Associate Speech Writer and Operations Coordinator (Writing/Editing Specialist)

Indiana University Bloomington; Bloomington (IN); On-site; USD 59,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical and dental保险

Health savings account contributions

Paid holidays and winter break

Tuition subsidy for IU courses

Job summary

Indiana University Bloomington seeks an Associate Speechwriter and Operations Coordinator to be a proactive partner in shaping the president's voice and to own the speechwriting workflow. This role ensures timely, targeted presidential communications with verified data, while building systems that support drafting, reviewing, and archiving.

The ideal candidate brings editorial judgment, initiative, and meticulous attention to detail, thriving at the intersection of storytelling and operations in

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in English, communications, journalism, public relations, or related field.
• 2 years in relevant field.
• Proficient in English with written and verbal communication skills.
• Maintains professionalism and meets deadlines.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong editorial judgment and attention to factual accuracy.

Responsibilities

• Supports full lifecycle of presidential remarks from intake to archiving.
• Initiates first drafts of presidential remarks and talking points.
• Shapes structure, tone and audience focus of drafts with editorial judgment.
• Collaborates with experts to ensure accuracy and alignment with IU priorities.
• Maintains speech request queue and coordinates handoffs to prevent delays.
• Develops dashboards, templates, and checklists to streamline operations.
• Owns speech archiving, including metadata and delivery to IU Archives.
• Writes clear content for various communications ensuring brand and accessibility guidelines.

Skills

Proficient in English

Professionalism

Time management

Attention to detail

Ability to meet deadlines

Multi-project management

Editorial judgment

Discretion and judgment

Strong communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in English, communications, journalism, public relations, or related field

Tools

Microsoft Teams

Job description

Department

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE (UA-PRES-IUBLA)

Job Summary

The Associate Speechwriter and Operations Coordinator serves as aproactive partner in shaping the president's voice and as theday-to-day owner of the speechwriting workflow. Strong presidentialcommunications depend not only on effective language, but also onearly planning, accurate information, clear processes, disciplinedreview, and reliable follow-through. The person in this role helpsprovide that full foundation, supporting the creation ofhigh-impact speeches and ensuring the systems, processes, and databehind them run efficiently and accurately. The Office of thePresident is an exciting, fast-paced environment that operates withenthusiasm, efficiency, discretion, and dedication to IndianaUniversity (IU). The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection ofstorytelling and operations. They bring editorial judgment,operational discipline, initiative, and meticulous attention todetail, helping ensure every presidential communication is timely,targeted, and rooted in verified information.

Department-Specific Responsibilities

• Supports the full lifecycle of presidential remarks, frominitial intake and research, through drafting, delivery, andarchiving.
• Initiates first drafts of presidential remarks and talkingpoints.
• Uses research and independent editorial judgment to shape theinitial structure, central message, tone, and audience focus ofeach draft before review by the speechwriter, while ensuringrelevance and alignment with IU priorities.
• Collaborates closely with subject-matter experts to ensureaccuracy, authenticity, and alignment with universitystrategy.
• Prepares 1-page summaries for all remarks and uses judgment todetermine the appropriate deliverable for each engagement, such asa media briefer, long-form speech, or bulleted talking points.
• Maintains and prioritizes the speech request queue andproactively advances each assignment from intake through delivery,coordinating handoffs and resolving missing information or schedulerisks before they create missed deadlines or last-minute workflowgaps.
• Gathers initial event and audience details and organizes eachassignment in the team's tracking and filing system.
• Conducts comprehensive editorial and factual quality assuranceon drafts, checking grammar, clarity, tone, formatting, brandalignment, accessibility, professionalism, and the accuracy ofdata, sources, and factual claims.
• Develops and maintains dashboards, templates, and checklists tostreamline operations and upholds consistency in tone, accuracy,and design.
• Owns the speech archiving process, including final versions,event details, keywords, themes, metadata, and delivery to IUArchives.
• Leads the creation of speech reports summarizing volume, eventtypes, themes, audiences, and other useful trends. Uses thefindings to help the Executive Director allocate writing resourcesand evolves the president's communications strategy.
• Assists with day-to-day Office of the President operations asneeded, including shared office logistics, and other time-sensitiveadministrative and operational needs.
• Provides occasional support for presidential events andengagements, including preparation, materials, guest-facingassistance, on-site logistics, and follow-up.

General Responsibilities

• Writes and edits clear, informative written content for variouscommunications needs, audiences, and publication formats, assessingfor relevance, accuracy, and appropriateness; tailors the degree ofcopyediting to a project's specific needs.
• Corrects basic and complex grammar, spelling, punctuation,formatting, and syntax errors and performs edits that improveoverall writing quality of communications and ensure alignment withuniversity mission, strategies, objectives, and brand andaccessibility guidelines.
• Performs reviews of peer writing to ensure grammar, quality,tone, and level of depth are sufficient; may also review againstrequirements for specific publications, including content, length,brand guidelines, and deadline specifications.
• Consults regularly with writers, printers, faculty, staff,and/or other stakeholders to ensure adherence to writing andpublications deadlines.
• Identifies user and audience needs and analyzes usageofexisting content in order to identify content gaps; plans,develops, and publishes internal and external communications.
• Drafts sample communications to be reviewed with manager atproject deadline checkpoints.
• May provide guidance to other Writing/Editing Specialists.

Qualifications

Combinations of related education and experience may beconsidered. Education beyond the minimum required may besubstituted for work experience. Work experience beyond the minimumrequired may be substituted for education.

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor's degree in English, communications, journalism,public relations, or related field.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Required

• 2 years in relevant field.

SKILLS

Required

• Proficient in English with written and verbal communicationskills.
• Maintains a high degree of professionalism.
• Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills.
• Demonstrates a high commitment to quality.
• Possesses flexibility to work in a fast-paced, dynamicenvironment.
• Seeks to acquire knowledge in area of specialty.
• Highly thorough and dependable.
• Demonstrates a high level of accuracy, even underpressure.
• Ability to work within tight time frames and meet strictdeadlines.
• Ability to simultaneously handle multiple priorities.
• Ability to drive multiple projects to successfulcompletion.
• Demonstrates familiarity with correct style and ability towrite, edit, and proof text, including ability to read for contentand correct accordingly.

Preferred

• Exceptional writing and editing skills with a strongunderstanding of executive tone and voice.
• Demonstrates project management and process improvementexperience.
• Demonstrates fluency with data verification, content-managementand collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, or similarplatforms, and mature, responsible use of AI-enabledworkflows.
• Discretion, sound judgment, initiative, strong organization,and the ability to independently manage sensitive, deadline-drivenwork with exceptional attention to detail.
• Deep curiosity about higher education, leadershipcommunications, and innovation in storytelling.

Working Conditions / Demands

This role requires the ability to effectively communicate and tooperate a computer and other standard office productivityequipment. The position involves sedentary work as well as periodsof time moving around an office environment and the campus. Theperson in this role must be able to perform the essential functionswith or without an accommodation.

Work Location

Bloomington, Indiana

Advertised Salary

$59,000 - $62,424 annually

Benefits Overview

• Comprehensive medical and dental insurance
• Health savings account with generous IU contributions
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
• Basic group life insurance paid by IU
• Voluntary supplemental life, long-term disability, criticalillness, and supplemental accidental death & dismembermentinsurance
• Base retirement plan with generous IU contributions, subject tovesting
• Voluntary supplemental retirement plan options
• Tuition subsidy for employees and family members taking IUcourses
• 10 paid holidays plus a paid winter break each year
• Generous paid time off plans
• Paid leave for new parents and IU-sponsored volunteerevents
• Employee assistance program (EAP)

Job Classification

Career Level: Career

FLSA: Exempt

Job Function: Marketing & Communications

Job Family: Writing & Editing

Job Framework

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Posting Disclaimer

This posting is scheduled to close at 11:59 pm EST on theadvertised Close Date. This posting may be closed at any time at the discretion of the University, but will remain open for a minimum of 5 business days.

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