Employee & executive communications manager (wms band 1)

Description

Employee & Executive Communications Manager WMS BAND 1

NOTE: The hiring authority reserves the right to offer the position at any time after the required posting period, and during the recruitment process. It is to the applicant's advantage to apply as early as possible. The position’s assigned duty workstation is located at: 1500 Jefferson St. Olympia, WA. This position is eligible for hybrid work with most daily work remote but must be able to come to the Olympia location on an as needed basis. This position requires the incumbent to be available on evenings and weekends to support the communication, and executive operation needs of the agency. This need is typically higher during the month leading up to and during Legislative session.

Who we are:

The Department of Enterprise Services (DES) provides centralized business services to state government agencies; to other public entities such as cities, counties and tribes; and to Washington residents. DES’ mission is to strengthen the business of government for a sustainable and just future. Learn more about DES.

About the Opportunity:

Communications is responsible for ensuring that DES is connecting with its audiences to achieve its strategic goals, assess and minimize risk, build and protect the agency’s public reputation and brand, and help agency customers easily understand, access, and connect with DES services. Communications is a critical component of successful policy and government relations work, providing aligned messaging to support agency budget and legislative requests and stakeholder management for high-risk, sensitive, and politically charged issues.

Work includes strategic communication planning, media relations, crisis and emergency response, agency brand, graphic design, digital platforms including website and social media, internal communications, public outreach, and all internal and external communication activities. Communications is responsible for creating communication plans to carry out federal, state, and agency law, rule, and policy implementations.

The Employee and Executive Communications Manager (EECM) reports directly to the Communications Director and is a trusted and confidential advisor on matters related to the employee and executive operation communication activities of the agency to the communications director, division staff and leadership, and by extension the agency cabinet. This position manages the Employee and Executive Communications team that plans, implements, and measures communications for employees and executive operations.

This position is a member of the Communications leadership team and helps inform communications policy. The EECM manages communication activities and strategies that effectively support agency strategic and public policy goals and enhance employee culture. It ensures that DES’ messages are meeting its audiences in the right way at the right time; it manages the agency’s communication strategies for employee communications and executive operations.

This role is responsible for recommending, coordinating, approving, and supplying communication strategies and activities for internal and external communication planning. This position monitors and measures the effectiveness of the activities under its direction, including employee, executive, and legislative and budget communications. The EECM gauges potential issues and areas of interest among key interested parties, and ensures communications aligns with agency mission, vision, values, and goals.

This position provides round-the-clock (particularly during Legislative Session) support on issues of high public interest and must frequently safeguard confidential and high-risk or sensitive information in the course of its duties. The selected candidate will possess a deep understanding of the Washington policy landscape, including meaningful experience working with public policy or government relations, and a general understanding of the Washington state legislative process. This position is essential in ensuring consistent communication and public information that supports the agency’s mission of strengthening the business of government for a sustainable and just future.

For more information about this position, email the recruiter:

Rachel Vaughan by emailing jobs@des.wa.gov and request the full job description.