Manager, Global Health Communications

Position Title:                   Manager, Global Health Communication

Location:                           SOI HQ – Washington, DC. Remote considered.

Department:                    Communications

Reports to:                       Director, Global Health Communication

Status:                               Full Time, Exempt

Location:                           SOI HQ Preferred

Date:                                  September 2022

Founded in 1968, Special Olympics is a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. We foster acceptance of all people through the power of sport and programming in education, health, and leadership. With more than six million athletes and Unified Sports partners in over 190 countries and territories and more than one million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics delivers more than 30 Olympic-type sports and over 100,000 games and competitions every year. We are working to make health inclusive by reducing health disparities for people with intellectual disabilities and achieving health equity.

Position Summary:

The Manager of Health Communication supports the Director of Health Communication to develop strategy and activities from concept to reality. The position serves as a key member of the Communication Team that works with the SOI Health team to plan and deliver strategic, full-service communication campaigns around the world.

Responsibilities:

• Closely collaborates with the Health, Brand, and Digital teams to deliver on key organizational objectives and to ensure consistent branding and messaging;
• Serve as project lead for long-and short-term content calendars to support those objectives;
• Serve as project lead for written content including press releases, opinion pieces, human-interest stories, media notes, talking points, social media posts and more that helps advance the key objectives of the Health team. Provide support for public relations and communication to the Special Olympics International team, with particular focus on health, consumer lifestyle, philanthropic, fitness and wellness outlets—working directly with the Director of Global Health Communication and other senior team members to develop a well-rounded external media presence.
  • Public relations experience (agency or in-house) and established relationships with health outlets are required as this role will also serve as project lead for pitching media with health-related content.
• Support the strategy of Special Olympics Health, ensuring national markets and celebrity/athlete ambassadors are integrated into media opportunities. It is expected there will be regular coordination of media pitching with all involved teams.

Writing samples and examples of successful and recent media pitching will be expected with application.

Required Qualifications

•  Bachelor’s degree in communication, public relations, journalism or related discipline.
•  Minimum five years of media / public relations experience (agency or in-house).
•  Excellent creative writing skills, an aptitude for storytelling, ability to synthesize complex information and effectively communicate it in written and oral format to various audiences across platforms.
•  Experience managing content calendars for multiple digital platforms.
•  Solid understanding of how public relations and communications works in the nonprofit sector.
•  Have established relationships with health, consumer lifestyle, philanthropic, fitness and wellness outlets and a track record of successful media pitches.
•  Strong project management and/or organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines.
•  Experience collaborating with multiple internal and external stakeholders, including partner organizations.
•  Experience working with subject matter experts.
•  Ability to travel as needed.
•  Other duties as assigned.

 Desired Qualifications

•  Two to three years of experience in graphic design.
•  Experience in the health industry is considered a plus.
•  Experience working with people with intellectual disabilities.
•  Experience working in a fast-paced environment.
•  General news media connections are also encouraged.

Special Olympics provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.