Associate Speech Writer and Operations Coordinator (Writing/Editing Specialist)

Department

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE (UA-PRES-IUBLA)

Job Summary

The Associate Speechwriter and Operations Coordinator serves as a proactive partner in shaping the president's voice and as the day-to-day owner of the speechwriting workflow. Strong presidential communications depend not only on effective language, but also on early planning, accurate information, clear processes, disciplined review, and reliable follow-through. The person in this role helps provide that full foundation, supporting the creation of high-impact speeches and ensuring the systems, processes, and data behind them run efficiently and accurately. The Office of the President is an exciting, fast-paced environment that operates with enthusiasm, efficiency, discretion, and dedication to Indiana University (IU). The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of storytelling and operations. They bring editorial judgment, operational discipline, initiative, and meticulous attention to detail, helping ensure every presidential communication is timely, targeted, and rooted in verified information.

Department-Specific Responsibilities

• Supports the full lifecycle of presidential remarks, from initial intake and research, through drafting, delivery, and archiving.
• Initiates first drafts of presidential remarks and talking points.
• Uses research and independent editorial judgment to shape the initial structure, central message, tone, and audience focus of each draft before review by the speechwriter, while ensuring relevance and alignment with IU priorities.
• Collaborates closely with subject-matter experts to ensure accuracy, authenticity, and alignment with university strategy.
• Prepares 1-page summaries for all remarks and uses judgment to determine the appropriate deliverable for each engagement, such as a media briefer, long-form speech, or bulleted talking points.
• Maintains and prioritizes the speech request queue and proactively advances each assignment from intake through delivery, coordinating handoffs and resolving missing information or schedule risks before they create missed deadlines or last-minute workflow gaps.
• Gathers initial event and audience details and organizes each assignment in the team's tracking and filing system.
• Conducts comprehensive editorial and factual quality assurance on drafts, checking grammar, clarity, tone, formatting, brand alignment, accessibility, professionalism, and the accuracy of data, sources, and factual claims.
• Develops and maintains dashboards, templates, and checklists to streamline operations and upholds consistency in tone, accuracy, and design.
• Owns the speech archiving process, including final versions, event details, keywords, themes, metadata, and delivery to IU Archives.
• Leads the creation of speech reports summarizing volume, event types, themes, audiences, and other useful trends. Uses the findings to help the Executive Director allocate writing resources and evolves the president's communications strategy.
• Assists with day-to-day Office of the President operations as needed, including shared office logistics, and other time-sensitive administrative and operational needs.
• Provides occasional support for presidential events and engagements, including preparation, materials, guest-facing assistance, on-site logistics, and follow-up.

General Responsibilities

• Writes and edits clear, informative written content for various communications needs, audiences, and publication formats, assessing for relevance, accuracy, and appropriateness; tailors the degree of copyediting to a project's specific needs.
• Corrects basic and complex grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, and syntax errors and performs edits that improve overall writing quality of communications and ensure alignment with university mission, strategies, objectives, and brand and accessibility guidelines.
• Performs reviews of peer writing to ensure grammar, quality, tone, and level of depth are sufficient; may also review against requirements for specific publications, including content, length, brand guidelines, and deadline specifications.
• Consults regularly with writers, printers, faculty, staff, and/or other stakeholders to ensure adherence to writing and publications deadlines.
• Identifies user and audience needs and analyzes usage of existing content in order to identify content gaps; plans, develops, and publishes internal and external communications.
• Drafts sample communications to be reviewed with manager at project deadline checkpoints.
• May provide guidance to other Writing/Editing Specialists.

Qualifications

Combinations of related education and experience may be considered. Education beyond the minimum required may be substituted for work experience. Work experience beyond the minimum required may be substituted for education.

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor's degree in English, communications, journalism, public relations, or related field.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Required

• 2 years in relevant field.

SKILLS

Required

• Proficient in English with written and verbal communication skills.
• Maintains a high degree of professionalism.
• Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills.
• Demonstrates a high commitment to quality.
• Possesses flexibility to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Seeks to acquire knowledge in area of specialty.
• Highly thorough and dependable.
• Demonstrates a high level of accuracy, even under pressure.
• Ability to work within tight time frames and meet strict deadlines.
• Ability to simultaneously handle multiple priorities.
• Ability to drive multiple projects to successful completion.
• Demonstrates familiarity with correct style and ability to write, edit, and proof text, including ability to read for content and correct accordingly.

Preferred

• Exceptional writing and editing skills with a strong understanding of executive tone and voice.
• Demonstrates project management and process improvement experience.
• Demonstrates fluency with data verification, content-management and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, or similar platforms, and mature, responsible use of AI-enabled workflows.
• Discretion, sound judgment, initiative, strong organization, and the ability to independently manage sensitive, deadline-driven work with exceptional attention to detail.
• Deep curiosity about higher education, leadership communications, and innovation in storytelling.

Working Conditions / Demands

This role requires the ability to effectively communicate and to operate a computer and other standard office productivity equipment. The position involves sedentary work as well as periods of time moving around an office environment and the campus. The person in this role must be able to perform the essential functions with or without an accommodation.

Work Location

Bloomington, Indiana

Advertised Salary

$59,000 - $62,424 annually

Benefits Overview

For full-time staff employees, Indiana University offers a wide array of benefits including:

• Comprehensive medical and dental insurance
• Health savings account with generous IU contributions
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
• Basic group life insurance paid by IU
• Voluntary supplemental life, long-term disability, critical illness, and supplemental accidental death & dismemberment insurance
• Base retirement plan with generous IU contributions, subject to vesting
• Voluntary supplemental retirement plan options
• Tuition subsidy for employees and family members taking IU courses
• 10 paid holidays plus a paid winter break each year
• Generous paid time off plans
• Paid leave for new parents and IU-sponsored volunteer events
• Employee assistance program (EAP)

Learn more about our benefits by reviewing the IU Benefit Programs Brochure.

Job Classification

Career Level: Career

FLSA: Exempt

Job Function: Marketing & Communications

Job Family: Writing & Editing

Click here to learn more about Indiana University's Job Framework.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer and provider of ADA services and prohibits discrimination in hiring. See Indiana University Notice of Non-Discrimination here which includes contact information.

Contact Us

Request Support
Telephone: 812-856-1234