Responsibilities

• Earned Media & Public Relations: Help define and continually evolve ABC’s external narrative, identifying the stories, proof points, and areas of thought leadership ABC should own within autism care and ABA therapy Build and lead ABC's proactive earned media strategy, identifying, developing, and pitching stories that reinforce ABC's differentiation and reputation Serve as ABC's primary point of contact for press inquiries and media relationships Develop and drive thought leadership opportunities, including speaking engagements, bylines, and media placements, with a particular focus on ABC's clinical leadership Identify and develop human interest stories from families and clinicians that support both family-facing and employer-facing reputation goals Partner with Legal and executive leadership to develop messaging and manage communications around payer dynamics, ownership structure, industry scrutiny, and other externally sensitive topics Partner with ABC's existing content and creative teams on press release drafting and distribution; this role does not own day-to-day content production, webinars, e-books, or organic social content, which remain owned by Integrated Marketing and Creative Services Workplace Reputation & Employer Brand Communications: Own the communications strategy for ABC's workplace reputation across Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, and Reddit, setting priorities and messaging that the Communications team executes against Partner with Recruiting and People Services to align employer brand strategy with recruiting and retention goals, informed by ongoing sentiment and recruiting funnel data Monitor and interpret online sentiment, review platform trends, and social listening data to identify emerging reputation risks and opportunities Provide strategic recommendations on how to close gaps between ABC's intended employer brand and how it is currently experienced and discussed externally Reputation & Crisis Counsel: Partner with the CMO and executive leadership on reputation risk, crisis preparedness, and issue anticipation Develop and maintain a crisis communications framework and response protocols in partnership with Legal and executive leadership Lead communications response during reputation-critical moments, coordinating across Legal, Clinical, Operations, and executive leadership as needed Team Leadership: Directly manage the Director, Internal Communications, who continues to lead execution of teammate-facing content, internal event communications, and employer review platform management, and who continues to manage and direct the Video Production Specialist day-to-day Set shared strategic priorities for internal event communications, particularly for events with reputation or media relevance (e.g., ABCaba, Summit, Action Weeks), while the Director, Internal Communications leads execution and directs the Video Production Specialist's contributions Provide coaching and support to help the team operate against clear strategic goals Represent the Communications function in marketing leadership planning and cross-functional initiatives

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive experience in public relations, corporate communications, or reputation management, including experience leading a communications team or owning a significant PR / reputation function; experience building or scaling a function is a plus
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to operate hands-on, including personally developing story angles, pitching media, securing earned media placements and managing reporter relationships
• Experience advising senior executives on reputation strategy, thought leadership, and crisis communications
• Experience in healthcare or another regulated, reputation-sensitive industry preferred
• Comfortable operating in a highly scaled, multi-location, entrepreneurial environment
• Strong people leadership skills, with experience managing and developing a team
• Excellent judgment and discretion when handling sensitive internal and external communications
• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, or a related field

Preferred

• experience building or scaling a function is a plus