EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS LEAD
Req #: | 170936 |
Department: | UW FINANCE TRANSFORMATION |
Posting Date: | 08/15/2019 |
Closing Info: | Open Until Filled |
Salary: | Salary is commensurate with experience and education. |
Limited Recruitment: |
Open to Department employees only
If you are a UW employee and would like to be considered for this position, please login to your UW employee profile to apply. |
Shift: | First Shift |
Notes: | As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For detailed information on Benefits for this position, click here. |
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. All of which has allowed the UW to be nationally recognized as a “Great College to Work For” for five consecutive years.
The UW Finance Transformation Program (UWFT) is a $200M initiative to replace the University’s financial systems with an integrated system to manage the full suite of financial transactions and reporting needs in the UW system – to include academic, administrative, and healthcare. UWFT will fundamentally change the processes and tools that the University employs to track, spend, collect, manage, and report University finances in excess of $7B in annual revenues, resulting in more timely and actionable information for leadership. Among the UW’s highest administrative priorities, this multi-year initiative is one of the largest finance system projects in Washington State and the outcome of the program will be highly visible at all levels of the University and the state.
UWFT has an outstanding full time opportunity for an Executive Communications Lead. This recruitment is open to department employees only.
The UWFT program is seeking an Executive Communications Lead that is responsible for planning, managing and producing strategic executive and internal communications for a high-profile, enterprise-wide financial transformation program. This position is a lead and independent contributor working in a highly collaborative environment and must be able to effectively translate highly complex information and interact with UW key stakeholders and program team members.
This position is primarily responsible for the following:
*Partnering directly with the UWFT AVP and leadership to develop communications strategies/approaches for executives/key leaders who interface with the program
*Consulting the AVP and leadership on approaches to more closely align executive support with the program team
*Negotiating at the executive level to develop stronger partnerships and support for the program
*Developing internal communications plans/strategies to ensure program staff are well-informed and engaged
*Guiding the program leadership team to increased alignment and strategy to ensure program staff are speaking with one voice to stakeholders
The successful candidate must have a thorough understanding of communications strategies and methods designed to effectively reach a diverse set of stakeholders in a highly-decentralized institution, and demonstrated ability to produce effective communications materials. The candidate must work effectively both independently and in teams, collaborate with program leadership, UW key stakeholders and program team members to assess needs to deploy a communication strategy consistent with the Change Management goals and plans. The successful candidate must have the unique ability to think strategically, focusing on broad outcomes, while maintaining the ability to tactically execute. The position will keep key stakeholders informed of the projects' goals, accomplishments and progress.
This position develops and manages communication plans, strategies, and tactics over the course of the program and must have excellent written, verbal, interpersonal and presentations skills. They will be responsible for sequencing and aligning communications for the leadership team and program in preparation for the UWFT implementation. It will require the ability to use various media applications to effectively communicate about the transformational changes to policies, processes, technology as well as the operating model. This includes the design, development and production of electronic and print communications, including Web content, reports, presentations, e-newsletters, talking points and other vehicles.
This position will translate complex technical concepts to executive audiences, which requires a specific skill set to consolidate and distill information into a digestible and actionable format. This position will play a key role in programmatic decision-making and leadership-level adoption of a new financial system. This position will have strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to plan, schedule and manage multiple, complex projects under tight deadlines. The candidate must possess strong people skills, including the ability to build trusted relationships with key stakeholders, team members and staff.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Executive Communications Planning & Strategy
-Create and implement communication strategies, plans and tactics for building executive leadership support and engagement of the UWFT program
-Partner directly with the UWFT AVP to develop communications strategies/approaches for executives/key leaders who interface with the program; provide strategic coaching and guidance on approach and tactics to ensure leadership support of program goals
-Negotiate with stakeholders at the executive level to develop stronger partnerships and support for the program; act as surrogate for the AVP in key meetings when needed
-Guide internal program leadership (Directors/Managers) to increased alignment and strategy to ensure program staff are speaking with one voice to stakeholders; provide direct strategic coaching to internal leadership team when needed
-Develop, Evolve and Execute executive communications plan, ensuring deliverables are produced and reviewed, and delivered on deadline, revise and refine the communication plan, strategies and tactics to align with key project phases, deliverables and milestones
-Monitor, measure and assess effectiveness of communication strategies
-Provide leadership in issue resolution, particularly as it pertains to emergent concerns raised by executive leadership within the UW; maintain communications channels with all workstreams; escalate issues to the AVP and manage resolution
-Proactively partner with other communications teams (President/Provost, IT, ISC, other) (Corporate Communications) on strategic opportunities
-Partner with AVP and leadership team to develop communications/approaches for governance teams and stakeholder groups, to include the Board of Regents and President's cabinet
Executive Communications Material Development & Deployment
-Partner with Communications Lead and Change Management team to coordinate communications approaches/outcomes
-Research and create communications material (talking points, slide decks, white papers, etc)
-Solicit input and feedback on communication materials and prepare materials for publishing
-Disseminate communications materials to appropriate audience using a variety of media
-Coordinate production of communication materials, as needed, to ensure alignment of internal leadership prior to publication; reconcile differing input and viewpoints on key messages and approaches
-Make theoretical and/or subjective judgments regarding communications and messages, and frequently develop and/or apply new approaches, methods, techniques and technologies to develop, share and evaluate information
-Create and lead development of executive reports/status updates; draft, edit, revise, format, and proof major program reports and deliverables; develop content for project deliverables as needed
-Create program presentations; review, edit, revise, illustrate, format, and proof project presentations - audiences include the Board of Regents, UW President, Provost, Regents, Chancellors, Deans, Directors, Chairs, Faculty Senate, and others. Develop key talking points in advance of governance and other meetings related to key program updates and decision to facilitate leadership alignment and the program having "one voice"
-Attend program meetings as appropriate to build expertise to understand transformation impacts and partner with program, business partner, and leadership to obtain authoritative advice on newsletter and Web communications
Internal Communications & Engagement
-Partner with AVP and HR somebody to develop internal communications programming and approaches to ensure staff are well-informed on program status
-Collaborate on employee surveys and information gathering to understand what knowledge is needed to support a productive team
-Help build and develop collaboration approaches within the team to ensure information is moving easily between teams to reduce duplication of effort and increase efficiency
-Help lead efforts at engaging team members with one another socially and building opportunities for cross-team interface
REQUIREMENTS:
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
DESIRED:
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.
The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (tty) or dso@uw.edu.