Director, People Connections

Join Us in Redefining Care At Advocate Health, we're committed to helping people live well by delivering exceptional care with compassion, innovation, and expertise. We're seeking an experienced Director of People Connections to shape how our People & Culture vision comes to life across the organization. In this highly visible role, you'll partner with executive and cross-functional leaders to translate complex priorities into clear, compelling communications that build understanding, strengthen engagement, and support meaningful change. About This Opportunity This opportunity is designed for a strategic communicator who can move seamlessly between enterprise strategy and hands-on execution. You will lead communications and activation for the Chief People & Culture Officer and People & Culture Leadership Team while helping create a consistent, connected teammate experience across a complex organization. What You'll Do Design and lead the People & Culture communications and activation strategy, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities, business objectives, and the People & Culture vision. Develop and execute the annual communications, engagement, and executive visibility plan for the Chief People & Culture Officer and People & Culture Leadership Team (PCLT), driving awareness, understanding, engagement, and behavior change across the function. Partner across People & Culture to align communication priorities, messaging, and activation efforts that support enterprise goals and create a consistent teammate experience. Serve as a strategic advisor to executive HR and enterprise leaders, providing counsel on messaging for teammate initiatives, organizational change, mergers and acquisitions, brand evolution, and operating model evolution. Lead communication strategies for large-scale People & Culture transformation efforts, integrations, acquisitions, and workforce initiatives. Translate complex priorities into clear, compelling content that drives leadership accountability and teammate understanding. Serve as lead writer and producer for the Chief People & Culture Officer's internal communications, including talking points, speeches, newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, leader toolkits, and other materials that foster alignment with the People & Culture vision. Create and maintain a library of stories that celebrates teams, amplifies People & Culture, and reinforces a unified message across the function. Coordinate planning and content development for key functional events, including People & Culture leadership advances, town halls, PCLT fireside chats, rounding tours, roadshows, and other engagements, in partnership with the VP, Leadership Activation and Chief of Staff. Partner across PCLT to identify opportunities to elevate People & Culture successes through external award submissions; support the identification, drafting, and submission process as needed. Define success measures for People & Culture communications, using data, feedback, and insights to inform decisions and demonstrate enterprise impact. What You'll Bring Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Marketing, or a related field 8+ years of strategic communications experience, with a strong focus on internal or HR communications, change management, or employee engagement Demonstrated experience advising senior executives and partnering with cross-functional leaders across HR, Legal, Operations, and Marketing Enterprise mindset and the ability to operate effectively across complex, matrixed systems Strong judgment when navigating enterprise risk, sensitive matters, and ambiguity Exceptional written, verbal, and executive communication skills Strong consultative and advisory presence with senior leaders Deep expertise in change communications and transformation storytelling Ability to simplify complexity and communicate with empathy and clarity Comfort moving between strategy and execution Strong leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management capabilities High level of judgment, discretion, and attention to detail Ability to travel as needed, with potential exposure to weather and road conditions Ability to operate all equipment necessary to perform the job and work in a normal office environment Preferred Experience supporting complex, large-scale organizations; healthcare or frontline workforce environments preferred People leadership experience This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.Brand: Aurora Health CareJob ID: R275383Employment Type: Full TimeJob Area: Human ResourcesFunction: Human Resources GeneralIndustry: Ambulatory/Clinical Care Services