Director, Digital Communications, Public Affairs

Overview
Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and we're dedicated to this mission across every aspect of our company.
As Director of Digital Communications for Public Affairs, you will be responsible for leading and overseeing a team of creators who develop and distribute compelling stories through social and owned channels that focus on Microsoft's policy, advocacy and societal impact work. You will also be responsible for leading a team that develops and executes a content strategy that aligns with the company's societal impact, business goals and brand values.
The Public Affairs team is part of Microsoft's Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization and also part of the broader Communications group. You'll join a large, diverse community of professionals focused on innovative communications and have significant opportunities for career growth.
The Public Affairs Team works on issues at the intersection of technology, public policy, and societal impact. We manage external communications on topics that contribute to the public discussion about the impact of technology around the world. We use the tools of communications and marketing to help support public policy efforts across a wide range of issues impacting the company and the communities we serve. We do this work as part of a larger multi-disciplinary team with communications, public relations, marketing, and government affairs professionals.
We're looking for a Director of Digital Communications that can evolve our storytelling platforms, oversee content planning for these platforms, work across the team to identify storytelling opportunities, and partner with internal and external content creators. We are looking for someone who will push the larger team to be more creative in the stories that we tell and the tools we use to tell those stories. You will have the power to direct work across mediums like video, graphics, animation, and long-form writing. The properties you manage and the content you oversee will help inform and inspire policymakers, business leaders, and Microsoft customers, partners and employees around the world.
Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities

• People Management - Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
  • Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
  • Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
  • Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individual's capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.
• Setting the vision, direction, and standards for societal impact and public policy storytelling across Public Affairs channels and appropriate brand platforms
• Managing the editorial calendar, budget, and resources for the Digital Communications team
• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, such as program owners, channel owners, marketing teams, and media partners, to ensure alignment and coordination of social, partnership and editorial initiatives
• Measuring and reporting on the effectiveness and impact of content and social using data and analytics
• Staying updated on the latest trends, best practices, and innovations in content marketing and storytelling.
• Collaborating with the Head of Social and the Content Strategist to identify and leverage opportunities for cross-promotion, influencer outreach, and user-generated content.
• Connecting dots to the larger corporate communications team to ensure alignment on comms messaging
• Serving as a member of Public Affairs Extended Leadership Team, contributing to the overall culture, strategic direction, and management of Public Affairs
• Editorial planning: You will work with members of the Public Affairs team to help translate storytelling opportunities into ideas for creative content that the world will find compelling. You'll have an eye for ensuring we have a consistent pipeline of content that reflects the team's priorities and that informs and inspires our audiences beyond marketing messages. The content you create will be built for our first-party web properties but must also be mindful of social media distribution platforms managed by others on the team.
• Rapid Response: In partnership with other communicators, you will help identify and leverage Digital Communications tools in response to rapidly emerging storytelling opportunities and crisis response and mitigation
• Content production: You will work with internal experts, agencies, and independent vendors to oversee content creation in any medium that best tells our desired stories. Some days you may work with long-form writers, other days you may partner with animators or video professionals.
• Assessment: You will examine the performance of content and continuously learn more about what content performs well with what audiences, and build those learnings into future work. You will also be responsible for maintaining ongoing analytics related to our properties, and for setting and achieving benchmarks for growth.
• Platform development: You will help oversee an external web development team and evolve the team's blog property into a site that has deeper storytelling capabilities across different forms of media and provides greater resources for our audiences to discover and share content on the issues important to Microsoft and its customers

Qualifications
Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in public relations, policy communications, marketing, or corporate communications, or related field AND 6+ years Communications, Marketing Operations, Field Operations, Program Management, Project Management, or related experience
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 1+ year(s) people management experience.
• 4+ years of experience working with digital platforms, content creation, and marketing.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven track record for new, innovative earned media approaches and smart risk taking.
• Experience in driving proactive and impactful communications campaigns and media relations.
• Experience and understanding of the government and regulatory landscape in the US, EU, or other key markets.
• Rapid adopter and leader across cutting-edge communications practices.
• Significant communications experience in the technology industry, media, or public policy.
• Experience managing and leading communications or marketing teams.
• Experience working with and supporting senior private or public sector executives.
• Deep knowledge of the corporate communications landscape.
• Ability to manage complex issues in an incredibly fast-changing environment.
• Understanding of evolving communications trends (i.e., social and digital media)
• Ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across complex cross-group organizations.
• Proven experience as a content strategist in a similar field or industry
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Robust creative writing, editing, and storytelling skills.
• Knowledgeable in SEO, web analytics, social media, and digital marketing
• Familiar with Microsoft's products, services, culture, and values
• Ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders
• A passion for using the tools of communications to have a meaningful impact on issues and policy areas that affect the wider world

Communications M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $124,800 - $242,600 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $159,000 - $264,000 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.