CAREER CENTER

The University of California San Francisco seeks a dynamic and creative communications leader to serve as Senior Director, Strategic Communications. As one of the world's premier biomedical research and health-science institutions, UCSF advances health worldwide by educating the next generation of healthcare professionals, translating leading-edge scholarly and scientific research into knowledge, therapies, and cures for debilitating diseases, providing compassionate patient care, and serving the local and global community through community service, public policy research, and advocacy. UCSF embraces a common set of values - articulated in its commitment to PRIDE - professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity, and excellence.

The Senior Director, Strategic Communications, will be joining the University at a critical juncture marked by significant growth. To this end, the Senior Director will play a critical role in developing, implementing, and leading strategic communications in support of diverse initiatives and projects spanning the entire UCSF enterprise with the goal of advancing UCSF's overarching public mission, thoughtfully engaging its stakeholders, and enhancing its overall reputation.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Strategic Communications, the Senior Director will help provide the vision, direction, and execution of communications programs that promote and defend UCSF's strategic initiatives. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Senior Director will lead or support communications strategies that showcase UCSF's impact on a local, national, and global level while upholding UCSF's world-class brand and reputation.

The Senior Director will join the Office of Communications at a time of significant investment and expansion, which are intended to better serve the growing needs of UCSF's mission and strategic initiatives. In this highly visible role, the Senior Director will help establish UCSF's reconceived strategic communications function. The Senior Director will be responsible for leading communications strategies in support of dynamic, complex, time-bound initiatives that have high public profiles and often encounter opposition from special interests. Strategies will span subject matter across all of UCSF's mission areas--including issues stemming from care delivery, research, and education--and strategic initiatives, including the modernization of UCSF's Parnassus Heights campus and the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital campus. In addition, the Senior Director will play a support role in the Strategic Communications team's issues and crisis management program and strategies.

UCSF's strategic initiatives are complex and involve multiple units and teams across the University and health system, as well as the University of California system. Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Senior Director will regularly serve as the primary communications leader responsible for developing the overarching communications strategies that integrate the work of other UCSF units and managing stakeholders to influence their decisions and actions in support of shared goals.

The strategic communications function is, by design, meant to be channel-agnostic and therefore will collaborate closely with others who manage key units, verticals, and channels--such as public affairs, community and government relations, real estate and planning, brand/marketing, digital, and legal--to execute its communications programs and strategies. As such, stakeholder management will be an important priority for the Senior Director, who will work collaboratively with colleagues at all levels of the University and health system, spanning staff, faculty, and senior executives.

The Senior Director must be a proactive, goal-oriented, and agile leader with demonstrated success working within healthcare, higher education, or similarly matrixed, regulated organizations to set and achieve effective communications strategy. The ideal candidate will bring a proven track record of developing and leading communications strategies in complex and competitive environments, proactive leadership and stakeholder management skills, outstanding written and verbal communication skills, and a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The ideal candidate must have exceptional relationship skills along with the necessary diplomacy and tact to collaborate and partner with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. The Senior Director, Strategic Communications, must possess a high degree of emotional intelligence and be sensitive to the ongoing needs of UCSF and its constituents.

To see the salary range for this position (we recommend that you make a note of the job code and use that to look up): TCS Non-Academic Titles Search (ucop.edu)

Please note: The compensation ranges listed online for roles not covered by a bargaining unit agreement are very wide, however a job offer will typically fall in the range of 80% - 120% of the established mid-point. An offer will take into consideration the experience of the final candidate AND the current salary level of individuals working at UCSF in a similar role.

For roles covered by a bargaining unit agreement, there will be specific rules about where a new hire would be placed on the range.

To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html