Area Strategic Communications Business Class Leader

HDR•Phoenix, AZ

About The Position

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world? Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story' Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world. HDR is seeking an experienced professional who is passionate about communication. This candidate should have a drive to innovate and has a habit of thinking outside the box. This position is for the role of our AZ/NM Strategic Communications Businesses Class Leader as part of an industry leading team in HDR with a practice of nearly 200 communication-consulting practitioners nationwide. Who You Are: You are creative, a forward thinker, comfortable working on multi-disciplinary teams and collaborating effectively with colleagues in both content and technical development. You thrive on building and managing people and teams. You want to manage the operations of a designated Strategic Communications team including staff development, profitability, morale, quality control and marketing support. You are exceptionally organized and highly driven with the ability to manage several projects and meet client deadlines. You aren’t afraid of leading public meetings, hearings, open houses and other meetings with the public, clients and other project stakeholders. You have a track record of creating and implementing communications strategies that include target audience strategies, event planning, scheduling and overseeing the production of collateral materials. You enjoy managing and leading clients and developing relationships to continue building our strategic communications program in the Southwest Region and AZ/NM Area. You are a highly creative person that understands the importance of clear communication across multiple channels and mediums from video to social media. You are a lifelong learner who is constantly researching new technologies and trends, pushing clients and the team to innovate. You embrace the new. You are a self-starter who thrives and adapts in exceptionally fast-paced environments.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a Professional, Architecture, Engineering or closely related field
10 years of experience
Committed to quality, improvement and HDR values
Maintains a professional or engineering registration and has related technical experience
Experienced in development and management of diverse teams
Works cooperatively with other area business class leaders, operations managers, technical directors and marketing managers on business class efforts
An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture is a must

Responsibilities

Coordinate with the Area Business Class Leaders and the Regional Business Class Lead to support business class initiatives
Provide Area leadership of technical capabilities within the Strategic Communications BC
Develop and implement a broad range of communication strategies, outreach programs, plans, message management processes, and initiatives and outreach activities that effectively educate, inform, and build relationships with targeted stakeholder groups that are impacted by infrastructure projects
Develop schedules and budgets as required for each project
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with established internal and external sources of client media, locally, regionally, and nationally
Manage public relations programs in the media and target markets, including working with public relations agencies and media to ensure media coverage
Drive and manage digital engagement strategies, including social media and mainstream outreach, and create and manage content
Mentor and develop Strategic Communications staff
Responsible for managing project staffing/resourcing, workload and resource balancing and BC utilization in coordination with Project Managers (PM) and Area Transportation Manager
Manage sub consultants
Manage Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Manage and give direction in stakeholder coordination, conflict resolution and facilitation
Prioritize BC activities across AZ & NM to best implement Market Sector and Business Group objectives and promote technical services of their BC in the Area
Facilitate BC teamwork, communication and work sharing between Area offices, business classes, business groups, management, marketing, and staff.
Serve as client manager, project principal and/or PM.
Actively participate in projects or manage projects to meet assigned utilization rate
Serve as a senior technical resource on projects and programs
Build and retain strong relationships with staff, PMs, Client Development Managers, Market Sector Leaders, and management throughout the Area and within HDR in the SW Region
Provide strategic and tactical input on business trends to the BC and local office planning.
Manage staff workloads and make recommendations for adjustments and recruiting as needed
Manage training and licensing requirements and identify opportunities for continuing education
Develop a technical mentoring and employee advancement process to advance staff
Champion marketing opportunities to grow the practice
Support Area pursuits and actively participate in and support proposal development
Identify project needs and recruit professionals to join our HDR team
Demonstrate “can-do” problem solver approach to colleagues and clients
Ability to build positive client relationships, strong communication, negotiation and presentation skills, and the ability to manage and motivate direct reports.
Perform other duties as needed