Communications and Engagement Specialist

Job Description

The Research Administration Collaborative (RAC) in the Office of Research has an outstanding opportunity for a Communications and Engagement Specialist to join their team.

About this Opportunity

Reporting to Executive Director, the Communications and Engagement Specialist plays a key role in advancing the mission of the RAC by developing and implementing strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, change-management, and service-adoption initiatives.

This position supports the successful design, launch, implementation, and continuous improvement of RAC services, programs, and organizational initiatives through effective communication, relationship-building, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement.

Key Responsibilities

• 30%: Strategic Communications and Change Management

- Develop and execute integrated communication, engagement, and change-management strategies that support RAC initiatives, service launches, process changes, technology implementations, pilots, and service expansion.

- Translate complex research administration, technology, policy, and service-delivery information into clear, actionable, audience-specific communications.

- Advise RAC leadership and project teams on communication strategy, stakeholder concerns, messaging, timing, sequencing, and communication risks.

- Anticipate and address stakeholder uncertainty, resistance, information gaps, and change impacts through proactive communication and engagement approaches.

- Coordinate communications across initiatives and channels, evaluate effectiveness, and refine strategies based on stakeholder feedback and implementation outcomes.

• 25%: Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Development

- Develop stakeholder engagement strategies, communication networks, feedback mechanisms, and implementation approaches that support RAC initiatives.

- Build and maintain productive partnerships with faculty, research administrators, institutional leaders, Office of Research partners, and other stakeholders.

- Plan and facilitate meetings, listening sessions, forums, demonstrations, briefings, and other stakeholder engagement activities.

- Gather, synthesize, and communicate stakeholder feedback, concerns, and implementation needs to inform service and process design.

- Promote transparency and two-way communication throughout service design, implementation, evaluation, and expansion efforts.

• 20% Content Development and Communications Management

- Develop, write, edit, and manage a broad range of communications materials, including web content, newsletters, presentations, briefings, FAQs, stakeholder updates, and leadership communications.

- Research and translate complex operational, technical, and organizational topics into clear, accessible, audience-appropriate content.

- Establish and maintain consistent messaging, terminology, editorial standards, templates, and communication practices across RAC initiatives.

- Coordinate review, approval, and dissemination of communications involving multiple stakeholders and institutional partners.

- Maintain communication resources and identify accomplishments, innovations, outcomes, and lessons learned for internal and external audiences.

• 15%: Training, Service Adoption, and Implementation Support

- Assess stakeholder readiness and identify communication, training, and implementation-support needs for new or redesigned services and processes.

- Develop and implement service-adoption, onboarding, and training strategies that support successful transitions to RAC services and practices.

- Coordinate development and delivery of training sessions, demonstrations, office hours, job aids, FAQs, reference materials, and related resources.

- Translate process documentation and technical requirements into user-focused guidance and knowledge resources.

- Monitor adoption challenges, recurring questions, and user feedback and collaborate with service teams to improve implementation outcomes.

• 10%: Communications Assessment, Continuous Improvement, and RAC Development

- Develop and monitor measures of communication, engagement, training, and service-adoption effectiveness.

- Analyze participation, feedback, adoption trends, communication reach, and other indicators to identify improvement opportunities.

- Conduct after-action reviews and capture lessons learned from significant initiatives, implementations, and engagement activities.

- Recommend and implement improvements to communication channels, engagement methods, training approaches, and supporting materials.

- Contribute to RAC evaluation, service refinement, scaling efforts, and the development of a culture of transparency, collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications

To be considered for this opportunity your application must demonstrate you meet both the minimum qualifications and additional qualifications listed below. Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license, certification, and/or registration.

Minimum Qualifications

Applicants who do not meet these qualifications WILL NOT be forwarded to the Hiring Department.
• Bachelor's degree in communications, public relations, journalism, marketing, organizational communication, public administration, higher education, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience in communications, public relations, journalism, marketing, or organizational communications.
• Three years experience in communications, public relations, journalism, marketing, or organizational communications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, outreach, or change-management initiatives for diverse audiences and complex organizational environments.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize and translate complex operational, technical, or policy information into clear, accessible, and audience-appropriate content.

• Experience building collaborative relationships with leaders, subject matter experts, and stakeholder groups; facilitating meetings and engagement activities; and gathering and incorporating stakeholder feedback.

• Strong organizational, project-management, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities independently, exercise sound judgment, and deliver high-quality work in a fast-paced environment.

• Experience working in higher education, research administration, academic healthcare, government, or other large, complex organizations with diverse stakeholder communities.

• Experience supporting organizational change initiatives, business process improvements, service implementations, technology deployments, or shared services transformations.

• Demonstrated expertise in strategic stakeholder engagement, facilitation, group process design, and building consensus across organizational boundaries.

• Experience developing and delivering training, knowledge-management resources, implementation support materials, and adoption strategies for new services, systems, or programs.

• Experience using communication, collaboration, analytics, or content-management platforms to measure engagement, evaluate effectiveness, and continuously improve communication and stakeholder engagement practices.

Working Conditions

• Hybrid work arrangement consistent with University and Office of Research policies.

• Frequent collaboration with stakeholders across schools, colleges, administrative units, and research support organizations.

• Occasional travel to meetings and events across the University of Washington campus and affiliated locations.

• Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives with competing deadlines and stakeholder needs.

Additional Application Requirement

This recruitment requires a cover letter. Applications that do not include a cover letter will not be forwarded to the hiring department.

About the Team

The Office of Research is led by the Vice Provost for Research and oversees five administrative units: Human Subjects Division (HSD), Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Office of Research Information Services (ORIS), the Office of Animal Welfare (OAW), and the Research Administration Collaborative (RAC). We have two research units: The Applied Physics Laboratory and the Washington National Biomedical Research Center.

https://research.washington.edu/research/or/

Compensation, Benefits and Position Details

Pay Range Minimum:
$95,004.00 annual
Pay Range Maximum:
$105,000.00 annual
Other Compensation:

Benefits:
For information about benefits for this position, visit https://www.washington.edu/jobs/benefits-for-uw-staff/
Shift:
First Shift (United States of America)
Temporary or Regular?
This is a regular position
FTE (Full-Time Equivalent):
100.00%
Union/Bargaining Unit:
Not Applicable