Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

Assistant Director of Strategic Communications - 24000000MZ 

Description

 

University of Tennessee Position Description:

Assistant Director, Strategic Communications

Unit:                   Athletics                                                                    Position Number:  50237088                             

Date:                  March 26, 2024                                                         Supervisor: Associate Athletics Director of Strategic  Communications

 

 

General Description:

This position develops and disseminates information concerning the University of Tennessee Athletics programs and communicates information to local and national media and other groups such as alumni, letterwinners, faculty, students and fans. This position also serves as the lead for social media & creative strategy for multiple sports, focused primarily on the generation and publishing of digital content for both external audiences, current student-athletes and prospective student-athletes.

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary strategic communications contact for multiple Tennessee athletic programs (to be determined based on candidate’s experience, personality and fit), serving as liaison between the athletics department and media, general public, and university community.
• Responsible for developing and executing a publicity strategy for assigned sport(s). Must collaborate closely with local, regional and national media outlets—as well as Tennessee’s VFL Films and 151 Creative staffs—to pitch and execute story ideas promoting teams and individual student-athletes and staff members.
• Responsible for the scheduling of media availabilities and press conferences for assigned sports.
• Work with other athletics department creative units (VFL Films, 151 Creative) to ideate, executive and publish cutting-edge content that enhances respective sports' unique brand through bold storytelling and visual elements.
• Work closely with members of the respective coaching staffs to develop external and recruiting messaging, advance digital recruiting strategies, generate recruiting content and when assigned, involved in recruiting visits.
• Serve as liaison between sport programs and creative staffs to ensure cohesiveness and timeliness in content production.
• Initiate and attend creative meetings to distribute and pitch content plans to creative units – VFL Films, 151 Creative, Fan Experience.
• Develop & manage content calendar and serve as publisher for select social media accounts.
• Manage strategic communications logistics associated with their teams' respective athletic events. For competition events away from home, travel with the team and execute responsibilities at the competition site.
• Must be willing to work/travel on nights and weekends and should be available to work home football games when the fall sports schedule allows.
• Other duties as assigned, such as assisting colleagues at other sports' competition events when their availability allows (while not currently planned, sport-specific responsibilities may change from year to year).

 

 

Qualifications

 

Required Qualifications:

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, public relations, sport management (or a related field) is required OR Must be able to obtain Bachelor's degree by time of hire.  

Master’s Degree in journalism, communications, public relations, sport management (or a related field) is preferred.

 

Experience:     

Experience in digital content, creative, or athletic communications with a track record of innovation that showcases management of a sizeable and/or highly active digital inventory is required.

 

Experience collaborating in a Division I or professional sports environment, including as a publisher of a team social media account is preferred.

 

Experience involving the recruitment of prospective student-athletes is preferred.

 

Skills:   

• Ability to think strategically and possess basic public relations sensibilities.
• Ability to lead a team in a collaborative manner.
• Possess strong writing and verbal communications skills.
• Certain technical knowledge is required, including proficiency in social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as demonstrated experience with software such as the Adobe Creative Suite.
• Ability and willingness to work within and abide by NCAA, SEC and institutional compliance rules.
• Ability to create compelling and engaging, live social media content (preferred).
• Advanced operational knowledge of PC and Apple computers (preferred).
• Basic video-editing skills and basic HTML coding ability (preferred).

 

Behaviors:

Demonstrated behavioral expectations include:

• Unquestioned integrity and trustworthiness
• Adherence to University, Southeastern Conference, and NCAA rules and regulations
• Commitment to the Athletics Department and University’s mission
• Flexible to various scheduling to include nights, weekend work and some holidays
• Commitment to the Athletics Department and University’s mission

 

Job
  Other Professional 
Primary Location
  US-Tennessee-knoxville 
Organization
  Publicity Director 
Schedule
  Full-time 
Campus/Institute  Knoxville 
Job Posting
  Mar 26, 2024, 11:04:20 AM