Lead Communications and Public Involvement Specialist

This Opportunity

WSP is currently initiating a search for a Lead Communications and Public Involvement Specialist . This position will report to our Ocoee, Florida office of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise . The position will serve as a lead to our team working on the Turnpike program, and support, assist and offer guidance to the program in public involvement, public information, outreach and communications. The selected candidate will be joining a talented group of other WSP communications professionals supporting the Turnpike program.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our national team of talented communications and public involvement professionals. As part of WSP’s Communications Advisory Services team, you may work on a wide range of infrastructure projects throughout the Southeast. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to leverage their skillset and experience in public outreach, project coordination, public involvement, business development and communications techniques to help support our team and client

Your Impact

• Serve as a lead for communications and public involvement on large transportation and infrastructure programs,
• Manage and support community outreach specialists to ensure effective collaboration, performance, and delivery of work
• Take initiative and ownership of public involvement tasks and guide the public engagement team and subconsultants to develop effective communications and engagement strategies,
• Develop and implement effective public outreach strategies and plans for high profile projects,
• Attend weekly construction progress meetings as necessary to understand current project issues
• Develop and produce information deliverables - fact sheets, PowerPoint presentations, graphics, etc.
• Work with construction project managers to identify and help manage information related to construction issues
• Respond to general customer toll inquiries – via phone and writing from various internal and external customers
• Serve as liaison between Turnpike projects and the community primarily in active construction zones
• Develop and plan public outreach campaigns prior to start of construction projects
• Coordinate and schedule mass mailers related to construction projects
• Research and help resolve issues pertaining to Construction, Maintenance, Traffic operations and other departments
• Research, draft responses, check for accuracy, and seek approval to a variety of media requests and elected official inquiries
• Promote Turnpike programs and initiatives by establishing, developing, and maintaining contact with media, professional and civic organizations, and other special interest groups
• Coordinate and participate in public meetings with various neighborhood groups or other Turnpike stakeholders as assigned
• Develop special educational and promotional materials for presentation at meetings and conferences
• Organize and support various special events, groundbreakings, grand opening ceremonies and public meetings
• Research, develop responses and generate posts for social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
• Research and develop content for project webpages and newsletters
• Reply to inquiries from the public and resolve concerns on behalf of the client
• Produce and maintain stakeholder databases and lead stakeholder issues identification,
• Interact in a clear and concise manner with a variety of diverse audiences,
• Analyze the effectiveness of outreach campaigns, including website and social media content,
• Support business development with copywriting and proposal development, as needed, and,
• Perform other duties as assigned or required by WSP USA Inc. and our clients.
• Talent is the essence of meeting our client’s objectives, goals and challenges. If this sounds like a fit for you, we’d love to have that first discussion of you joining our team.
  

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications/Public Relations, Public Engagement, Journalism, Marketing, or a related field
• 7-10 years of communications/engagement experience
• Public involvement or community engagement experience on transportation projects
• A record of delivering work products on time and within scope and budget and prior experience with quality assurance/quality control
• Ability to work well with the public and interact effectively with all organizational levels, including agency staff, senior management, executive leadership, board members, community leaders, and city/county/state representatives
• Ability to understand and translate complex, technical information into easy-to-understand content for public consumption
• Experience working with public agencies, consultants, and cross-discipline technical teams on one or more publicly funded programs.
• Excellent verbal, writing, and presentation communication skills
• Ability to work effectively with teams and demonstrate initiative to lead tasks
• Ability to work beyond standard business hours on some nights and weekends
• Superior organizational and time management skills with a high attention to detail
• Strong computer skills, including experience with Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint
• Candidate must be able to immediately work in the United States on a full time permanent basis.
• Proven track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP’s health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies.
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Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on Florida Department of Transportation projects
• Communications/public involvement experience with infrastructure (transportation, energy, water, construction, etc.) projects
• Knowledge and experience using AP style in the creation of documents
• Bilingual in Spanish with the ability to communicate effectively in conversational Spanish and provide written translations
• Local candidates preferred
• Graphic design experience (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Snagit, Canvas, etc.)
Ability to work with stock images and deliver creative content (text, photo and video)

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