Strategic Communication Outreach Specialist

Strategic Communication Outreach Specialist

SSI-Venesco JV LLC • Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, McLean, VA / FHWA Headquarters, Washington, DC • Full-time • Contingent upon contract award

About the Role

This is the senior strategic communications seat on a Federal highway research program. You develop and execute integrated communication strategies and marketing initiatives that promote national research initiatives and grow the readership of the agency's flagship quarterly magazine.

The role blends high-level strategic planning with hands-on execution — you will write, edit, design social graphics, run campaigns, analyze the results, and then adjust. You translate complex highway and surface transportation research into narratives that land with both technical stakeholders and the general public.

If you have taken a publication or program from a modest audience to a substantially larger one and can show the numbers behind it, this is your role.

Responsibilities:  

Strategy and campaigns

• Develop and execute comprehensive outreach strategies and promotional campaigns.
• Manage multiple simultaneous projects tailored to distinct audiences across varied media outlets, adapting messaging for each demographic.
• Create and maintain a stakeholder engagement plan, gathering and analyzing stakeholder data to guide strategy and strengthen brand positioning.

Magazine marketing and growth

• Lead all marketing to increase magazine subscriptions and digital readership.
• Manage quarterly promotional cycles, provide branding support, and coordinate with authors to promote feature stories.
• Deliver four social media content calendars each year — one per issue — covering all agency social channels with text and graphics for each post.

Digital presence and content

• Generate high-quality content: writing, editing, and designing graphics for social media, web pages, and electronic newsletters.
• Manage periodic research e-newsletters and mailing lists through the agency's email marketing service, designing and populating templates, sending, and reporting on analytics.
• Develop and upload social media toolkits and build comprehensive social media strategies.

Research and analytics

• Conduct market research and reader surveys to refine outreach strategy.
• Measure and evaluate campaign and social media effectiveness using analytics, and drive data-informed adjustments.
• Report on reach, engagement, and impact — web page counts, clicks, responses, and agreed measures for each activity.

Events and public relations

• Provide staffing and marketing support for tradeshows, conferences, and internal and external events, including the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.
• Develop event-specific materials and strategies to engage attendees and grow subscriptions.
• Facilitate engagement with State departments of transportation, industry partners, transportation committees and organizations, businesses, and interest groups.

Brand and internal communications

• Advise on messaging, tactics, and audience engagement methods, supplying current creative insights, industry trends, and best practices.
• Support internal communication strategies that build employee engagement and alignment.

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Journalism, or a closely related field.

Experience: 

• 6 to 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in strategic communications, digital marketing, and public affairs.
• A demonstrated track record of developing social media campaigns that substantially increased subscriptions or readership — be prepared to show the metrics.
• Demonstrated experience conducting market research and audience analysis to shape messaging.
• Hands-on content creation experience: writing, editing, and producing graphics for digital and print channels.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a Federal environment.
• Knowledge of transportation research, specifically highway and surface transportation.
• Experience with GovDelivery, Granicus, or comparable Government email marketing and subscription platforms. 
• Experience marketing a periodical, journal, or magazine.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Expertise in strategic messaging and adapting tone across audience demographics.
• Proficiency in web content management and design layout for electronic messaging.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret complex data, survey results, and campaign return on investment.
• Mastery of multi-channel campaign management from conception through execution and evaluation.
• Working proficiency in graphics tools sufficient to produce social and newsletter assets independently.

Location, Schedule, and Credentialing

• Onsite at TFHRC in McLean, VA and/or FHWA Headquarters in Washington, DC, with offsite work permitted subject to client approval. Event support may require travel.
• Business hours fall between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, with a one-half hour unpaid lunch. Full-time baseline is 1,880 productive hours per year.
• Unclassified position. A USDOT badge is required, which means a favorable HSPD-12 / PIV background check at the low risk / non-sensitive level — a National Agency Check with Inquiries including fingerprinting, covering the past five years. Work cannot begin until FHWA Personnel Security authorizes the candidate to report.

How to Apply

• Submit a résumé of no more than two pages that clearly states your education, your years of relevant experience, and the specific programs and products you worked on.
• Include a portfolio or work samples — publications, layouts, articles, campaigns, videos, or live web pages you personally produced. Redact anything not cleared for public release.
• Be prepared to sign a letter of intent to accept employment contingent upon contract award, and to undergo a Federal background investigation.