Senior Public Engagement Specialist

HNTB Corporation•Nashville, TN

21h•Onsite

About The Position

HNTB is seeking a Senior Public Engagement and Communications Specialist to support an impactful transportation program in Nashville, TN with opportunities to lead engagement efforts and strategic communication strategies on high-profile and complex initiatives. The position will focus on developing and implementing strategic communications and engagement plans for a public agency transportation client. This role leads the development of communication strategies, materials, and digital and print content that support project goals and inform the community and key program partners, stakeholders, and community.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Marketing, Communications, English, Journalism or related field and 6 years of relevant experience, or In lieu of education, 10 years of relevant experience

Nice To Haves

Strong writing and communication skills, with the ability to lead development of clear, public‑facing messaging across deliverables.
Ability to translate complex technical information into clear, public-friendly messaging for diverse audiences.
Experience managing production workflows, prioritizing deliverables, and maintaining quality across fast-paced, concurrent projects.
Public engagement, media relations, and community engagement expertise, including leading outreach strategy and execution.
Proficiency in Adobe and Microsoft tools, with experience producing high-quality materials and reviewing work of less-experienced staff.
Experience developing and guiding social media strategy and content, providing directions to junior staff.
Ability to lead research efforts and synthesize findings into clear materials for internal and external use.
Experience overseeing stakeholder databases and engagement tracking, including directing updates and maintaining data quality.
Ability to plan and lead public meetings, workshops, and outreach efforts, including overseeing logistics, materials, and deliverables.
Experience coordinating with clients and multidisciplinary teams to deliver engagement products aligned with project goals and schedules.
Strong attention to detail, with the ability to ensure quality control and consistency across all materials and make informed editorial decisions.
Experience leading or supporting public engagement for large infrastructure or transportation projects.
Experience working with public sector clients.

Responsibilities

Develops and helps implement effective dissemination of outreach materials, facts and information on project messaging and supports client activities to stakeholders according to the public outreach plan including external agencies, associations, and news organizations using print, periodicals, radio, social and/or visual communication media.
Reviews and refines records and reports related to public involvement meetings, forums and public hearings as well as tracks social engagement and other digital strategies as needed.
Drafts speeches, creates and designs presentation materials, prepares remarks, briefing documents and/or composes correspondence for use in mailings, meetings, workshops and other public events.
Responsible for initial fact checking for reports, articles, and other publications.
Develops and implements digital strategies for use on web-based communications, including but not limited to websites and social channels.
Helps develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and reviews draft reports to indicate a campaign's milestones.
Supports coordination efforts for public meetings and engagements to best support outreach and initiative goals.
Interacts with clients to coordinate implementation of communication programs and goals.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Lead strategic communication and outreach strategies that include branded messaging, education campaigns, progress updates, and other creative social media, website, video, media, and press initiatives in support of the program and its projects.
Lead stakeholder and community engagement efforts, support the planning and facilitation of public meetings and workshops, and coordinate closely with clients and multidisciplinary project teams, including planning, environmental, and engineering staff, to ensure alignment with project goals, schedules, and technical work.
Ensures public input is effectively captured, documented, and integrated into project communications and deliverables.
Task management, research, data gathering, and developing clear, public-facing messaging and communication resources to support project delivery.