Associate Director, Communications

Associate Director, CommunicationsCovington, Georgia Scheduled work from home days Monday through Thursday on site in Covington, GA, Fridays are remote Ideal CandidateMinimum 10 years professional communications experience required, with experience working on transformation initiatives – communicating change and bringing people along a change journey.In addition to having strategic and hands on internal communications experience, a candidate must have external communications including media relations experience, and experience with social media, web and other digital communication technologies and tools is required.This is not a marketing communications role; candidates who only have marketing communications experience will not be a fit for the role Some large company experience is needed for the role due to Client being a global matrix organization In addition to this person being a trusted communications advisor to the Head of our Urology & Critical Care business unit, this role provides the opportunity to tell the story regarding our Purewick product to consumers (how the Purewick product and other Urology & Critical Care products are helping patients) instead of focusing only on B2B Experience in health care industry is highly preferred.Key Responsibilities• Lead community relations and engagement initiatives with local leadership and community partners; amplify storytelling around Client Hometowns initiatives.• Align communications with UCC Marketing teams and Corporate Communications to support customer-focused PR opportunities in trade and consumer media.• Serve as UCC lead for issues management and crisis communication in coordination with Corporate Communications.• Develop, manage, and implement UCC organic social media aligned with corporate social media strategy (brand awareness, associate/customer engagement).• Act as strategic thought partner to business president and leadership to drive internal communications and transformation/change management initiatives.• Enable and coach UCC President and leadership board with messaging support including speaking engagements, presentations, and key internal/external communications.• Research, write, edit, and publish content for intranet, town halls, video scripts, emails, leadership presentations, etc.• Support communication strategy for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and cultural integration efforts.• Support communications for Inclusion & Diversity initiatives in partnership with UCC HR.• Analyze and report communication effectiveness using metrics; drive continuous improvements.Required Qualifications (Must-Haves)• Bachelor's degree required (Communication, Journalism, Marketing, Public Relations, Business, or related field preferred).• Minimum 10+ years professional communications experience (required).• Strong experience supporting transformation / change initiatives (change communications, adoption).• Experience in external communications / public relations (required).• Experience with social media, web and digital communication tools (required).• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills with strong editing capability.• Strong stakeholder management in a matrixed environment; ability to connect dots across teams.• Proficiency in tools such as: o Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher) o Adobe o PR Newswire o Media Monitoring Services o LinkedIn• Willingness to travel up to 30%. Comfortable working in Hybrid model (Mon–Thu onsite in Covington, GA + Fri remote).Preferred Qualifications (Nice-To-Haves)• Healthcare / medical industry experience (highly preferred). AP Style writing expertise (highly preferred). Strong crisis communications/issues management leadership experience. Experience supporting M&A communications (integration/divestiture).Core Skills• Executive communications & leadership messaging • Internal communications strategy & employee engagement • Change management communications • Crisis communications & issues management • PR strategy (trade + consumer media) • Social media strategy (organic) • Community relations & storytelling • Strong writing, editing & AP style • Communications metrics and reporting