the same goals. 

• Coach and develop others by identifying developmental needs, providing direction, and assisting employees in advancing their skills. 
  
  

Qualifications

Education

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in related field

Experience

• Required: Ten years in public relations and/or communications. Experience in higher education and /or Jewish nonprofit organizations strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Exceptional writing and editing skills

• Branding knowledge

• Understanding of top and emerging social media platforms

• Awareness of newly emerging media platforms

• Advanced knowledge of American Jewish history and community

• Broad understanding of issues and policies in higher education and within a college system

• Able to maintain high level of confidentiality

• Superior attention to detail

• Excellent judgment and decision-making skills

• Strong oral comprehension and expression

Technology

• Microsoft Office 365 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

• WordPress, Drupal, or similar

• Mailchimp or similar

• Canva or similar

• Monday.com or similar

• Social media platforms

Core Values

Employees are expected to model Hebrew Union College’s Core Values:

• Honesty and Integrity

• Kindness and Decency

• Openness and Transparency

• Responsible Empowerment

• Trust and Security

• Diversity and Inclusion

Work Environment & Physical Demands

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

Work is typically performed in an indoor office or classroom environment. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit or stand, walk, talk, and listen; the employee may occasionally have to stoop, bend, reach, and lift up to 20 pounds. Employees need manual dexterity to operate standard office equipment and a personal computer, clarity of speech and hearing or other communication capabilities to discern verbal instructions and to communicate effectively with others and visual acuity to comprehend written work instructions and review, evaluate, and prepare a variety of written materials and documents.