Chief of Communications

City of Boston•Boston, MA

32d

About The Position

Overview : The Chief of Communications leads the Mayor’s Office communications team and leads the City’s communications strategy. The Communications Chief manages the press, digital, and speechwriting teams in developing and implementing a clear, consistent, comprehensive messaging strategy for the City of Boston. The Communications Chief works closely with Mayor Wu and senior City leadership across departments and agencies to use every platform to share resources and information, connect Boston residents to the community, and tell the story of our City. The Chief of Communications is also responsible for overseeing internal and workforce communications.

Requirements

Minimum of ten (10) years of experience with executive-level communications work or in the field of media relations, earned media, social media, and content development.
Minimum of three (3) years of experience developing and implementing strategic communications plans for complex organizations.
Experience using multi-faceted communications to drive your messaging: earned, paid social, digital, culture, creative/video.
Excellent communication skills, at the individual and organizational level.
Deep understanding of Boston's neighborhoods and constituencies, with the ability to tailor messaging that reflects the City's cultural and community diversity.
Strong interpersonal skills: ability to quickly establish credibility to develop and manage productive relationships with internal and external individuals and agencies.
Experience in supervising and leading a high-performing team.
Experience in developing and implementing training(s) and systems.
Must adhere to the City's non-discrimination policies.
Ability to effectively interact with coworkers and constituents with diverse backgrounds, religious views, cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and sexual orientations.
Proficiency with Microsoft applications and Google Suite.
BOSTON RESIDENCY REQUIRED

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of Boston's neighborhoods, communities, cultures, and history.
Fluency or competency in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, Mandarin, or Cantonese.

Responsibilities

Works closely with the Mayor, the Chief of Staff, and senior City leadership to identify communications priorities and develop messaging that authentically reflects those priorities.
Develops, manages, and executes the City of Boston's brand, narrative, and community outreach strategies.
Manages the press team, the digital team, and the speechwriting team to ensure alignment across various communications functions.
Ensures consistency, accuracy, concision, and clarity of all communications produced by the Mayor's Office and the City of Boston, including interviews and talking points, press releases and official statements, social media posts, and other digital communications.
Prioritizes building and maintaining public trust by ensuring cultural responsiveness in all City communications and resident-facing messaging.
Develops, maintains, and manages key relationships with communications stakeholders (internal and external) who can provide perspective on and amplification of City messaging and communications priorities.
Advises senior staff on messaging opportunities to ensure consistency across Cabinets and Departments.
Proactively develops innovative, multi-platform and multi-lingual communication strategies and creative concepts that meet residents where they are, adapting to the ever-evolving media and digital landscape.
Develops processes to ensure coordination among relevant City leaders and staff related to both proactive and reactive communications opportunities, including social media.
Performs related work as required.