Teen Health Arkansas

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Director of Communication

Location: Arkansas

Type: Full-time, Exempt

Primary Manager: Deputy Director, Arkansas

Functional Manager: Sr. Director of Communications

Position Summary

Reporting to the Senior Director of Communication and the Deputy Director of Teen Health Arkansas (THAR), the Director of Communication serves as an integral member of the senior management team for Arkansas. The Director will help establish Teen Health Arkansas’s communications strategy for marketing, training, and policy work across the state.

In addition to strategic communication, the Director will lead the development and implementation of communications systems for the new team. The Director will be responsible for promoting, enhancing, and protecting the organization’s brand reputation, as well as for a broad range of public relations activities aligned with the strategic direction and positioning of the organization and its health priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy, Vision, and Leadership
  • Maintain continuous lines of communication, keeping the Deputy Director, Executive Director, and Senior Director of Communications informed of all critical issues.
  • Iterate and implement a THAR brand that aligns with the Teen Health brand, with a foundation of movement-building.
  • Work closely with the Deputy Director of Teen Health Arkansas and the Senior Director of Communications to help develop and implement an integrated strategic communications plan annually to advance Teen Health Arkansas’s mission; broaden awareness of its activities and priorities; and increase the understanding of and support for trainings, programs, and policy positions across key stakeholder audiences, including the development of key internal and external messaging.
  • Create a marketing/public relations strategy that will allow Teen Health Arkansas leadership to cultivate and enhance meaningful relationships with targeted, high-level external audiences, including the media and key influencers.
  • Serve as a communications thought partner to Teen Health Arkansas’s Deputy Director and Teen Health Arkansas’s staff.
Team Development/Leadership
  • Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality.
  • Ensure staff members receive timely and appropriate training and development on Teen Health Arkansas’s communications strategies
Communications Operations
  • Oversee development of all Teen Health Arkansas’s (THAR) print communications including the annual report, marketing materials and electronic communications including Teen Health Arkansas’s website and new media; manage technology associated with communications.
  • Develop and manage a communications budget.
  • Serve as organization copywriter and/or editor on internal and external documentation.
  • Coordinate media interactions for the Deputy Director, Executive Director, and other staff.
  • Support staff external communications to maintain consistency in messaging.
  • Actively engage, cultivate, and manage press relationships to ensure coverage surrounding Teen Health Arkansas’s events, publications, programs, public announcements, and other projects.
  • Create and disseminate fundraising and organizational communications and supporting materials for programs, events, and policy work.
  • Supervise social media efforts to ensure quality of social media content.
  • Work closely with project staff to ensure that goals and metrics for social media content are met.
  • Develop an annual communication plan for each THAR program area.
  • Hire and supervise any communications interns or volunteers to contribute to THAR communication.
  • Support additional program activities and organizational events as requested.
  • Provide general program support during non-training periods, including resource development, partner follow-up, and event assistance.
  • All other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required
  • Bachelor’s degree in business, communications, writing, marketing, or related field.
  • Demonstrated skill and comfort in proactively building relationships with media and other stakeholders and in successfully positioning subject matter with the media to achieve high-impact placements.
  • Extensive successful writing and editing experience (externally focused) with a variety of print and online communications media.
  • Demonstrated experience and leadership in managing comprehensive strategic communications, media relations, and marketing programs to advance an organization’s mission and goals.
  • Experience and proven success with budget and operations management.
  • Experience and proven success with fundraising.
  • Creative and thoughtful on how new media technologies can be utilized.
  • Experience in planning, writing, editing, and production of newsletters, press releases, annual reports, marketing literature, and other print publications and directories.
  • Innovative thinker with a track record for translating strategic thinking into action plans and output.
  • Excellent judgment and creative problem-solving skills.
  • Self-reliant, good problem solver, results-oriented.
  • Ability to make decisions in a changing environment and anticipate future needs.
  • Excellent, persuasive communicator.
  • Energetic, flexible, collaborative, and proactive.
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
  • Ability to operate as an effective tactical as well as strategic thinker.
  • Passion for Teen Health Arkansas’s mission, shared core values, and support for Teen Health Arkansas’s position.
  • Independent, self-starter, and provides solutions.
  • Comfortable with topics regarding reproductive health, mental health, youth leadership, and workforce development.
Preferred
  • Demonstrated knowledge of the field of teen health and wellness, especially Teen Health Arkansas’s current position, strongly preferred.

Compensation and Benefits

  • $60,000 to $70,000 annual salary
  • Teen Health Arkansas is a branch of Teen Health Mississippi (THMS). THAR/THMS contributes to employees’ retirement contributions and medical, dental, and vision insurance. Our benefits package includes generous paid holidays as well as paid time off.

Application Requirements and Process Requirements

Required Documents
  • Cover letter
  • Recent resume
  • Employment Application Form
  • Contact information for three professional references who can speak to the candidate’s work ethic and character
Process

We will have a rolling application process, but applications received before May 30, 2026, will have priority. The position may be filled prior to that date.

  • Applicants should email their application materials to contact@teenhealthar.org.
  • Once we have received all materials from a candidate, we will notify the candidate that we have a complete application.
  • After a review of applications received, we will schedule brief phone interviews with candidates meeting required qualifications. Candidates advancing to the later stages of the process will be asked to respond to open-answer questions, a job-related task, and a final interview. Candidates may be rejected at any point in the process.
  • The interview process will include thorough driving records and a social media background check as well as civil, criminal, and abuse background checks.
  • Submission of this application gives THMS permission to run a soft background check on the applicant.
  • Teen Health Arkansas is a branch of Teen Health Mississippi and is subject to all rules and regulations of the parent company.