Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of a comprehensive athletics communications and branding strategy aligned with UMass Boston institutional priorities and strategic plan.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to athletics leadership on communications strategy, messaging, media engagement, reputation management, and crisis communications. Lead the department's communications response during sensitive, high-profile, or crisis situations
• Develop and execute comprehensive communications plans for major departmental announcements, high-profile initiatives, institutional milestones, crisis communications, and other strategic athletics initiatives, ensuring coordinated, timely, and consistent messaging across all internal and external audiences.
• Provide strategic communications support to the Vice Chancellor for Athletics & Recreation, including executive messaging, speeches, presentations, media preparation, leadership communications, and initiatives that advance departmental priorities and institutional reputation.
• Establish and assess key performance indicators (KPIs) related to media exposure, digital engagement, and brand growth.
• Analyze communications, website, and social media performance metrics to evaluate effectiveness, identify trends, and inform strategic communications decisions.
• Provide direct supervision and leadership for athletics communications staff, contractors, and student employees, setting priorities and ensuring high-quality output.
• Supervise, train, and mentor student employees, providing hands-on experiential learning in statistics, communications, digital media, and game day operations.
• Manage the Athletics Communications budget, including resource allocation, vendor partnerships, and long-term planning.
• Oversee game day communications and statistical operations for all NCAA varsity sports, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant reporting to the NCAA, conference (LEC), opponents, media outlets, and institutional platforms while maintaining the integrity of historical records and athletics data.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required. Minimum of 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in athletics communications, sports information, public relations, or a related field required.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to tailor messaging to diverse audiences.
• Knowledge of sports statistics as well as the rules and regulations for all intercollegiate sports preferred.
• Experience with Boxout, Photoshop, InDesign, Premier and other Adobe Creative Suite software preferred.
• Advanced skills in digital content creation, including social media, photography, and graphic design.
• High level of organization, accuracy, and attention to detail, particularly in statistical and deadline-driven environments.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced collegiate athletics setting.
• Collaborative, relationship-driven approach to working across departments and external stakeholders.
• Commitment to student development through mentorship and experiential learning opportunities.
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and event-based schedules consistent with athletics programming.

Preferred

• Master’s degree preferred. Experience in collegiate or professional athletics is strongly preferred.