Sr. Director, Communications (Earned Media)
New York
United Entertainment Group – Corporate /
Full-Time /
Hybrid
UEG is an award-winning global agency specializing in entertainment, sports and lifestyle marketing. We create breakthrough marketing by leveraging the people, places and platforms that shape pop culture. Our suite of services includes celebrity/influencer programming, music-film-tv/digital-sports partnerships, communications, branded content and experiential.
The team at UEG is a dynamic group, bringing together best-in-class expertise across entertainment, sports and lifestyle, paired with a strong understanding of brand building and effective marketing communications. This is a work hard, play hard environment where a true passion for culture are married with the desire to create business changing work for our clients.
We are in relentless pursuit of an equitable and inspiring workplace that is respectful of all, reflects and represents the world in which we live, and fosters trust, collaboration and belonging. Consistent with this approach, we hire the best qualified candidates for all positions.
We are hiring for a Senior Director of Earned Media. This role is based in New York City and sits on our growing Communications team, with an emphasis in Sports & Lifestyle.
The ideal candidate will think like a journalist and execute like a creative marketer to bring stories to life in a fragmented media landscape.
This is a great opportunity to join a dynamic team and develop/execute highly innovative approaches to not only help cement our clients as leaders in their categories, but also to help show up in culture. This will include a major focus on developing media relationships with national, sports & lifestyle, entertainment, broadcast, trade, regional and local media. As well as fostering connections with creators, emerging platforms and driving creative storytelling via content/talent/experiences.
The ideal candidate has exceptional communication and interpersonal skills and is an avid consumer of the news who can help craft story ideas to inspire earned coverage on all platforms. They must be able to work effectively with and counsel clients and partner with their colleagues (paid, social, etc.) on developing and executing multichannel media strategies. In addition, they must have excellent written and verbal skills as well as be familiar with all types of news media outlets and to differentiate controlled versus earned media tactics. They must effectively delegate and oversee a large volume of short-term and longer-term/complex tactical assignments on their accounts and accurately judge and edit the work of the more junior team.
Responsibilites
- Demonstrate tactical proficiency in media relations, including creating and driving strategic traditional/earned, outreach plans; manage multiple projects for multiple clients from concept to completion
- Consistently produce high-quality internal and external communications content
- Showcase ability to maintain and develop key media contacts; experience pitching stories to national and local print, online, and broadcast media
- Serve as client’s daily media contact and act as client lead when appropriate, address client issues thoughtfully and effectively
- Contribute to the agency’s new business programs including assisting teams in creating/writing and presenting media portion of proposals
- Supervise staff by motivating, coaching, consistently providing feedback, holding them accountable, and conducting their reviews
- Commit to continuous learning and improvement of leadership skills; set and pursue stretch goals
- Understand UEG and department vision and their own role in achieving it
- Understand the role of more junior staff and step in to assist as needed
Basic Qualifications
- At least 7-8 years of experience; including 2 years of doing predominantly earned media work.
- A bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
Preferred Qualifications
- Sports and Lifestyle experience is a plus and highly preferred.
- Agency experience a plus
- Excellent project management skills, including solid attention to detail
- Effective organizational, writing and communication skills
- Ability to juggle multiple clients and assignments with ease and flexibility
- Experience managing sports and lifestyle product launches, media events, informational interviews/desk-side briefings, and executive leadership, etc.
- High-level understanding of how paid, earned, social and owned media plays out in today’s modern media world
- Must have a solid grasp of all traditional and new media tools, and be able to recommend a variety of strategies and tactics internally and to their clients
- Must demonstrate a drive to be “always on” when it comes to seeking fresh story angles and opportunities to tell clients’ stories to the media and provide sound, level-appropriate media counsel
- Comfortable developing a range of executional media materials (pitch letters, media contact lists, interview briefing books, recap reports)
- Comfortable partnering directly with journalists, from initial outreach to coordinating and staffing interviews with spokespeople both virtually and in-person, managing follow-up needs, coordinating logistics, etc.
- Eager to stay on the pulse of the media landscape and trending topics/issues that are relevant to clients’ business and mission; ability to connect clients’ content, key opinion leaders, and brand messaging to maximize participation/insertion in the news cycle
- Proven ability to think ahead, engage proactively, and take initiative.
- Demonstrated ability to lead day-to-day media work and supervise projects of junior team members, manage up, and proactively lead daily program pieces independently with little oversight
$80,000 - $120,000 a year
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An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, travel requirements, revenue-based metrics, any contractual agreements, and business or organizational needs. The range listed is just one component of DJEH’s total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, a Paid Time Off policy, and region-specific benefits.
DJEH offers a wide range of benefits: medical and dental insurance, vision, 401K, life insurance, disability insurance, paid time off, travel assistance and wellness programing.
DJEH is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and believes in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We seek applications from all qualified candidates without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, physical or mental disability, military and veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. If you require a reasonable accommodation in any part of the employment process, please let us know.
