Chief Communications Officer

The Agency You'll Join

The New York City Mayor's Office is responsible for overseeing city services throughout the five boroughs, coordinating public agencies and departments, and managing public property. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. Previously, Mayor Adams has served the people of New York City as an NYPD officer, state senator, and Brooklyn borough president. The Adams' administration is leading the fight to serve the people of the greatest city in the world, ensuring delivery of efficient and effective services, working to make New York City's economy stronger, reducing inequality, improving public safety, and making the city more affordable that meets the needs of all New Yorkers. We value leadership, transparency, fairness, and efficiency as we actively seek diverse talents from various sectors to join our team.

The Team You'll Work With

The mission of the Office of Talent and Workforce Development (NYC Talent) is to ensure all New Yorkers can access good-paying careers and employers can access New York City's talent so they can thrive today and in the future. To achieve this mission, NYC Talent aligns efforts across the city's public-private workforce development ecosystem, provides data and policy expertise, and supports program innovations and process improvements for services offered by the City of New York and other workforce stakeholders. NYC Talent works in partnership with government, employers, industry professionals, educational institutions, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations to ensure the City's workforce development strategy aligns with employer demand, jobseeker needs, and the rapidly changing economy.

The Problems You'll Solve

NYC Talent is hiring an experienced communications professional to serve as Chief Communications Officer, who is charged with the development and execution of public communications strategies for our office, as we help build a more agile workforce system that is better prepared to meet the demands of a rapidly changing local economy and labor market. The Chief Communications Officer will report to the office head and will lead and manage a team to deliver strategy, planning, and implementation of office-wide communications (including traditional media and digital strategy), public engagement, branding, marketing, and other external affairs needs. They will also work in cross-functional collaboration across the office (including with policy, programs, operations, data, and public-private partnerships teams) to develop innovative and accessible messages and campaigns that reflect citywide workforce development initiatives and NYC Talent's extensive portfolio of work.

Specific job responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

- Develop and manage media relations workstream, including story development, media targeting, pitching, and relationship management to advance NYC Talent's communications priorities.
- Develop and manage proactive media campaigns and outreach.
- Monitor the media for opportunities to engage, including rapid response work in reaction to breaking news.
- Serve as lead communications partner to City Hall, agencies, and external stakeholders to manage communications, media relations, announcements, events, press releases, social media, and other means of messaging and engagement.
- Work with teams to produce talking points, rollout plans, speeches, dashboards, and trackers, as needed by the office head, City leadership, and other senior staff.
- Develop, scope, and manage the work of Communications staff and consultants/contracted capacity (including graphic design, videography, photography, copywriting, translation, etc.), ensuring coordination with relevant internal and external partners, and overseeing and monitoring projects to ensure that goals and timelines are met.
- Manage all record-keeping and archives of press clips, images, and reports.
- Work with program and partnership teams to create and implement targeted communications and engagement plans that communicate both citywide workforce priorities and those for specific teams and initiatives, including Office of Community Hiring, Center for Youth Employment, Center for Workforce Accessibility and Inclusion, Industry Partnerships, Workforce Development Board, Data & Impact, Apprenticeship Accelerator, and others.
- Prepare talking points and preparation materials for events, meetings, hearings, etc.
- Oversee the receipt and response of official office correspondence.
- Manage the creation of all social media content, including LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and Instagram.
- Manage websites maintained by NYC Talent
- Write, edit, and place articles, op-eds, letters, and similar media.
- Support the executive team to develop and execute effective internal communications to better share information, promote learning, and support team culture-building.
- Support reporting and publication strategy, working with policy, operations, data, and program teams to develop publication strategy and manage all publishing timelines and vendors.
- Other responsibilities, as assigned.

About You

- You have integrity, credibility, and a demonstrated commitment to NYC Talent's mission and goals.
- You have knowledge of New York City, its diverse communities, and the businesses and organizations that serve them.
- You have an understanding of and demonstrated commitment to partnership, innovation, and effective, evidence-based practices to support systems change.
- You are a critical thinker with an understanding of and commitment to the principles of equity.
- You have experience managing diverse staff, stakeholders, and complex projects and initiatives toward shared goals.
- You have outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills.
- You are a critical thinker with a commitment to inquiry, learning, and growth.
- You have outstanding presentation, written, and oral communication skills.
- You have the ability to represent NYC Talent with confidence when presenting to senior-level public and corporate leaders
- You are entrepreneurial and have a collaborative work style, comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously, and prioritizing projects to meet deadlines
- You are proactive and collaborative style that works well in teams
- You have knowledge of the New York City labor market, construction industry, and stakeholders, including unions.

Minimum Required Qualifications

- You are authorized to work within the United States.
- A master's degree from an accredited college in communications, business or public administration, operations, research, or a closely related field, and eight years of satisfactory full-time related professional experience OR
- A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and ten years of professional experience in the areas described in "1" above.

EXECUTIVE PROGRAM SPECIALIST

A Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and three years full-time satisfactory professional experience related to the projects and policies to be studied in the particular position including eighteen months of experience in a managerial, consultative, administrative or supervisory capacity.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.