Senior Associate, Crisis Communications

Agency: Weber Shandwick Job Function: Communications and PR Job Subfunction: Public Relations Job Description: The Weber Shandwick New York office is seeking a Senior Associate in New York to join it s Global Crisis and Issues Practice . The Global Crisis and Issues team , part of the Weber Advisory group , helps leading organizations across the world both manage breaking negative issues and events affecting reputation and develop the internal culture and infrastructure needed to predict, prepare, and navigate them effectively.      From conspiracy theories, environmental incidents and multinational bankruptcies to executive controversies and sweeping product recalls to high-profile litigation and fake news, we live at the front lines of media, culture, and conversation. Whether it is a program affecting internal stakeholders or an external effort to protect or defend an organization’s reputation, we work together with colleagues from around the country and globe daily, supplying crisis counsel to clients across industries and sectors, making deep curiosity a requisite for this position.         Candidate Qualities      As a Senior Associate, you will have the unique opportunity to help drive communications around these challenging and exciting projects. You will be a day-to-day leader among the team’s Associate-level staff, working directly with senior leadership to help drive research, develop materials, staff projects, scope work, manage vendors, track budget and balance multiple shifting priorities in real-time. The ideal candidate will have excellent writing skills and the ability to perform in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment. You will be intimately familiar with current events and news trends and be able to translate that knowledge into actionable insights for clients. This extends to social and digital communications: you must have true analytical fluency in this area. A strong academic record is necessary, and demonstrated experience in issues management in a previous position or academic setting .

Our team is a group of smart, analytical and hardworking people who care deeply about helping lead our clients through a crisis to make a positive impact on society. We are on the front lines of some of the biggest, most complex issues – and the nature of our work requires an ability and eagerness to juggle multiple responsibilities and work on multi-office client teams. You will have the opportunity to play a leading role in driving both ongoing client engagements and discrete projects.

Serves as key team member to support a range of complex, high-profile corporate issues /crisis communications situations (i.e., cybersecurity issues, product safety issues and recalls, natural disaster response, executive leadership changes, IPOs etc.)   Drafts and reviews of press releases, crisis plans, media strategies, reactive media statements, talking points, FAQs, memos, crisis simulations and other deliverables as needed   Develops and reviews media and other stakeholder materials based on outline or direction developed with supervisors   Supports the monitoring and triaging of client issues including crisis/issues coverage reports, leveraging industry measurement and listening tools to identify opportunities for g rowth and strategic evolution   Liaises with clients and assists in client communications, including developing and coordinating routine account management materials    Prepares for and takes part in client meetings providing detailed recaps and leading action steps resulting from discussions Partners with cross-functional teams to ensure flawless execution of the client business objectives   Leads small teams to conduct pressing research on a wide range of issues, reviews and prepare executive summaries and/or analyses of information into strategic and actionable recommendations   Serves as role model to team