"Associate Director, YSM Executive Communications"

Overview

Reporting to the Senior Director, YSM Executive & Internal Communications, the Associate Director, YSM Executive Communications will oversee and support the development, execution, and ongoing management of Yale School of Medicine’s (YSM) executive communications, primarily for (but not limited to) those for the Office of the Dean.

Specifically, the role will lead and develop high-quality written and verbal messages to inform internal and external audiences about YSM’s progress in advancing its clinical, educational, and research missions. The role will also be responsible for coordinating the distribution of these messages across multiple internal and external channels (as appropriate), including school-wide email announcements, websites, newsletters, digital monitors, and/or the school’s site for faculty and staff (MyYSM). The work also involves supporting the development and execution of a comprehensive communication program to inform and engage YSM and Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) employees in the YSM/YNHHS alignment efforts.

The Associate Director will also serve as the lead for all YSM-wide (internal) communications, managing the YSM-wide email calendar, providing oversight for the development/distribution of the emails (as needed) via Yale university’s Yale Message (Salesforce) platform, and reviewing each communication to ensure it meets the school’s quality and executive communication standards. This work also involves the creation and ongoing maintenance of numerous distribution lists, and offering guidance to YSM communicators on the appropriate audiences that should be included in each distribution. These responsibilities also include tracking the success of communications distributed via Yale Message and preparing metrics reports for the office.

The Associate Director will also develop and maintain procedures and guidelines to elevate the quality of - and create greater consistency in the style, voice, branding, and formatting of - executive communications across the school. This work will involve partnering with the Director, YSM Communications to educate the YSM departmental communications officers and central administrative unit communications officers about the procedures/guidelines and support them in aligning their messages. These efforts will also include developing an online resource (Internal/Executive Communications site) to centralize the procedures/guidelines and help the communications officers understand and adhere to the guidance.

As an important part of this role, the Associate Director will support key projects for the YSM Dean by gathering, synthesizing, and translating data, helping to identify key trends across the school and articulating them to internal and external audiences. The role will also support the Dean in preparing visually appealing presentations and other materials as needed for schoolwide and department-specific events (e.g., the Dean’s State of the School address and departmental town halls). In addition, the Associate Director will develop and implement communication plans to create awareness of and generate participation in events and activities sponsored by the Office of the Dean (e.g., Dean’s Workshops, summer socials, concert series, etc.), and maintain the Office of the Dean’s section on YSM’s public website (the "About" section).

To carry out all responsibilities, it will be essential for the Associate Director to establish and maintain critical, productive relationships with leaders, clinicians, faculty, and other key stakeholders across the school. To ensure all content is up to date and accurate, the Associate Director will need to coordinate with these individuals to obtain the relevant information, develop the appropriate messaging, and secure all needed approvals in a timely manner. At times, this role will be handling embargoed, sensitive, and/or confidential information, so the Associate Director will need to demonstrate a high degree of professionalism and discretion.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Independent self-starter with outstanding written (editing/writing), verbal, and organizational skills and ability to produce high-quality, up-to-date, accurate content for school-wide emails, internal and external websites, PowerPoint presentations, newsletters, announcements, brochures, reports, and other media for a variety of audiences.
2. Demonstrated ability to develop, execute, and measure the success of comprehensive communications plans. Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop relationships with leaders, clinicians, faculty, and other key stakeholders with a high degree of professionalism and understanding of their goals. Strong organizational and analytical skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and tasks simultaneously.
3. Exceptional judgment, reliability, and discretion. Proficiency in using Yale university’s software platform for distributing information to mass audiences (Yale Message/Salesforce), which also involves the development and ongoing maintenance of numerous distribution lists (managing electronic mailing list software applications).
4. Demonstrated experience in survey design and analysis. Demonstrated experience in supporting crisis communications, including the ability to work under pressure and make decisions in fast-paced environments.
5. Significant demonstrated ability with, or very strong interest in science, medicine, and health care content.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

1. Proficiency with graphic design and Adobe Creative Suite software.
2. Familiarity with developing, disseminating, and maintaining content in web/intranet content management systems, including YSM’s content management platform (Beatrix).

Principal Responsibilities

1. Manages relationships with external media sources. Pursues media coverage creatively and aggressively. Responds to inquiries from national and international news media, student media, the University community and the general public.
2. Enhances the overall quality of media relations for key stakeholders by preparing them for media interviews. Manages relationships with key campus stakeholders with a high degree of professionalism, judgment and understanding of stakeholder goals.
3. Creates compelling story ideas and narratives; produces content for both external and internal channels; writes copy and social media posts and manages content.
4. Plans social media strategies for key University communications and programs. Monitors University social media assets for negative comments or misinformation.
5. Supports short- and long-term communication planning with insights into audiences, channels and culture; coordinates with other communications professionals to achieve institutional goals; leads the communications process within developed standards and protocols.
6. Supports effective response strategies, often in crisis situations requiring 24/7 attention and intense media/public scrutiny, and articulates the University’s position via personal interviews or written responses.
7. Produces multimedia content and manages the work of graphic and web designers, student interns, printers, video producers and photographers.
8. Manages communication plans for all stakeholders by understanding the significance of campus initiatives and/or academic work; creates compelling stories and messages to translate the significance through language that is clear and accessible for public awareness.
9. Develops and maintains regular contact with media representatives in multiple disciplines.
10. Maintains the Yale brand and graphic identity standards; supports and maintains standard operating procedures; contributes to digital asset management.
11. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications or related field and five years of experience in public relations, journalism, television, corporate communications or agency work or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Demonstrated experience in developing communications for a range of media and working with creative professionals in design, photography or video.