Public Relations Specialist jobs in Arizona

Reporting directly to the VP of Global Corporate Communications and serving as an integral member of the communications team, the Senior Specialist of Public Relations and External Communications will be responsible for supporting the strategy of Axon’s brand public relations efforts, including external communications and positioning, media relations and execution of our owned content strategy.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience across communications disciplines, with a focus on external communications and reputation management. The ideal individual should be energized to help build and evolve plans to support the growing needs of the communications function within Axon and bring a strategic “thinker and doer” attitude to roll up their sleeves and support the team in delivering compelling and creative communications campaigns to drive our overall mission and thought leadership at Axon in pursuit of our mission. If you thrive in a fast-paced setting and can think on your toes toward quick solutions and innovative storylines, this role would be a great fit for you!

What You’ll Do
Corporate Communications & Reputation Strategy

• Establish and manage the process for all communications announcements via a communications editorial calendar. Identify a new standard for the way we communicate various topics to ensure consistency across the business in partnership with our media relations and content leads.
• Work closely with the VP of Global Corporate Communications to implement standards and best practices for communications campaigns and tactics across the function.
• Support our brand journalism focus by directly generating content for both owned, earned and paid channels, supporting efforts to generate press releases, media pitches, owned content and sponsored content in close partnership with content and media relations leads across the team.
• Mine for opportunities, insights and storylines externally to both share across the organization and keep key executives informed of trends in the media, as well as identifying opportunities from these insights to drive new storylines, potential campaigns and content ideas. Execute content based on these opportunities.
• Responsible and accountable for connecting dots within the organization to understand the overall newsflow and prioritized areas of focus to deliver the overall Axon story cohesively.
• Support the press release process across communications function, ensuring appropriate reviews and messaging are in line with expectations of the organization.
• Identify above brand opportunities for thought leadership and external communications, identifying key outlets to target, controlled and sponsored media tactics and the narrative for advancing our paid/controlled communications strategies (i.e. sponsored content, op-eds, bylines etc.)
• Manage key vendors in support of advancing the team’s priorities and manage budget to help deliver corporate reputation and corporate communications led campaigns.
• Establish a monitoring protocol and process for measuring ROI of Public Relations initiatives across. the company to provide more consistent updates to our executives on opportunities and outputs of the team. Systemize this approach with a standard process for all announcements, campaigns and in providing insights back on the external landscape.
• Assist in advancing the leadership profile of Axon, implementing plans that expand executive communications, speaking opportunities and thought leadership platforms through earned and paid media.

What You Bring 

• 5-7 years’ experience of external communications experience, either in-house or agency experience. Blended experience of agency/client-side and/or in-house in a high-growth company preferred.
• Strong writing skills a must. prior experience in journalism role or a role with a focus on content generation preferred. Must be familiar with press release and editorial/journalistic styles, as well as consistently adhered to Associated Press format (AP) style when building materials.
• Strong organizational skills a must, past project management experience preferred. This role will work across various functions to put process in place and requires someone to think through best practices and ways of working improvements that can keep the team better organized, informed and focused on ROI outputs.
• Team player, with a strategic thinker and doer attitude and a passion for delivering creative and impactful communications initiatives. Willing to flex their workload based on the priorities of the function.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with ability to establish credibility and build collegial relationships with all levels of staff. A polished communicator with strong written and verbal skills.
• A creative thinking that can Identify practical and timely solutions to complex challenges, has a deep understanding of how to navigate and influence diplomatically to show value of campaigns and programs.
• Demonstrated success in managing corporate reputation campaigns for companies that have strong community impact and are highly sensitive matters to the public.
• Experience working with customers or third-party stakeholders, hands-on to establish influencer base and empower the expansion of our voice. Handles dialogue professionally and seeks to educate and support individuals to advance influencer work.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.

 The Pay: Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The starting base pay for this role is between USD 84,000 in the lowest geographic market and USD 126,000 in the highest geographic market. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit www.axon.com/careers/benefits