Sr. Manager, Communications – Crisis & Rapid Response

T-Mobile•Bellevue, WA

6h•Hybrid

About The Position

At T-Mobile, our reputation is built in moments that matter. We’re looking for a Senior Manager, Communications to lead our Rapid Response function, the team responsible for identifying, assessing, preparing for, and responding to the issues that have the greatest potential to impact our business, customers, employees, and brand. This isn’t a traditional public relations role. It’s part newsroom, part war room, part strategic planning function. One day you may be leading communications strategy for a severe weather event, litigation matter, investigative media inquiry, privacy concern, labor issue, or viral social conversation. The next, you’ll be building enterprise playbooks, leading tabletop exercises, analyzing emerging risks, or developing strategies to address issues before they become headlines. The person in this role thrives in ambiguity, remains calm under pressure, and can quickly move from strategy to execution. They understand that great crisis communications isn’t just about responding quickly — it’s about seeing around corners, building trust, and helping an organization navigate moments of uncertainty with confidence. As the Rapid Response leader, you’ll oversee issue detection and monitoring, triage and escalation processes, crisis response, media engagement, preparedness planning, and continuous improvement efforts across the enterprise. You’ll partner closely with executives and teams across Legal, Network, Customer Care, Government Affairs, HR, Security, Product, and Marketing to protect and strengthen T-Mobile’s reputation. This is a hybrid role, requiring a minimum of three days per week in the office, consistent with company policy. This position is located in Bellevue, WA. The nature of crisis communications requires flexibility, responsiveness, and leadership beyond traditional working hours. While the team operates on an on-call rotation, this role carries responsibility for guiding high-impact issues and crises whenever they arise, including mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays, because reputational moments don’t always keep business hours. If you’re energized by solving complex problems, managing high-stakes situations, influencing senior leaders, and operating at the center of a fast-moving business, we’d love to hear from you.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
7-10 years of experience in communications, public relations, crisis communications, issues management, journalism, public affairs, or a related field.
Significant experience leading crisis communications and managing complex reputational issues for a major corporation, agency, government organization, or newsroom.
Demonstrated success advising senior leaders and navigating high-pressure situations requiring sound judgment and rapid decision-making.
Strong media relations experience, including established relationships with national, business, trade, and investigative media.
Exceptional writing, editing, and messaging skills with the ability to simplify complex topics and develop compelling narratives.
Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders across large organizations.
Strong understanding of today’s media, social, and digital landscape and its impact on reputation management.
Experience with risk monitoring, issues management, and crisis preparedness programs.
Telecommunications, technology, cybersecurity, public affairs, or regulated-industry experience is a plus.
Stays calm when others don’t; makes confident decisions with incomplete information.
Sees patterns before others see problems; knows when to escalate, when to wait, and when to act.
Zooms from executive-level strategy to tactical execution in minutes.
Builds trust quickly and communicates clearly under pressure.
Endlessly curious, highly collaborative, and relentlessly proactive.
Understands that protecting a brand isn’t just about managing headlines — it’s about earning trust every day.
Demonstrated executive presence and a track record of advising and influencing senior leaders, including during high-pressure situations requiring rapid judgment and clear, confident counsel.
Familiarity with AI-assisted monitoring, sentiment analysis, and crisis simulation tools; comfort evaluating and adopting new technologies that improve speed and effectiveness of issue response.
Comfortable carrying the phone during the moments that matter, including participation in an on-call rotation and some work outside traditional business hours.
Values in-person collaboration and recognizes that the speed and complexity of crisis communications often require teams to work side-by-side to assess, decide, and act quickly.
At least 18 years of age
Legally authorized to work in the United States

Nice To Haves

Telecommunications, technology, cybersecurity, public affairs, or regulated-industry experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead Rapid Response & Crisis Communications: Lead T-Mobile’s Rapid Response function, driving communications strategy and execution for high-profile issues, crises, and reputational challenges.
Direct issue triage, assessment, escalation, and response efforts across a broad range of topics including network events, natural disasters, litigation, labor activity, employee matters, customer concerns, privacy, fraud, regulatory developments, product changes, and emerging social issues.
Provide clear recommendations and communications counsel to senior leaders during fast-moving and high-pressure situations.
Ensure leadership teams maintain timely situational awareness through issue briefings, reporting, and escalation processes.
Manage, lead, and participate in the on-call rotation for the Rapid Response function.
Manage and staff T-Mobile’s media email inbox including routing, triage, and responding.
Drive Proactive Risk Management: Monitor and evaluate emerging risks, trends, and conversations across media, social platforms, industry developments, and intelligence tools.
Identify early warning signals and develop strategies to address issues before they escalate.
Lead long-range issue planning and maintain a forward-looking risk calendar that anticipates key events, narratives, and potential vulnerabilities.
Translate complex issues into actionable communications strategies that align with T-Mobile’s values and business objectives.
Lead Media Strategy & Engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with top-tier, trade, investigative, and issue-focused reporters.
Manage media engagement during sensitive and high-profile situations.
Develop statements, media guidance, talking points, FAQs, executive messaging, and other rapid-response materials.
Serve as a trusted advisor on media strategy and reputation management.
Build Organizational Preparedness: Lead development and maintenance of enterprise crisis communications playbooks and response frameworks.
Design and facilitate tabletop exercises, scenario planning sessions, and crisis simulations.
Establish best practices, processes, and tools that improve speed, coordination, and effectiveness during issue response.
Lead People, Partnerships & Operations: Lead and develop a high-performing team of communications professionals and agency partners.
Oversee monitoring and intelligence platforms, reporting programs, and operational processes that support rapid response capabilities.
Partner with the Internal Communications team to ensure employees receive timely, accurate information during active issues and crises, coordinating messaging and timing across internal and external channels.
Foster strong partnerships across Communications, Legal, Network, Technology, Care, Retail, HR, Security, Government Affairs, Marketing, and other key functions.
Measure & Improve Program Effectiveness: Establish KPIs and reporting frameworks to track crisis response performance, including response times, coverage outcomes, and stakeholder sentiment.
Conduct post-incident reviews and translate findings into program improvements and leadership reporting.
Evaluate and evolve monitoring tools, processes, and preparedness exercises to continuously raise the bar.