Director, Public Affairs - Healthcare and Life Sciences

FTI Consulting • Chicago, DC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Director in our Healthcare & Life Sciences sector, you will take an active role in supporting the day-to-day management of client accounts. This person will align with the Healthcare and Life Sciences sectors and our Public Affairs team. FTI Consulting’s Public Affairs practice partners with our clients to manage and execute multi-stakeholder communications activities requiring knowledge of media, political landscape, and public policy issues. As a successful Director, you will be responsible for managing both up and down within account teams to appropriately service client communications programs. You will interact with and provide communications at client companies; develop and execute communications strategies to deliver results and meet client expectations; draft documents for client use (including communications plans, presentations, strategy memos, press releases, interview preparation memos, etc.); provide perspective to clients on internal, peer, and market developments as such pertains to the media, political landscape, and marketplace; regularly plan for media interaction and converse with the media and investment communities. Additionally, you’ll serve as a liaison across internal teams at FTI to bring client campaigns to life. You’ll be responsible for leading and interacting with the execution of client campaigns and overseeing colleagues at various levels to ensure client initiatives are delivered on time and on budget.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant industry or field
• Minimum five years of work experience in communications agency and/or state/federal government experience
• Superior public policy, writing, editing, and research skills
• Proven project management track record and comfort in managing and working with staff at all levels
• Prior healthcare experience, including familiarity with major issues facing the industry, is a must
• This role requires travel to clients and FTI office(s) up to 20%
• Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; this position does not provide visa sponsorship

Nice To Haves

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, Public Policy or related field
• Prior communications experience, including developing and executing communications strategies intended to raise a client’s profile as well as mitigate or balance negative coverage
• Track record of managing communications effectively with diverse stakeholders in politically charged and/or crisis situations
• Strong work ethic, attention to detail and a service-oriented attitude
• Ability to work under pressing deadlines across multiple projects and portray calm in the face of difficult situations to clients and other team members
• Excellent organizational skills and written and verbal presentation skills

Responsibilities

• Serve as one of the day-to-day client contacts for select accounts; project manage client accounts, workstreams and projects, managing the overall quality of work on multiple accounts by demonstrating professional and team leadership
• Write and edit a variety of materials (e.g., memos, policy documents, press releases, presentations, emails, media pitches, web content)
• Demonstrate an understanding of client information, including business strategy, services, stakeholders and competitive landscape
• Deliver high-quality work focused on client needs
• Create client-ready deliverables in a timely and efficient manner
• Take a proactive approach and anticipate client needs
• Counsel clients about industry, company, and market developments
• Identify resource needs and work with account leaders, project managers and other leaders to assign individual responsibilities
• Support billing procedures to ensure timely and accurate delivery of client invoices
• Assist account leads with managing programs on a day-to-day basis; operate with minimal supervision and lead workstreams
• Counsel clients about industry, company, and market developments
• Help clients identify and escalate risks in order to act and communicate with integrity
• Assist senior team members in creatively developing, preparing, and executing communications
• Identify emerging opportunities to add more value for the client
• Anticipate potentially difficult situations and be able to evaluate strategies and alternatives with senior management
• Serve as a thought leader to the Public Affairs practice and healthcare team
• Work with junior staff as a leader and demonstrate mentoring ability
• Foster collaboration and partnership across the team, supportive of a positive work environment
• Actively support new business development efforts

Benefits

• professional development
• continuous learning
• individual skills development through on-the-job learning, self-guided professional development courses and certifications
• assigned a dedicated coach to mentor, guide and support you through regular coaching sessions and serve as an advocate for your professional growth
• tailored programs for critical professional milestones to ensure you are prepared and empowered to take on your next role

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director