Senior Communications Specialist, Energy

ICF Next, we are fearless in finding new ways to solve problems, relentless in making sure it pays off for our clients and committed to making a positive change in the world.

Here’s your chance to join our award-winning agency, ICF Next. We’re changemakers, a community of mission driven creatives, communicators, strategists, and technologists.

We’re searching for our next Senior Communications Specialist. This role requires a public affairs / public relations background and will focus on strategic communications related activities that support an office at the U.

S. Department of Energy.

The candidate will be highly motivated, detail oriented and will directly support a high-ranking, federal government organizational division leader and serve as a liaison between the leader and the divisional government personnel and contract teams.

Strong candidates will have experience helping clients track their media outreach efforts and meet their communications and business goals.

If you are passionate about clean energy, strategic communications, and have the requisite prior experience, we'd love to talk to you.

This is an exciting role offering excellent opportunities to work in a dynamic, collaborative, and uniquely positioned organization.

Key Responsibilities :

• Cross-collaborate with other communications strategists and independently provide strategic direction to increase efficiencies and enhance the quality and impact of strategic communications.
• Work side-by-side with program communications staff and support the development of a wide variety of interesting, public-facing written products, including press releases, speeches, web articles, media pitches, leadership talking points and presentations, division-level web updatesand social media content.

Materials are highly visible internally with senior leadership.

• Ensure that each federal lead receives consistent, direct consultation from the larger communications staff.
• Provide rigorous oversight of program-level communications products, ensuring cohesion with senior leaders and the public affairs office and the highest quality control standards.
• Facilitate coordination between multiple division office teams, ensuring each is aware of the others’ major communications initiatives and strategic priorities.
• Set guidelines for, monitor, and conduct strategic communication and outreach tasks, including strategy and messaging development, communications products development, presentation development, research and evaluation of marketing products and successes, and project and results tracking and improvement.
• Establish and evaluate lessons-learned and best practices that can be applied to future projects and engagements.
• Duties may involve development of products and services, as well as project management and oversight.

Basic Qualifications :

• Must have a minimum of seven (7) years of demonstrated experience assisting with public relations .
• Must be a U.S. citizen (contractual requirement).
• Able to obtain public trust.
• BS / BA in Marketing, PR, Communications, or related field.

Professional Skills :

• Must have excellent communication skills, especially writing.
• Must be skilled in effectively and tactfully engaging with senior leaders and provide smart, strategic insights and recommendations for highly visible communications initiatives.
• Must have a strategic mind and connect the dots across multiple divisions and teams to drive strategy and create efficiencies in the production of complex strategic communications materials.
• Must have expert interpersonal skills to create a collaborative and supportive working environment with federal personnel, multiple contract team members, and other vendors.
• Must thrive in high pressure environments with constantly changing priorities and tight deadlines and multiple projects.
• Must be detail-oriented with strong project- and time-management skills required, including the ability to manage multiple projects, tasks, people, and teams simultaneously.

Preferred Skills and Experience :

• Previous work in the energy or clean energy sector, and / or experience as a federal contract or in a federal agency in strategic communications.
• PR agency, corporate or government agency experience
• Working knowledge of SmartSheet or similar project management tools.
• Creative problem solver with positive, can-do attitude.

Job Location(s) : Washington, D.C.-based with availability to work onsite at client facility at least once a week.