Associate Director, Public Relations & News

Associate Director, Public Relations & News
USC Marshall School of Business
Department: Marketing & Communications
The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business seeks an Associate Director, Public Relations and News to join the Marketing & Communications team. The successful candidate will support and elevate Marshall's reputation -- leading Marshall's Public Relations strategy and editorial content plan to promote strategic school news and faculty thought leadership.
The Associate Director is responsible for leading the school's publications and public communications strategy and must possess editorial judgement with strong writing skills. The person in this role should enjoy writing and translating academic ideas to media-friendly pitches, articles, and press releases.
This is a high visibility role communicating with faculty, staff, students, and peers across the University, in addition to reporters and external PR agencies and partners. This role will include both external media relations and owned marketing communications across Marshall's channels.
This role reports directly to the CMO, supervises one direct report (Writer/Editor II), and works closely with the Dean's Office. This role has emergency response communications responsibilities.
Responsibilities and Duties

• Editorial Planning: Develop editorial plan and implement public communications calendar to support the school's strategic mission and messages - for both internal and external audiences. Work closely with the rest of the marketing team to sync content across channels.
• Writing: Write press pitches, assist faculty with authoring op-eds, draft talking points for executive interviews/speeches, and write/edit reputation driving news pieces.
• Publications: Lead and develop Marshall News and publications (i.e., Marshall Monthly, Dean's Report, news engine). Oversee all aspects of the publications, recommending content, determining assignments, upholding editorial standards, and managing the strategy and calendar.

• Media Relations: Serve as Marshall's primary media/reporter contact. Keep current with breaking news to pitch faculty experts for coverage and match faculty with inbound press requests. Manage monitoring services such as MuckRack, track and monitor PR related KPIs.
• Crisis Communications: Support and advise on crisis management. In the event of an emergency, the employee holding this position is required to "report to duty" in accordance with the university's emergency operations plan (supported by on-going training).
• Manage a direct report (Writer/Editor II) and oversee the work of freelance writers, copyeditors.
• Oversee the work of Marshall's external PR agency.
• Collaborate with peers in similar roles across USC (University Comms, President's Office, USC Schools), serving on USC's Media Relations Council.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelors or Masters degree in relevant field, including Public Relations, journalism, communications, media, or politics/public policy.
• 7+ years experience in a relevant field (in-house or agency), including PR, media relations, editorial publications, public affairs, higher ed, corporate reputation management, or crisis response.
• Experience managing and coaching direct reports

• Experience managing budgets and media spend
• Strong knowledge and understanding of digital & social media
• Expertise/experience with DEI best practices
• Experience with health and safety and emergency response communication best practices
• Proficient in media measurement analytics and reporting

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills (including proof-reading and fact-checking)

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum Education: Bachelor's Degree or combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
• Minimum Experience: 5 Years

• Minimum Field of Expertise: Public relations, communications, journalism, or related field with supervisory experience.

Anticipated Hiring Range:
The annual base salary range for this position is $114,179.31 - $147,414.25. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.
Required Documents and Additional Information

• Resume - PDF format preferred. Please do not submit your application without a resume. Cover letter is optional.

• Candidates who reach consideration rounds will be asked to submit work samples to prompts.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.
• USC has excellent benefits, including health benefits for staff and their family with access to the renowned university medical network; eligibility for retirement plans with employer contributions*; tuition benefits for staff and their family; free Professional Development classes; central Los Angeles location with easy access to commuter trains, buses and free tram pick up services; discounts to sporting and other campus events.
• The University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity Employer that Values Diversity.

* University employer contributions may be subject to change due to financial impact of COVID-19
Why join the USC Marshall School of Business?
The USC Marshall School of Business is ideally positioned to address the challenges of a rapidly changing business environment and is ranked as one of the country's top schools for accounting, finance, marketing, consulting, entrepreneurship and international business studies.
USC Marshall builds on the unique opportunities that stem from its Los Angeles location on the Pacific Rim, its interdisciplinary and impactful research, the momentum generated by the University of Southern California, and the unparalleled engagement of the Trojan Alumni Family. With ready access to industries defining the new business frontier, including bio-technology, life sciences, media, entertainment, communications and healthcare, this vast network offers USC Marshall graduates exceptionally strong support for success in the global marketplace.
For more information on the USC Marshall School of Business, visit: www.marshall.usc.edu.
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Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
Minimum Experience: 5 years
Minimum Field of Expertise: Public relations, communications, journalism or related field with supervisory experience.
USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at uschr@usc.edu. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.
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