Senior Internal Communications Manager

Division Overview  

The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS Publications) publishes over 75 high-quality scholarly journals focused on chemistry and chemistry-related topics. It thus provides its members and the worldwide scientific community with a comprehensive collection of high-quality information products and services for the practice and advancement of the chemical sciences.   

Department Overview

The Global Marketing Department within ACS Publications is responsible for developing marketing strategies and integrated campaign plans to engage our target audience and strengthen our relationships with them. The Department’s objectives for engaging our audience are to increase the brand equity and, ultimately, enable the revenue capture for the Division’s product lines of over 75 journals, eBooks, and a range of digital offerings. The current target audience includes researchers, authors, reviewers, editors, institutional/corporate librarians, administrators, funders, ACS members, and the range of end-users.

Position Summary 

The Senior Internal Communications Manager works to ensure staff at all levels of ACS’s Publications Division are kept informed and engaged. They may do this by communicating through several channels, such as a staff intranet, webinars, email bulletins, regular newsletters, and, most importantly, enablement of the managers and staff to foster information sharing. Working closely with the Director of Strategic Communications & Brand, the Division President, and senior division executives, the internal communications manager helps craft organizational messages, keeps staff informed of business developments, and helps to streamline overall communication flows. This person will spearhead and facilitate executive level communications to better position the Division’s leadership as thought leaders. To this end, this person must have natural poise in executive communications and interactions; excellent written and verbal communication skills; and strong organizational skills to build and execute an internal communication strategy, including an editorial calendar; and a passion for employee engagement and inclusion.

The individual will report to the Director, Strategic Communications and Brand and will collaborate with the Division’s senior leadership team and all departments within the Publications Division. They will work closely with these various teams to understand opportunities and priorities to provide proactive strategic oversight and to anticipate reactive communications ahead of major announcements and current events.

The incumbent will need excellent communication and organizational skills with a focus on how to streamline information flows and reduce inefficacies. The individual will need to understand the Division’s strategic goals and be able to distill those into opportunities to highlight successes and foster new learnings. The ideal candidate should have exceptional interpersonal skills and a keen sensitivity and awareness of change management communications. As an expert in bi-directional communication, this person will facilitate and design new ways for management to communicate to and hear from all Division staff. The ideal candidate would have a strong grasp of the ACS Publishing business cycle.

Position Accountabilities 

• Establish and execute an internal communications strategy and tactics in conjunction with senior managers.
• Ensure organizational initiatives and projects are successfully communicated to employees by relevant stakeholders.
• Design, plan, edit and write content for a variety of internal communications mediums.
• Facilitate executive communication, including developing an internal strategy and supporting through execution.
• Draft messages, presentations and talking points for executive presentation to employees, to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and Governing Board for Publishing in written or spoken form.
• Ensure internal communications messages are consistent across all mediums and for different departments of the Division.
• Ensure internal communication messages are consistent with external communication messages.
• Respond to feedback from different constituents and adjust communications content accordingly.
• Handle the internal communication response to crisis situations which affect organizational perception and reputation.
• Work with creative designers to create internal communication templates and guides (Style guides, PowerPoint slide templates).

Education/Experience/Technological Knowledge 

• A bachelor’s degree in communications, human resource relations or related field required.
• 7-10 years of related experience required.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and ability to work well as part of a team.
• Familiarity with AP style is preferred.
• Strong analytical background and ability to translate metrics into smart decisions.

This position will be primarily based in the Washington D.C. (or applicable) office. ACS employees work a hybrid work schedule, consisting of working onsite, three days per week. ACS employees are in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday with the third in-office day scheduled in consultation with the manager. While always welcome to work in the office, employees may work the other two days of the week from a location of their choice. New employees are immediately eligible for this hybrid work arrangement. ACS offers relocation assistance, if applicable.

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