Salary: $126,817.60 - $221,936.00 Annually
Location : Stafford County, VA
Job Type: Full-Time
Job Number: 04127
Department: Community Engagement
Opening Date: 10/01/2026
Starting Salary: $126,817.60 to $174,387.20 annually based on experience

Job Description

Stafford County, Virginia, is seeking an accomplished, innovative, and strategic communications leader to serve as its Director of Community Engagement.

This senior executive position will lead Stafford County's comprehensive communications and community engagement function, helping shape how one of Virginia's fastest-growing communities communicates, connects, and builds trust with its residents, employees, businesses, media, and community partners.

This is more than a traditional public information or communications position. Stafford is seeking an executive leader who understands that effective community engagement requires listening as well as communicating, connecting residents with government services, strengthening relationships across the organization and ensuring that the County communicates with one clear, credible and accessible voice.

The hiring range for this position is $126,817.60 to $174,387.20 annually based on experience.
The salary range for this position is $126,817.60 to $221,936.00 to provide opportunity for growth and development.
Examples of Duties

• Directs and oversees the County's comprehensive communications and community engagement program to ensure accurate, timely, and transparent information is provided to residents, employees, media, and other stakeholders;
• Develops and implements strategic communications plans that support the priorities of the Board of Supervisors and County leadership, including public information campaigns, branding initiatives, and digital communication strategies;
• Serves as the primary point of coordination for media relations, public information requests, and crisis communications, ensuring consistent messaging across all departments;
• Oversees the management and operations of the County's customer service and contact center functions to improve resident access to government services and information;
• Ensures compliance with public information laws and responsibilities, including applicable requirements related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public records management, and transparency standards;
• Supervises communications and engagement staff, contractors, and consultants; establishes departmental priorities; and ensures work products meet professional standards and organizational goals;
• Coordinates closely with elected officials, executive leadership, departments, and community partners to identify communication needs, address emerging issues, and support public engagement initiatives;
• Oversees the production and distribution of multimedia communications including video, photography, graphics, publications, and digital content across websites, social media platforms, and other communication channels;
• Leads efforts to evaluate communication effectiveness using data, public feedback, and engagement metrics to inform strategies and improve outreach efforts;
• Provides strategic communications support during emergencies, major public events, and sensitive issues to ensure clear, timely, and coordinated information is provided to the public;
• Manages multiple projects and priorities simultaneously while ensuring deadlines are met and communications activities align with organizational objectives;
• Performs related work as required, including work during evenings, weekends, or emergency operations when necessary to support County communications needs.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrate knowledge of best practices in newsgathering, reporting, public information laws and responsibilities, social media, marketing and branding, internal and external communications, community engagement, video production and crisis communications;
• Working knowledge of and/or familiarity with photojournalism, video production, and graphic design;
• Comprehensive knowledge of federal and state laws, regulations and directives pertaining to governmental public information, including FOIA;
• Demonstrate an overall knowledge of the County, its structure, and operation;
• Excellent use of written and verbal communication skills, thorough knowledge of English grammar, usage, and spelling;
• Supervisory skills and interpersonal skills that are collegial, decisive, direct and approachable;
• Computer skills, particularly Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, etc.) and design and multimedia applications (such as Adobe Creative Suite, Drupal, WordPress, etc.) as related to the position;
• Effective time management skills and the ability to work under specific time constraints;
• Ability to apply innovative, strategic approaches to proactively identify issues and develop effective solutions;
• Ability to create and implement a communications plan containing essential plan elements;
• Ability to work cooperatively with County employees, citizens, elected officials, and the media;
• Ability to articulate a compelling vision and motivate people to act with a shared vision;
• Ability to work flexible hours.

Education and Experience
A combination of education and experience equivalent to a bachelor's degree with a major in English, communications, or public relations, and 6 years of successful experience in public relations. Local government experience preferred.
Please for our full-time benefits.

01

How many years of progressively responsible professional experience do you have in public relations, communications, public information, community engagement, marketing or a closely related field?

• Less than 4 years
• 4-5 years
• 6-8 years
• 9-12 years
• More than 12 years

02

How many years of professional experience do you have working directly for a local government organization?

• None
• Less than 2 years
• 2-4 years
• 5-7 years
• 8 or more years

03

Briefly describe your local government or other public-sector communications experience, including the organization, your position and your primary responsibilities.
04

Which of the following have you personally performed or directly supervised? Select all that apply.

• Media relations
• Crisis/emergency communications
• Executive communications
• Communications for elected officials
• Community engagement/public meetings
• Social media
• Website/CMS management
• Graphic design
• Photography
• Video production/editing
• Live streaming
• Internal/employee communications
• Customer/contact center communications
• FOIA/public records communications
• None of the above

05

Describe your experience advising elected officials, chief administrative officers, executives or department directors on high-profile, controversial or sensitive issues.
06

Which FEMA/NIMS/ICS or Public Information Officer training have you completed? Select all that apply.

• IS-29 Public Information Officer Awareness
• IS-100
• IS-200
• IS-700
• IS-800
• G-290/G-291 Basic PIO
• E/L-388 Advanced PIO
• Other FEMA/PIO training
• None

07

Have you served as a PIO or communications representative during an emergency activation, Emergency Operations Center, Joint Information Center or Incident Command System activation?

• Yes, multiple times
• Yes, once
• Assisted/supporting role only
• No

08

Describe your professional experience with video production and live streaming. Include the types of events you have produced or overseen, such as government meetings, press conferences, public meetings, emergency briefings or special events.
09

Which Adobe Creative Cloud applications have you used professionally? Select all that apply.

• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Audition
• Lightroom
• Acrobat Pro
• Adobe Express
• None

10

Describe one communications or community engagement initiative that you personally led. What was your role, how did you reach the intended audience, and how did you measure whether it was successful?
11

How many employees have you directly supervised in your largest leadership role?

• None
• 1-3
• 4-6
• 7-10
• 11 or more

12

Please provide links to up to three examples of your professional work, such as writing, video, graphic design, social media, websites, campaigns, public engagement or live productions. Briefly identify your personal role in each example.
Required Question