Senior PR Writer

University Communications

The University of Missouri-St. Louis is seeking a dynamic, creative writer and storyteller to join its public relations and content team in the Office of Marketing
and Communications. The ideal candidate will:

• Write and edit content for a variety of campus media channels and student recruitment materials, particularly UMSL Daily, the university's news blog, with an emphasis on feature writing to tell stories of success and achievement from UMSL's students, faculty, staff and alumni and to highlight the vitality of the UMSL campus.
• Contribute coverage to UMSL Magazine, which is published once each semester and reaches an audience of more than 106,000 readers.
• Help initiate external media coverage of campus activities, programs and people including the creation of news releases and targeted pitch letters/emails/calls as needed.
• Work within a beat system with other members of the PR content team to provide regular coverage of specific colleges and departments.
• Meet and develop relationships with administrators, deans, faculty or staff from those colleges and departments to develop story ideas and help plan and implement effective PR approaches to support strategic campus and unit goals and/or activities.
• Contribute content for UMSL websites, UMSL newsletters and UMSL presentations as needed.
• Occasionally take photographs to complement written content.
• Help monitor news coverage and UMSL social media channels for potential communications and public relations issues.
• Other duties as assigned.

Nature of Work

Develops effective marketing and communications strategies, plans, programs and materials of a specialized and complex nature for a university publication or communications department.

• Performs a variety of assignments and analyses that impact the Communications function.
• Develops and implements communications plans and initiatives, providing guidance and oversight as necessary.
• Solves problems in straightforward situations.
• Analyzes potential solutions using experience, judgments and precedence, providing input and recommendations.
• Impacts the quality of own work and the work of others on the team, ensuring efficiency productivity, compliance, etc.
• Explains complex information to others, ensuring understanding.
• May represent the function to administrators, faculty, staff and other internal or external constituents.

Supervision Received

• Works within guidelines and policies, noting improvements and efficiencies to supervisor/manager and/or department head.

Supervision Exercised

• May mentor (or supervise as needed) others in completing communications duties.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Superior writing and editing skills.
• The ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
• The ability to work collaboratively with other writers, editors and designers and to provide guidance and oversight of their work.
• The ability to form connections with constituents across campus and learn about stories that demonstrate the university's impact on its students and the wider community.
• Possesses expanded conceptual knowledge of the Communications function and broadens capabilities.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. The University will not sponsor applicants for this position for employment visas.

40 hours/week, Monday thru Friday with occasional evening or weekend work

A Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience and at least 3 years of experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired is necessary

A Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communications, or related field and five years experience working as a writer or editor.

Salary Range: $52,915.20-$74,484.80 Annual
Grade: GGS-010
University Title: Senior Strategic Communications Associate
Internal applicants can determine their University title by accessing the Talent Profile tile in myHR.

• Application materials include a cover letter and resume. Finalists will be asked to provide references at a later date.
• Applicants must combine all application materials into one PDF or Microsoft Word document and upload as a resume attachment to the UMSL Careers: https://www.umsl.edu/services/hrs/careers/index.html
• Limit document name to 50 characters. Maximum size limit is 11MB. Do not include special characters (e.g., /, &, %, etc.). For questions about the application process, please email employment@umsl.edu. If you are experiencing technical problems, please email umpshrsupport@umsystem.edu.

This position is eligible for University benefits. As part of your total compensation, the University offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental and vision plans, retirement, paid time off, short- and long-term disability, paid parental leave, paid caregiver leave, and educational fee discounts for all four UM System campuses. For additional information on University benefits, please visit the Faculty & Staff Benefits website at https://www.umsystem.edu/totalrewards/benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of Missouri is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

To request ADA accommodations, please email the Office of Human Resources at umslhr@umsl.edu.