Executive Communications Specialist
DePaul University•Chicago, IL
•Onsite
About The Position
The Executive Communications Specialist supports the development and execution of university-wide communications, with a focus on leadership messaging and institutional priorities. This role supports key communication channels and tools, including the university’s mass email distribution platform, leadership and strategic planning websites, and the Office of the President mailbox, ensuring timely, accurate and strategically aligned communications. This position plays a critical role in maintaining consistency and supporting the university’s reputation across internal and executive communications. The specialist is expected to work independently to manage workflows and prioritize competing demands.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism, public relations, marketing, communication, English or related discipline required.
- 3 to 5 years of internal or executive communications experience with demonstrated competencies and a proven track record of excellent writing and editing.
- Exhibits a high degree of comfort and flexibility managing multiple competing priorities while maintaining attention to complex details in a fast-paced and unpredictable environment.
- Proven track record of excellent writing and editing.
- Ability to perform effectively under pressure in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
- High level of professionalism and strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
- Ability to work cross-functionally and build collaborative relationships across diverse teams.
- Ability to respond with appropriate urgency and sound judgment.
- Experience with communications analytics tools and the ability to translate data into actionable insights.
- Familiarity with AP Style and proofreading marks.
- Experience with HTML and CMS platforms.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in related field, preferred.
- Internal or executive communications experience, preferred.
- Experience with Marketing Cloud, Sitecore, SharePoint and Monday.com, preferred.
Responsibilities
- Support the development and execution of university-wide and leadership communications.
- Draft, edit and coordinate distribution of messages on behalf of university leadership, ensuring clarity, accuracy and alignment with institutional priorities.
- Manage production and delivery of communications through the university’s mass email platform (Salesforce Marketing Cloud) and other internal channels, including newsletters.
- Apply consistent messaging and editorial standards across communications, aligned with the university’s brand, voice and strategic goals.
- Support internal and executive communications during crisis situations, contributing to timely and coordinated messaging.
- Maintain awareness of best practices for internal and executive communications and participates on relevant cross-departmental teams related to employee engagement.
- Draft messages, thought leadership, speeches and other communications, on behalf of the university president, maintaining a professional, empathetic and institutionally aligned voice.
- Manage the president’s public-facing mailbox, serving as a key point of coordination for incoming inquiries from internal and external audiences.
- Review, prioritize and triage messages, exercising sound judgment to determine appropriate routing, response needs and level of urgency.
- Coordinate with campus partners and leadership offices to gather information and ensure timely, accurate and thoughtful responses.
- Track inquiries and recurring themes to identify trends, escalate issues as needed and inform leadership awareness.
- Create executive leadership reports to summarize and track key messages received in the president’s mailbox.
- Drive content strategy and ongoing management of websites supporting university leadership and institutional initiatives.
- Develop and maintains clear, engaging and up-to-date content aligned with communication priorities.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to gather information and ensure content accuracy and relevance.
- Stay current on digital content best practices to continuously improve effectiveness and user experience.
- Monitor and analyze performance metrics across internal channels and provides data-driven recommendations to optimize future outreach.
Benefits
- Working for a stable and well-known university.
- Top choice medical, dental, and vision benefits.
- Retirement plan matching contribution of 8%.
- Tuition waivers for employees and dependents.
- Generous paid time off, sick time, holidays, floating holidays, and more!
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
