Manager, Public Affairs

April 25, 2019

The Alberta Medical Association is looking for a skilled communicator, ideally with government affairs experience, for our Manager, Public Affairs position.

Why work for the AMA?

At the AMA, we take pride in hiring client-oriented relationship builders who embrace teamwork, personal growth and development and truly want to help us succeed. We seek employees who understand and realize value in what they are doing and are personally committed to their roles within the AMA. As part of our “employee experience”, we provide a competitive compensation package, comprehensive benefits, work-life balance and development opportunities.

Position Overview

In support of all branches of the AMA, public affairs is responsible for member communication, media relations, government relations and public advocacy/engagement. In the role of Manager, Public Affairs, you will provide strategic communications leadership and advice to in-house, initiative-driven teams and committees, bilateral programs and external multi-stakeholder projects. You will manage and implement these strategic communications plans with emphasis on a strong understanding of change management best practices. For all subject areas you will work with the AMA's print and digital team to deliver.

You are a communicator with advanced technical skills. Your portfolio clearly demonstrates that you have developed communication programming and implemented strategies not only for public relations or awareness purposes, but also to persuade and engage as part of large change management processes that result in measurable new attitudes and behaviors. You have experience working in political environments and have experience with government affairs programming. You are as willing to write and develop strategic materials as you are to conceive them. You have the ability to use research to segment audiences and build strategy. You are an empathetic communicator who can get in the head of your audiences. You are nimble and able to transition easily between large and small tasks on a daily basis. You are a system thinker who can become well-versed in a variety of complex subjects and understand how they link within the organization. You can use that information to be an expert prescriber for strategies to manage and communicate change in ways that are aligned with organizational objectives.

You exude calm in stressful situations. You are experienced in providing supervisory oversight and performance management in formal reporting relationships, but also can fill an informal leadership role while building trust and credibility among colleagues on related communication initiatives. You can coach and mentor those who report to you and enjoy helping others to succeed.

In this role your key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Provide strategic communication advice as well as manage and implement the strategic communications activities for assigned public affairs files.
• Support the AED in evolving government affairs programming.
• Take a lead communications role for implementing key elements of the board's Affordability/Value/Integration framework, applying your communications expertise within the AMA’s broad change management strategies.
• Represent public affairs in assigned internal teams, e.g., member engagement unit.
• Draft timely responses to AMA members from AMA president.
• Provide back up to assistant executive director, public affair for media relations, acting committee/team meetings etc.
• Participate in media monitoring rotation.
• Take calls and answer correspondence from members of the public.
• Manage, coach, oversee and build capacity by supervising, and mentoring staff reporting to the position.

Experience and Education

• An undergraduate degree in communications, public relations, journalism, or political science.
• Professional development background through IABC or CPRS is an asset.
• 8-10 of progressively senior communications/public affairs experience.
• Experience with government relations and communications.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience supervising and coaching team members.
• Experience and/or training in change management methodology is a significant asset.

Skills

• Strategic communication planning.
• Can develop surveys, conduct evaluation and apply results to programming.
• Government relations experience is a significant asset – with a strong preference for experience in an association or not-for-profit environment.
• Outstanding writing skills with ability to customize messages and approach for the same content for different audiences.
• Proof reading
• Copy editing
• Strong coaching skills in business writing.
• Strong coaching for general efficiency in work flow and quality.
• Overseeing/supervising staff in a formal capacity, i.e., experience with conducting performance management processes.
• Can demonstrate extensive experience as a boundary spanner in communication programming in complex, multi-stakeholder projects.
• Comfortable shifting regularly from large to small scale projects with a variety of timelines.
• Extensive work in a fast-paced environment where priorities shift rapidly.
• Member engagement experience in an association environment a significant asset.

Who are we?

The AMA advances patient-centered, quality care by advocating for and supporting physician leadership and wellness. Alberta’s physicians and the AMA are committed to Patients First®. For more information on the AMA please visit our website at www.albertadoctors.org.

How to apply

Please submit a cover letter with full job title and résumé, in confidence, before the end of the day on May 20 to:

Human Resources
Alberta Medical Association
E-mail: resumes@albertadoctors.org

This position will remain open until May 20 or until a suitable candidate can be found. We thank all applicants, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Your résumé may be used for other vacancies.