Director for Community Relations

Loyola Marymount University•Westchester, FL

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Community Relations develops and leads Loyola Marymount University’s strategy for cultivating, strengthening, and stewarding relationships with the communities surrounding the university’s campuses. The Director builds trust with neighbors, neighborhood organizations, community leaders, local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and relevant public-sector stakeholders to advance LMU’s institutional priorities and reinforce the university’s reputation as a responsible neighbor, trusted partner, and community resource. Reporting to the Vice President for External Relations & Partnerships, the Director works closely with colleagues across Community Relations, Government Affairs, Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives, Marketing and Communications, Facilities, Campus Safety, Student Affairs, and other university units. The Director ensures that community engagement is coordinated, responsive, measurable, and aligned with LMU’s mission, strategic priorities, institutional positions, and long-term interests. The Director is responsible for establishing performance goals, tracking key performance indicators, and regularly reporting progress, outcomes, and areas requiring attention. The position requires exceptional judgment, political and organizational awareness, diplomacy, responsiveness, and the ability to represent the university effectively in complex or sensitive settings. The Director must distinguish clearly between institutional responsibilities and personal civic or political activities and proactively identify and appropriately manage any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

Requirements

Typically, a bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, public affairs, political science, public administration, organizational leadership, business, or a related field.
Minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in community relations, public affairs, government or civic engagement, institutional relations, communications, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience developing and executing comprehensive community engagement strategies, annual work plans, stakeholder outreach programs, and measurable performance objectives.
Significant knowledge of Los Angeles-area communities and familiarity with City of Los Angeles government, neighborhood councils, public agencies, community-based organizations, and local civic institutions.
Demonstrated ability to establish credibility and build productive relationships with residents, community leaders, public officials and staff, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and internal institutional stakeholders.
Demonstrated political acumen and ability to operate in politically sensitive environments while maintaining institutional neutrality, professional boundaries, confidentiality, and appropriate coordination with university leadership.
Experience managing complex community concerns, reputational issues, or disputes involving multiple constituencies.
Strong listening, negotiation, de-escalation, and conflict-resolution skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive briefings, presentations, correspondence, talking points, community notices, reports, and public-facing materials.
Demonstrated ability to recognize emerging risks, assess their potential institutional implications, escalate matters appropriately, and develop actionable recommendations.
Demonstrated experience developing and tracking key performance indicators, assessing program effectiveness, maintaining accurate performance data, and translating results into clear reports and actionable recommendations.
Experience creating and maintaining stakeholder-management systems, engagement records, issue trackers, calendars, project plans, and performance dashboards.
Strong project-management skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities, budgets, vendors, events, deadlines, and cross-functional dependencies.
Proficiency with standard office, project-management, constituent-management, email marketing, and data-reporting tools.
Ability and willingness to attend periodic evening and weekend meetings and events and to adjust the work schedule, in accordance with university policy, to meet the responsibilities of the position.
Valid driver’s license and ability to travel locally between university campuses, community meetings, and external events, if required by the university.

Nice To Haves

An advanced degree is preferred.
Experience in higher education, a complex nonprofit organization, government, or a similarly multifaceted institution is preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement a comprehensive community relations strategy and annual operating plan aligned with LMU’s institutional priorities, External Relations & Partnerships objectives, and broader public affairs strategy. Establish clear goals, timelines, stakeholder plans, and measures of success.
Cultivate and steward productive relationships with neighborhood residents, neighborhood associations, community-based organizations, local businesses, nonprofit institutions, educational institutions, and civic leaders. Build relationships that strengthen trust in LMU and advance shared community priorities.
Serve as a primary university liaison to neighborhood councils, community organizations, relevant City of Los Angeles offices and agencies, and other local stakeholders, in coordination with the Vice President and Government Affairs team.
Develop and maintain a comprehensive stakeholder map, community engagement calendar, contact history, and relationship-management system. Document commitments, interactions, concerns, follow-up items, and outcomes to ensure institutional continuity and accountability.
Monitor neighborhood and community developments that could affect LMU’s operations, reputation, master planning, construction, permitting, student life, or long-term institutional interests. Provide timely written and verbal updates, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and recommend appropriate courses of action.
Represent LMU at community meetings, neighborhood council meetings, public hearings, civic events, and other external forums. Ensure that all university positions and commitments communicated externally have been appropriately coordinated and authorized.
In partnership with Government Affairs, maintain effective relationships with relevant public officials and staff. Coordinate in advance on outreach involving elected officials, candidates, campaigns, politically sensitive matters, or issues with potential legislative, regulatory, reputational, or institutional implications.
Chair and manage LMU’s Neighborhood Advisory Committee, including developing annual goals, recruiting and stewarding members, preparing agendas and briefing materials, facilitating meetings, documenting decisions and commitments, and ensuring timely follow-up.
Lead proactive neighbor outreach efforts, including regular communications, community meetings, neighborhood canvassing, campus updates, and engagement connected to construction, major events, student activity, master planning, and other areas of shared interest.
Serve as a central point of contact for external community questions, complaints, and concerns. Maintain a centralized tracking system and coordinate with Facilities, Campus Safety, Student Affairs, Legal Affairs, and other university offices to support timely, accurate, and appropriate resolution. Identify recurring issues and recommend institutional or operational improvements.
Develop and execute communications supporting LMU’s community relations objectives, including newsletters, community notices, presentations, talking points, correspondence, web content, social media content, advertisements, and briefing materials. Coordinate communications with Marketing and Communications and other relevant university offices.
Plan and execute community programs, meetings, and events both on and off campus. Establish the purpose, audience, desired outcomes, budget, communications approach, and evaluation process for each significant engagement.
Identify, evaluate, and steward community partnerships that advance LMU’s mission, enhance awareness of university programs, support neighborhood engagement, and demonstrate LMU’s commitment to service and the public good.
Convene and coordinate cross-functional university colleagues on community-facing issues. Clearly establish responsibilities, deadlines, escalation points, and communication protocols to ensure consistent institutional follow-through.
Develop, maintain, and regularly report key performance indicators for Community Relations. Track progress against annual goals, document outcomes and impact, identify areas requiring adjustment, and ensure complete and timely submission of monthly KPI updates and other required reports. Metrics may include stakeholder engagement, relationship development, responsiveness, issue resolution, community sentiment, partnership outcomes, event effectiveness, and progress toward strategic priorities.
Manage the community relations budget, vendors, consultants, memberships, and sponsorships responsibly. Ensure that expenditures and commitments are appropriately authorized, documented, and aligned with strategic priorities.
Maintain regular availability and responsiveness during established working hours, while recognizing that the position also requires periodic evening and weekend responsibilities. Maintain an accurate and current university calendar and comply with all university requirements related to work schedules, remote work, compensatory time, and leave.
Exercise discretion and sound judgment in handling confidential, politically sensitive, reputational, or potentially contentious matters. Escalate significant risks, commitments, complaints, or stakeholder concerns promptly to the Vice President.
Perform other duties and contribute to special projects and institutional initiatives as assigned.