Communication Specialist (Social Media)

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’ resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

We are looking for a Full-Time Communication Specialist to join the UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, TX. This position will support the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI), established by the 87th Texas Legislature (2021), is an agency associated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). In this position, you will support general TEPHI communications activities, as well as a TEPHI sub-project to develop a comprehensive vaccination social marketing and health promotion campaign for agricultural workers and their families in the Rio Grande Valley, Panhandle, and El Paso areas of Texas. You'll help create and execute a comprehensive social media strategy to drive traffic, including developing engaging content, collaborating on visually compelling graphics, building brand awareness, and providing comprehensive analytics. You'll also be responsible for formulating strategies and creating content for digital communications.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:  

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees  
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year) 
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue! 
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service) 
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan! 

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as... 

• Free financial and legal counseling 
• Free mental health counseling services 
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs 
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc. 
• Resources for child and elder care 
• Plus many more! 

Position Summary:

Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI), established by the 87th Texas Legislature (2021), is an agency associated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). By leveraging the robust capabilities of Texas’ largest school of public health and its six campuses located throughout the state in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio TEPHI will:

• Create a trained multi-sector public health reserve of at least 3,100 members across the state.
• Establish a reliable and secure data analysis infrastructure reinforced by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
• Create a laboratory testing network to monitor for emerging infectious agents beyond COVID-19.
• Develop new and operationalize current “work and learn safe” protocols for small and rural businesses, schools, and essential food production.

 

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Writes and creates compelling and engaging content tailored to each social media channel that supports: 1) TEPHI’s mission of preparing Texas for infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, and 2) the TEPHI Agricultural Workers Resiliency Program rural health project, which will develop and execute a comprehensive vaccination  social marketing and health promotion campaign for agricultural workers and their families in the Rio Grande Valley, Panhandle, and El Paso areas of Texas.
• Collaborates with TEPHI’s program managers, faculty, and the extended communications team to create visually compelling materials including graphics, videos, and messaging.
• Creates and implements an organic content plan for social media to support promotion of the agency and related projects.
• Monitors social media daily.
• Engages with individuals on social platforms with appropriate responses in a timely manner.
• Capitalizes on breaking news to create content that informs and educates followers.
• Seeks out new ways to drive communication and engagement by optimizing tags, keywords, and various web marketing avenues based on data to increase Social Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Collaborates on the design, and implements advertising on social media platforms.
• Provides quarterly reports that measures analytics on social media content performance.
• Drives traffic by creating and managing items such as social media live events.
• Supports internal and external communications projects as needed to strengthen brand awareness and help achieve agency goals.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Certification/Skills:

Preferred:

• Experience creating content for and managing social media channels such as Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp
• Experience using social media management platforms such as Sprout Social and Later
• Strong news writing, editing, and proofreading skills
• Knowledge and experience in analytics
• Ability to think strategically and creatively to develop solutions and come up with innovative ideas
• Proactive and self-sufficient
• Excellent planning and organizational skills, including the ability to meet deadlines
• Comfortable working both within a large, complex organization with multilayered systems and processes
• Experience using design platforms such as Canva, Adobe Creative Suite, etc.

Minimum Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications or related field.

Minimum Experience:

• Three years of experience in public relations, communications, writing/editing or related field.

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This job class may contain positions that are security sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of Texas Education Code § 51.215

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.