Senior Public Health Communication Specialist - CDC

Job Description

In this role you will work with CDC Health Communications, scientific, and management staff to plan and develop content, and assist in the productions of information material for use in print and electronic media.

This position will be 100% work from home until CDC’s facilities begin to resume normal operations.) Work will eventually be located onsite at the customer’s location in Atlanta, Georgia. Applicants should be local to Atlanta, GA or willing to relocate to the area at your own expense and able to go onsite when operations resume.

Senior Health Communication responsibilities include:

• Must have 4-6 years of writing experience such as fact sheets, campaigns, news articles, or scientific journals.
• Marketing principles, methods, theories, practices, and techniques to serve as a technical authority and to strategically carry out communication plans from development to dissemination
• Provide health communication support to create integrated public health messages and content for multiple audiences.
• Work collaboratively with internal and external partners and develop dissemination plans to ensure messages meet communication objectives and audience needs, are consistent, and could be disseminated rapidly through appropriate channels to reach target audiences.
• Select, develop, and utilize a variety of channels to disseminate information.
• Track and report on dissemination metrics and results and make adjustments and improvements to dissemination based on results.
• Use relevant health communication, risk and crisis communication, behavior change and risk and crisis communication best practices to consistently develop content and products that achieve the intended communication objectives.
• Work with subject matter experts to identify and write about communications priorities
• Plan, develop, revise, implement, monitor, and evaluate communication messages, materials, and strategies.
• Translate technical and scientific subject matter into plain language communication products such as but not limited to web pages, factsheets, key/talking points, social media, press releases, .social media posts, PowerPoint slides and presentations, Q&A documents, infographics, etc.
• Develop communication materials and education materials/activities related to COVID19 topics, including infectious diseases, outbreaks, pandemic preparedness, and/or emergency response.
• Ensure content is developed with plain language and using the Clear Communication Index and principles to develop new materials and to assess existing materials.
• Ensure materials meet Section 508 standards.
• Develop communication materials that successfully address cultural and socioeconomic challenges to effective communication; considers the diverse interests, needs, concerns, and priorities among different segments of the population.
• Coordinate pre-clearance and manage additional clearance levels as appropriate to ensure final IMS clearance prior to dissemination.
• Develop and manage communication campaigns and/or assist in the development and management of major releases and/or communication campaigns
• Coordinate with JIC and the Office of the Assistant Director for Communication (OADC) during development, and work across Task Forces (TFs) and other stakeholders as needed.
• Provide consultation services in developing creative briefs and overseeing execution against briefs, creating videos, building and testing interactive graphics, and electronic tools and training as specified by CDC.
• Liaise and coordinate across the response as needed by:
  • Working with other SMEs and the JIC to create new messaging and/or adapt existing messages to be consistent with emergency risk communication science, principles, and requirements; including plain language, timeliness, and audience appropriateness
  • Working with CDC-INFO and JIC Social Media and JIC Media, among others, to draft and/or review materials and CDC-INFO responses related to TF topics.
  • Engaging with TF leadership, subject matter experts and other colleagues to develop and evaluate critical public health communication content and messaging, as appropriate.
• Attend all JIC and other response meetings to maintain and share situational awareness.
• Provide TF leadership with management support for:
  • Updates to the COVID-19 Weekly Key Messages and other response-wide efforts such as reports, documents and meetings.
  • Routine data pulls and creating weekly/monthly reports as necessary. Reports may require development and inclusion of graphs, charts or statistics.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Skills and Experience

• 4-6 years or writing experience with Public Health knowledge.
• Bachelors degree in a related field such as: Communications (journalism, advertising, public relations); or English (writing/editing, rhetoric); or Public Health
• Understanding of basic risk communication principles (giving clear and simple communication during an emergency, providing actionable information)
• Experience writing, reviewing and editing health communication materials
• Strong proofreading skills and attention to detail
• Experience writing in plain language
• Experience in facilitating quick turn-around for complex documents
• Experience in assisting in the preparation of documents for public audiences
• Experience in the use of video/web conferencing tools (such as MS Teams) and Microsoft Office software (i.e., Word; Excel; PowerPoint; Outlook)
• Must be U.S. citizen with the ability to obtain a National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) clearance

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Experience in working with social media and/or digital media channels is a plus
• Previous experience in an emergency response setting highly desirable
• Demonstrated experience with formative research to inform communication strategies; audience segmentation
• Previous work on or managed large scale multi-media communication campaigns, with an emphasis on using social media strategies to reach priority audiences.
• Experience applying risk communication principles to outbreak situations.
• Superior multi-tasking and organization skills. Must manage multiple simultaneous projects and prioritize assignments and tasks accordingly, remaining flexible to changing priorities and new initiatives.

We are GDIT. The people supporting some of the most complex government, defense, and intelligence projects across the country. We deliver. Bringing the expertise needed to understand and advance critical missions. We transform. Shifting the ways clients invest in, integrate, and innovate technology solutions. We ensure today is safe and tomorrow is smarter. We are there. On the ground, beside our clients, in the lab, and everywhere in between. Offering the technology transformations, strategy, and mission services needed to get the job done.

GDIT is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status, or any other protected class.