Public Affairs Specialist

Washington Humane Society•Madison, NJ

11d•$60,000 - $70,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Public Affairs Specialist at St. Huberts and the Humane Rescue Alliance, you’ll help shape how we show up in the world—from social media and digital storytelling to news coverage, community events, corporate partnerships, and conversations with local leaders. A big part of your day-to-day work will be telling our stories on social media. You’ll help develop and create engaging content, manage day-to-day activity across our social channels, respond to, and interact with our online community, and look for opportunities to turn what’s happening across the organization into stories people want to see, share, and talk about. You’ll work closely with the Marketing team to keep our content fresh, timely, on-brand, and connected to what’s happening in our shelter and programs. You’ll also help us build relationships and stay connected beyond our social channels. You might talk with a reporter about an animal in our care, coordinate a meeting with an elected official, work with a corporate partner on an activation, attend a community event, or help prepare a spokesperson for an interview. You’ll be someone who can move comfortably between writing a social post, answering a media request, planning an event, and talking with people in the community. Reporting to the Director of Public Affairs, you’ll help make sure our voice is present, engaging, and consistent wherever people encounter us. We’re looking for someone who is curious, creative, organized, comfortable meeting new people, and able to spot a good story when they see one. If you enjoy variety, love social media, and want your work to connect people with animals and a mission you care about, this could be the role for you.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience managing partnerships, sponsorships, or external engagement initiatives.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience drafting media and external materials.
Experience coordinating events or managing multi-stakeholder projects.
Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
Professional presence and confidence representing the organization in external settings.
Commitment to our mission and values.
4–6 years of experience in communications, public affairs, nonprofit engagement, corporate relations, or related field.
Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, nonprofit management, political science, or related field preferred.
An equivalent combination of education and professional experience may be considered.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with CRM systems such as Raiser’s Edge preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as a point of contact for routine media inquiries.
Draft press releases, media advisories, statements, and background materials.
Coordinate interviews and prepare briefing materials for organizational spokespeople.
Monitor media coverage and maintain tracking reports.
During Director absence, manage day-to-day media coordination with established escalation protocols for strategic or sensitive matters.
Coordinate meetings and logistics with elected officials, community leaders, and key stakeholders.
Monitor local legislative and civic developments and flag relevant updates to leadership.
Assist in preparation of talking points, briefing materials, and stakeholder communications.
Support public affairs initiatives designed to advance HRA’s policy and community engagement priorities.
Contribute to and execute integrated social media strategies, managing content creation and storytelling for HRA’s social media channels in alignment with organizational brand, communications, and engagement goals.
Support Marketing Specialist in maintaining the content calendar.
Read, review, and respond to the community through social media channels.
Manage and steward an assigned portfolio of corporate sponsors and business partners.
Identify and cultivate prospective corporate sponsors in coordination with the Director of Public Affairs and Development leadership.
Draft sponsorship proposals, agreements, and benefit summaries.
Ensure fulfillment of sponsor benefits, recognition, and reporting commitments.
Track corporate engagement activity and maintain accurate records in CRM systems.
Contribute to annual corporate revenue goals through strategic outreach, sponsor retention, and expansion of partnerships.
Lead coordination and logistical execution of external-facing events, corporate activations, and community engagement initiatives.
Manage sponsor activation, benefit fulfillment, and on-site representation at events.
Coordinate cross-functional teams to support successful execution of events and activations.
Be our representative at community gatherings, business forums, and civic meetings as delegated.