Media Relations Specialist (In Office 4 Days/Wk)

Southern Company • Atlanta, GA

8h • Hybrid

About The Position

Georgia Power is seeking a strategic and highly capable Media Relations Specialist to help shape how our company is understood by customers, communities, and stakeholders across the state. This role plays a critical part in protecting and enhancing Georgia Power’s reputation by building trusted relationships with news media, supporting proactive storytelling, and responding effectively during high visibility and time sensitive moments. The success of this role depends on the candidate’s ability to build and maintain relationships within the business across the state. The ideal candidate brings strong news judgment, excellent writing and interpersonal skills, and a desire to deeply understand the business to translate complex operational work into clear, credible stories.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or a related field
• 3-5 years of experience in media relations, journalism, public affairs, or corporate communications
• Demonstrated experience working with news media and responding on deadline
• Strong writing and editing skills, with the ability to simplify complex topics
• Sound judgment, discretion, and professionalism in high visibility situations
• Strong understanding of newsroom operations and what drives coverage
• Excellent verbal communication skills and executive presence
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines
• High emotional intelligence and collaborative working style
• Comfortable operating in fast‑moving or ambiguous situations
• Demonstrates Georgia Power values: Safety First, Act with Integrity, Intentional Inclusion, and Superior Performance
• Calm, credible, and steady under pressure
• Proactive, self-directed, and accountable
• Curious about the business and motivated to continuously improve communications outcomes

Nice To Haves

• Experience serving as an organizational spokesperson
• Familiarity with utilities, energy, infrastructure, environmental policy, or regulated industries
• On camera or broadcast interview experience
• Experience supporting crisis or issues communications
• Knowledge of Georgia media markets

Responsibilities

• Serve as a day-to-day media contact for assigned topics, regions, or business units, working closely with the media relations manager and senior communications leaders
• Respond to inbound media inquiries with accuracy, urgency, and sound judgment, including during storms, emergencies, or emerging issues
• Participate in an on‑call media rotation and tracking 24 hours a day, seven days a week when scheduled and during emergencies/storms.
• Develop and pitch proactive, hyperlocal story ideas that reflect Georgia Power’s operational priorities, community investments, reliability efforts, and customer benefits
• Maintain a forward-looking pipeline of story opportunities informed by ongoing engagement with internal partners
• Identify emerging media trends, seasonal moments, and news hooks to recommend timely outreach
• Build strong working relationships with internal stakeholders across operations, reliability, customer service, generation, transmission, and community engagement
• Regularly engage with assigned business units through meetings, site visits, and time in the field to surface authentic, credible story ideas
• Serve as a communications partner who understands the business well enough to anticipate opportunities and risks
• Support reactive communications during storms, outages, regulatory developments, or other high-profile issues
• Assist in drafting statements, FAQs, talking points, and background materials under tight deadlines
• Support media engagement around major announcements, infrastructure projects, and public events
• Help prepare leaders and subject matter experts for media interviews by developing background briefs, anticipated Q&A, and reporter profiles
• Provide clear, trusted counsel on messaging, tone, and interview dynamics
• Draft and edit press releases, media advisories, newsroom stories, and briefing materials
• Track media coverage, pitch outcomes, and relationship activity to inform future strategy and continuous improvement

Benefits

• competitive base salary
• annual incentive awards for eligible employees
• health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being
• incentive program
• mileage reimbursement

What This Job Offers

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