Media Relations Manager

City of Seattle•Seattle, WA

15h•Onsite

About The Position

Over 900,000 people in the Seattle area rely on Seattle City Light every day to keep their homes comfortable, businesses operating, and communities vibrant. It is our responsibility and privilege to provide our customers with power that is reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible. As a public utility, our goals are defined by our customers and the communities we serve. We strive to deliver reliable energy to customers while also working to advance equity, achieve excellence, operate sustainably, and take care of our employees. City Light’s Communications Division plays a key role in furthering the utility’s mission, vision, and values. It provides corporate communications on behalf of the utility, including internal and external communications, media relations, community outreach, and marketing for City Light. The Media Relations Manager plays an essential role within the Communications team and in support of the entire organization, serving as the primary spokesperson for the utility. The position provides strategic communications support, promotes/highlights utility work on behalf of our customers and stakeholders, and leads proactive and reactive media relations to improve the organization’s reputation. This position also may be responsible for various writing projects, developing and implementing communications strategies for large, utility-wide initiatives, and working in partnership with other Communications team members on campaigns and customer/stakeholder engagement.

Requirements

At least three years’ experience in media relations, including demonstrated work as a spokesperson.
BA/BS degree in journalism, communications or a related field (or a combination of education and/or training and/or experience which provides an equivalent background required to perform the work of the class).
Current Washington State Driver’s license or ability to obtain within 30 days of hire.

Nice To Haves

Experience in media relations, including demonstrated work as a spokesperson, preferably on behalf of a large, complex organization.
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communications skills.
Dedication to honesty, accuracy, and transparency.
Ability to coordinate and balance multiple projects at the same time, while maintaining a level head in emergency situations.
Demonstrate attention to detail, impeccable judgement, and work with limited supervision.
Exercise appropriate level of care with sensitive and/or confidential information.
Ability to defuse conflict, build relationships across work teams, units, and divisions and with external audiences.
Will seek opportunities to tell our story in support of our mission, vision, and values.

Responsibilities

Manage proactive and reactive media relations, including, but not limited to, providing interviews to members of the media; developing and distributing news releases and advisories; pitching stories to local and industry media; identifying subject matter experts to represent the utility in media interviews and preparing them for those interviews.
Strategize, plan and write content for the utility’s Powerlines blog, social media, and other communication vehicles in coordination with the broader Communications team.
Leadership for, participation in, and scheduling of a team of communicators who take turns providing after-hours, standby public information and media relations coverage, primarily for outage response.
Coordinate communications activities with other City departments and the Mayor’s Office as part of the Citywide Public Information Officer (PIO) team.
Act as the primary City Light communications team member for supporting City Light’s Incident Management Team during emergency activations and the Joint Information Center during activations of the City’s Emergency Operations Center.
Contribute to strategic communications planning to support utility programs, initiatives, and objectives.