Public Relations Specialist

Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide support to Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) Public Affairs and History Offices and programs. This work will include, but not be limited to:

• Create written content for ANC fact sheets, backgrounders, brochures, and other promotional literature, and write articles and blogs for internal and external publication
• Conduct research, write and staff recommended additional information products
• Provide technical editing of ANC public affairs documents and submit recommended changes
• Conduct research and coordinate with other ANC directorates and subject matter experts to develop public affairs strategic communications plans and other products designed to raise awareness of Cemetery activities, initiatives, challenges, accomplishments, and special events
• Ensure all staff coordination requests and/or queries are forwarded to the appropriate subject matter expert, monitored for response and are closed properly within 2 business days of completion of the action
• Maintain an ANC Style Guide to ensure all ANC communication products are in accordance with the ANC brand and color scheme and language is consistent with overarching ANC themes and messaging
• Review, validate, and make recommendations to the PAO for correction of issues identified in customer service responses provided through the ANC Remedy platform
• Work across all ANC programs and initiatives to develop and maintain content residing on ANC's website and mobile application
• Provide technical editing in support of ANC public affairs documents
• Develop relevant, timely, and factually accurate content tailored to the appropriate key audience and provide technical editing for new media platforms
• Provide content management support for websites and applications utilizing the ANC CMS or administrator tools
• Collaborate with the all IT staff for routine website/application management and make recommendations for improvement
• Review all ANC webpages and mobile application pages for errors associated with grammar/spelling, factual accuracy, context, tone, or style
  • Consolidate a draft of recommended changes and submit to the program manager
  • Conduct subsequent reviews annually thereafter and submit recommended changes to the appropriate program manager monthly
• Review all ANC webpages to ensure they are easily read on mobile devices and submit recommended changes for review
  • Consolidate a draft of recommended changes and submit to the program manager
  • Conduct subsequent reviews annually thereafter and submit recommended changes to the appropriate program manager
• Work with Office Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and ANC employees to post information products as applicable to website, mobile app and/or other digital platforms IAW ANC's established approval processes
• Create content for ANC's various social media, blogs, articles, website, mobile applications, and newsletters for internal and external audiences. Other written assignments may be directed by ANC. Content created each month will be a minimum of three thousand five hundred (3,500 words) over a number of different formats. Social Media content will generally be three hundred (300) words or less. Blog, web based articles, and newsletter content will generally be approximately one-thousand (1,000 words). Products to be written each month will be assigned by ANC.
• Conduct research to develop content, including, but not limited to attendance of high visibility events, conducting interviews with participants and/or Subject Matter Experts, on-line research, as well as conducting research at repositories located in the National Capitol Region (NCR) such as the Library of Congress (LOC) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
• Recommend located or recommend images to go with each written project. Images will be high resolution and copyright free. May be required to conduct research of Library of Congress or National Archives resources to identify images.
• Prepare an executive summary of events/ceremonies, high visibility funerals, and other PAO engagements conducted at the Cemetery each month.
• Assist in the development of the command's Department of Army Historical Summary (DAHSUM) and review of ANC's staff contributions to the report in order to ensure consistency in tone and style.
• Capture required information/data from ANC organizational SharePoint and/or Teams site
• Develop and maintain a staff coordination request tracking tool (spreadsheet) that monitors staff coordination requests, responses and current status (working, closed etc.)

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in journalism or other similar degree
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience writing for a variety of audiences such as history publications, K-12, lifelong learners, and the general public
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience developing information of highly visible national events with a variety of stakeholders in plain language utilizing Associated Press Stylebook conventions, with knowledge of 508 compliance and editing at a similar level
• Must have experience understanding the military community, travel and tourism, military protocol, ceremonies and special events, and historical sites
• Experience designing content for a variety of audiences such as military leaders, cemetery industry, ceremonies and special events, tourism industry, media relations, safety and security, and Service members and their families
• Experience in Content/Web Development and the use of protocols and business processes in the development of web-based program content
• Demonstrated knowledge of web content management systems (CMS)
• Familiarity with Dot Net Nuke-based CMS and Bootstrap is a plus