Communications Manager

About the Public Affairs Team

The Public Affairs team leads MCE’s marketing, communications, and community and stakeholder engagement. There are three teams within the department that work closely together to deliver a high standard of professionalism representing MCE and our mission and impact. The Communications team provides clear, informative, and engaging information to our communities, serving as a trusted partner to our customers and bringing the voice of the customer and community back to agency planning and decision making to further increase effectiveness.

As a Communications Manager 

This role is a temporary 6 month assignment (Start Date: December 2, 2024 - June 27, 2025)

As a Communications Manager, you will support, implement, and lead communications and brand strategies to showcase MCE’s thought leadership and meet agency and departmental goals. You will work closely with MCE staff, marketing and communication consultants, community partners, and third party vendors to implement effective and inclusive communication strategies that align with agency and departmental goals.

Key Responsibilities

Agency Communications

• Develop messaging, FAQs, and talking points for projects or programmatic initiatives.

• Coordinate internal agency communications and messaging projects for programmatic changes and new initiatives including rate changes, Net Energy Metering (NEM) program, etc.

• Provide messaging support for public emails or information requests.

• Manage and maintain FAQ and messaging repository ensuring key agency messaging and content is well-organized and accessible for use by the Public Affairs department and other MCE staff.

• Develop conference sponsorships and speaking recommendations to promote MCE thought leadership at non-MCE events.

• Coordinate with Marketing on developing and updating powerpoints and other collateral.

• Work across MCE teams to ensure the MCE brand and value proposition are appropriately communicated in agency presentations, FAQs, and press materials.

• Partner with Marketing to ensure paid advertising and earned media messages are aligned.

• As needed, represent MCE for community presentations, and train others on standard presentation materials.

• Support the development of Agency reports - examples Impact Report and Supplier Diversity Report. 

• Collaborate with Marketing to develop final design report materials.

Public Relations

• Manage content development (op-ed, reports, blogs, social media, newsletters, etc) to increase MCE’s thought leadership and community presence.

• Identify opportunities and prepare content for earned-awards applications.

• Support MCE’s social media channels including creating post content and graphics, and interacting with MCE’s social media vendor.

• Manage press release process including drafting content, overseeing approvals and developing talking points to support public relations efforts.

• Build and maintain relationships with community messaging partners (Public Information officers etc), media partners, and other CCA PR and Communications staff.

• Support and track press/media requests, inquiries, outreach and relationships.

• Identify opportunities to expand relationships, provide on-going education and information to key media contacts.

• Support the planning and execution of public events including ribbon-cuttings, press conferences, and agency-hosted activations.

Education/Experience

• Education and/or experience equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in public relations, business communications, writing, or other closely related field and a minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in public relations, business communications, writing, or other closely related field.

• California residence is required with a strong preference for a candidate residing within commutable distance of MCE offices as this role will help to plan/attend events. MCE offices are located in San Rafael, and Concord CA.

Required Skills: 

• Experience with developing high-quality writing, research, and communication work products

• Project management 

• Experience with delivering clear oral and written communications

Knowledge of:

• Business and media communications best practices

• Project management best practices (developing and leading cross-functional teams, setting and preparing meeting agendas, assigning and tracking action items and basic process management tasks)

• Social media content creation and management

Ability to:

• Be thorough and detail-oriented

• Manage multiple priorities and quickly adapt to changing priorities in a fast-paced dynamic environment

• Take responsibility and work independently, as well as work as a team member

Language and Reasoning Skills:

• Apply strong task prioritization, analytical and problem-solving skills

• Manage projects and time efficiently

Compensation

Competitive compensation based on candidate experience along with generous benefits and perks, including an internet and cell phone stipends, paid sick leave, holiday pay and a mental wellness benefit. 

Starting Salary Range for the Temporary Communications Manager is $45 - $65 per hour. 

Application Process

By clicking on the link, applicants must complete and submit all of the requested materials in order to be considered for the role: 

• Complete the short application process online

• Submit a resume

• Submit a cover letter

• Submit two writing samples:

  • 1) Blog post or a press release

  • 2) A social media sample for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn

Application materials will be reviewed on a rolling basis and initial calls scheduled at the same cadence.

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