Manager, Global Health Communications

Position Title: Manager, Global Health Communications

Location: SOI HQ – Washington, DC. (2-3 days/week in DC office required)

Department: Communications

Reports to: Vice President, International Media Relations and Communications

Status: Full Time, Exempt

Funding Source: Restricted

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 four 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 Communications supports the Director of Health Communications and the Vice President of International Media Relations and Communications to develop strategy and activities from concept to reality. The position serves as a key member of the Communications Team that works in a cross-departmental function alongside the Special Olympics International 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 for both internal and external audiences.
• Serves as project lead for long-and short-term editorial calendar opportunities to support those objectives.
• Serves as project lead for written content including internal memos, 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. Provides support for public relations and communications 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 Communications and other senior team members to develop a well-rounded external media presence.
• Identifies relevant media for outreach and leads media outreach to journalists, securing opportunities for health leadership and coverage of Special Olympics health programming.

*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, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum five years of media / public relations experience (agency, non-profit or corporate).
• Must have experience pitching media – at least national and regional media outlets.
• Excellent creative writing skills, an aptitude for storytelling, ability to synthesize complex information and effectively communicate it in written and oral formats to various audiences across platforms.
• A track record of strong project management and/or organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines.
• Capable of working as part of a team as well as independently.
• A history of working well across departments and collaborating with multiple internal and external stakeholders and at all levels (ability to manage up, across and down).
• Experience managing editorial content calendars for multiple digital platforms.
• Solid understanding of how public relations and communications works in the nonprofit sector.
• A confident communicator and presenter
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Desired Qualifications

• Have established relationships with health, consumer lifestyle, philanthropic, fitness and wellness outlets and a track record of successful media pitches.
• Experience in the health industry is considered a plus.
• Experience working with people with intellectual disabilities.
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment.

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.