Public Relations Specialist

Kimberly-Clark•Chicago, IL

5d•$96,100 - $118,700•Hybrid

About The Position

Join the team behind iconic brands like Huggies®, Kleenex®, Cottonelle®, Scott®, Kotex®, Poise®, Depend®, and Kimberly-Clark Professional® At Kimberly-Clark, it’s all here for you—innovation, growth, and the chance to make a real impact. You’re not the person who will settle for just any role. Neither are we. Because we’re out to create Better Care for a Better World, and that takes a certain kind of person and teams who care about making a difference. Here, you’ll bring your professional expertise, talent, and drive to building and managing our portfolio of iconic, ground-breaking brands. In this role, you’ll help us deliver better care for billions of people around the world. It starts with YOU. In one of our professional roles, you’ll focus on winning with consumers and the market, while putting safety, mutual respect, and human dignity at the center. We are seeking a proactive, detail-oriented Public Relations Specialist to support day-to-day PR operations across our North America brands including but not limited to: media relations and spokesperson strategy and management, crisis and risk mitigation planning, emerging communications strategies focused on LLM optimization and AI search visibility. This role is ideal for a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced environment, can manage multiple projects simultaneously, and understands how traditional PR, digital visibility, and stakeholder engagement work together to shape brand perception. The specialist will provide critical support across media outreach, strategy and execution, issues management and risk mitigation, spokesperson partnership strategy and management, content optimization, monitoring and performance reporting.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher in public relations, communications, journalism, marketing, or related field.
5+ years of public relations agency experience.
Strong understanding of media relations, earned media strategy, and reputation management.
Familiarity with celebrity, influencer, talent or ambassador partnerships.
Understanding of emerging AI search environments, content discoverability, and LLM optimization principles.
Proficiency with media monitoring and reporting tools.
Exceptional written, verbal, and organizational skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities with strong attention to detail.
Experience working with multiple stakeholders, agency partners, and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

Support execution of integrated communications programs that drive brand awareness, product storytelling, and corporate reputation.
Develop and review media materials, including pitches, briefing documents, fact sheets, press releases, Q&As, and spokesperson content.
Monitor media, social channels, online conversations, AI-generated search results, and emerging issues to identify risks and opportunities.
Coordinate media relations activities, including interview logistics, press inquiries, and events.
Track, analyze, and report on earned media, campaign performance, reputation trends, celebrity engagements, and AI visibility metrics.
Support issues management and crisis response through development of holding statements, stakeholder communications, and response materials.
Partner with digital, content, and cross-functional teams to optimize brand visibility across traditional, search, and AI-powered discovery platforms.
Manage communications operations, including agency/vendor coordination, contract support, campaign logistics, reporting, and process documentation.