Director External Communications

Boeing

85d • $131,800 - $244,400 • Remote

About The Position

As the Director of External Communications, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and enhancing BECU's reputation and storytelling externally. Your strategic vision will drive comprehensive external communication efforts, positioning BECU positively with our members, communities, and key stakeholders. You will oversee public relations, organic social media, blog content, message development, leadership communications, media training, crisis communications, and reputation management. Your leadership will foster strong agency and vendor relationships, as well as cross-functional internal collaborations. To join our dynamic team in this role, we require candidates to be residents of WA, OR, ID, AZ, TX, SC or GA. If you're located in Washington state and within a reasonable driving distance to our Tukwila Headquarters (TFC), we encourage you come into the office on Tuesdays & Wednesdays each week. For those candidates that live outside the commutable distance to TFC and in any of our approved remote work locations, this role will be primarily remote. Remote or onsite, we are committed to ensuring you are fully engaged and included in our collaborative environment.

Requirements

• B.A. or B.S. degree in public relations, journalism, marketing, communications, or equivalent work or educational experience.
• Typically requires a minimum of eight years of experience in the communications field, engaging in strategy development and implementation, and managing external communications programs.
• Typically requires a minimum of five years of management experience.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred.
• Exceptional creativity and ability to communicate conceptually and specifically.
• Effective leadership and negotiation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and presentation skills to effectively communicate with executive leadership, management, staff, and outside contacts.
• Proven track record of leading successful public relations programs and teams, including building effective relationships with reporters and driving brand awareness and media coverage.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the strategy, management, and execution of BECU's external communications and messaging to align with and elevate BECU's brand, reputation, and community initiatives.
• Lead BECU's public and media relations program, sponsored content partnerships, thought leadership program, and annual plan to elevate BECU's brand, member value, and community engagement initiatives.
• Build relationships with executives and organizational leaders to counsel and assist them on their communications needs, including issue and reputation management, executive positioning, and priority external speaking events.
• Partner with the Marketing team to influence external content opportunities that highlight and reinforce the unique BECU brand/purpose, signature events, co-op news, and member value initiatives.
• Oversee BECU's organic social media and social response strategies to grow BECU's following across platforms, improve members' digital experience, promote partnerships and products, elevate community and employee stories, increase audience engagement, and expand brand awareness.
• Oversee BECU.org's blog strategy focused on engaging personal finance content that empowers audiences to improve their financial well-being, with a focus on increasing brand reach, driving traffic, building topical authority, and supporting BECU business goals.
• Oversee metric development, research, tracking, and targeting related to key segments for external communications, including competitors.
• Direct BECU's relationship with external communications agencies, firms, and freelance resources to support the development and execution of strategies.
• Serve as BECU's lead media spokesperson, identifying and developing internal spokespersons to serve as subject matter experts, and being readily available for interviews with external sources.
• Build and maintain excellent relationships with key journalists, broadcast producers, and industry partners, acting as BECU's primary media representative and leading the internal media training program.
• Lead BECU's efforts to identify issues/events that may impact BECU and serve as the external representative regarding BECU's business continuity and crisis communication plans and programs.
• Represent BECU at industry events, trade shows, informational activities, and community forums that support BECU's external communications strategies.
• Provide ongoing coaching, mentoring, and training of staff to develop and encourage their performance, conducting personnel evaluations and providing feedback.
• Assist in the development and approval of the annual budget and strategic plans for areas of responsibility, managing expenditures to ensure budgets are met.
• Have a thorough knowledge of the credit union policies and state/federal regulations regarding all products.
• Ensure that written procedures are documented for all functions and updated as necessary.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance coverage.
• Disability and AD&D insurance.
• Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts.
• Health savings accounts.
• 401k plan and employer-funded retirement plan.
• Accrue 6.16 hours of paid time off (PTO) on a per pay period basis (up to a maximum of 160 PTO hours per year).
• Receive ten paid holidays throughout the calendar year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Industry: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree