Communications Specialist - Toppel Career Center

University of Miami•Coral Gables, FL

15h•Onsite

About The Position

The University of Miami Department of Communication has an exciting opportunity for a full time Communication Specialist to work in Coral Gables, FL. The Communications Specialist is the dedicated communications professional embedded in the Toppel Career Center, and the Center’s storyteller and content producer. The specialist is closest to Toppel’s students, staff, employers, and programs, and is the primary source of Toppel stories, expertise, and content for both Toppel channels and enterprise channels. The position is part of Enterprise Marketing & Communications and works within its shared-services model: the Coordinator owns unit-level content and storytelling, while marketing strategy, campaigns, paid media, design production, media relations, analytics, and technology are delivered by the enterprise verticals (Marketing Strategy, Communications, Creative Studio, Marketing Operations & Planning, and MarTech). The specialist partners closely with the academy marketing strategy team who converts the unit's communications output into measurable marketing programs. Although the position reports to Enterprise MarCom, it is embedded in and dedicated to the Toppel Career Center. The Executive Director (or designee) holds a dotted-line relationship with direct day-to-day access to the role and input into priorities and performance.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, English, marketing, or a relevant field.
Minimum 2 years of relevant work experience, 3 years of relevant communications, journalism, or content experience preferred.
Excellent writing, editing, and copy-editing skills across formats — news, feature, web, social, and executive voice.
Strong interviewing and story development instincts; able to translate career outcomes and program impact into compelling stories for student, employer, alumni, and donor audiences.
Experience managing organizational social media accounts and producing web content in a CMS.
Excellent project management and organizational skills; able to manage multiple projects and deadlines independently in an embedded setting.
Strong interpersonal skills; able to build trusted relationships with Toppel leadership, staff, students, employers, and alumni while working within a matrixed enterprise team.
Sound judgment on sensitive matters and a clear understanding of when to escalate.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and presentation tools (PowerPoint, Canva, or similar).

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education, healthcare, research, or another complex, multi-stakeholder environment preferred.
Familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere) and social media management tools preferred.
Experience producing newsletters and supporting award or institutional writing preferred.
Basic photography and short-form video skills preferred.

Responsibilities

Write, edit, and produce Toppel content: news and feature stories, student success and alumni career-outcome stories, employer spotlights, program and service highlights, and award and milestone coverage.
Serve as the Center’s editorial lead, ensuring all Toppel communications meet enterprise editorial, accuracy, and quality standards; maintain familiarity with all Toppel programs and services and keep communication resources current.
Develop and maintain Toppel’s website content within the enterprise CMS, templates, and governance standards; monitor pages for accuracy, engagement, and usefulness; request new builds through the enterprise intake process.
Produce Toppel’s owned publications — the e-newsletter, annual report content, and career guides and collateral — with Creative Studio design support and brand review; serve as editor of the Toppel e-newsletter.
Manage Toppel’s approved social media accounts day to day — planning, posting, monitoring, and responding — within Creative Studio platform strategy and governance standards.
Escalate account issues, negative engagement trends, or sensitive matters promptly.
Support Toppel leadership and staff on award nominations, donor and employer communications, and other high-stakes institutional writing.
Support the Executive Director’s internal communications: announcements, staff updates, and messages to students and the Toppel community; keep students and Career Center staff informed via electronic bulletins.
Promote Toppel programs and events, maintain campus calendar and campus publication entries, and support signature events including the Job & Internship Expos and other career-related events.
Feed the enterprise story pipeline: proactively flag newsworthy student career outcomes, employer partnerships, expert sources, and stories to the Communications vertical (Enterprise Content and University Communications) for earned and owned media.
Route all media inquiries to University Communications; do not pitch media directly.
Escalate any emerging issue or potential crisis to Crisis Communications immediately; the unit does not manage crisis communications independently.
Partner with the portfolio Director of Marketing: provide program knowledge, local insight, and content that informs and feeds Toppel marketing plans and campaigns promoting Toppel services to students, alumni, faculty/staff, and employers.
Submit requests for design, video, photography, web builds, and campaign support through the enterprise intake process, planning ahead so unit work enters the queue with adequate lead time.
Apply University brand guidelines correctly in all Toppel materials; advise Career Center staff on editorial standards and correct brand application; route new brand applications to Creative Studio for approval.
Participate in the Enterprise MarCom community of practice: team meetings, training, office hours, and shared standards.
Supervise 3–5 Toppel student workers supporting graphic design, video production, and social media efforts; assign and coordinate their day-to-day work within Creative Studio creative standards, and lead their training and performance evaluation.
Perform other duties as assigned. This list of duties and responsibilities is not intended to be all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties or responsibilities as necessary.