Community Engagement Specialist

City-of-Osage-Beach; Osage Beach (MO); On-site; USD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Osage Beach is seeking a Community Engagement Specialist to support the City's communication, marketing, and community engagement by coordinating the City's brand, messaging, and outreach.

This role ensures information is accurate and consistent while fostering trust-based relationships with residents, businesses, and community groups and collaborating with City departments to keep the community informed.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of community engagement principles and effective resident participation methods.
• Strong public communication principles, media practices, and transparency standards.
• Experience with governmental social-media requirements, accessibility rules, and records retention.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary contact for public and media inquiries with accurate, timely information.
• Promote community engagement by participating in local groups, events, and business activities.
• Coordinate media relations, press releases, and social media to ensure consistent branding.
• Oversee City digital platforms and keep website content accurate and accessible.
• Capture original photography, video, and written content for communications.
• Create marketing materials, digital assets, and graphics reflecting City priorities.
• Develop templates and visuals to ensure consistent branding across departments.

Skills

Community engagement principles

Public speaking

Relationship-building

Verbal and written communication

Project management

Social media & content

SEO basics & analytics

Collaboration across departments

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Graphic Design, Communications, Public Relations, or related field

Tools

Adobe Creative Cloud

Canva

CMS platforms (CivicPlus, WordPress)

Job description

General

The Community Engagement Specialist supports the City's communication, marketing, and community engagement by coordinating the City's brand, messaging, and outreach. This role ensures information is accurate and consistent while actively fostering positive, trust-based relationships with residents, businesses, and community groups and working with City departments to keep the community informed. The position supports the City's strategic communication priorities by coordinating messaging across departments and contributing to inclusive, community-forward engagement initiatives. It plays a key role in ensuring City communications remain accessible, resident-focused, and reflective of the community's needs and interests.

Supervision Received

The Community Engagement Specialist works under the immediate supervision of the City Planner with general administrative direction from the City Administrator.

The following examples are meant to be illustrative only and are not intended to be all-inclusive:

• Serve as the primary point of contact for public and media inquiries, ensuring accurate, timely, and consistent communication, and escalating items as needed.
• Promote community engagement by actively participating in local groups, events, and business activities to strengthen relationships and enhance the City's community-forward presence, and serve as a visible and accessible representative of the City.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with community groups, residents, civic organizations, and local businesses to support inclusive, community-forward communication efforts.
• Support the development and implementation of Citywide communication strategies, ensuring messaging is coordinated across departments and aligned with administrative priorities.
• Coordinate City communications during crises or emergency situations, ensuring timely, accurate, and accessible messaging in collaboration with administration, public safety, and relevant departments.
• Represent the City as liaison to business owners, associations, and partner organizations including chambers, councils, schools, and other assigned committees.
• Coordinate media relations, press releases, public communications, and social media activity to ensure consistent, accurate, and brand-aligned City communications.
• Oversee all City digital platforms to maintain timely, precise, and visually consistent content.
• Maintain and update the City website to ensure accuracy, clarity, and accessibility and to promote public understanding of City services, policies, and initiatives.
• Audit website content for clarity, accessibility, and SEO compliance and update third-party listings as needed.
• Capture and produce original photography, video, and written content for City communication materials.
• Create and manage monthly social media content calendars and monitor City digital platforms and respond to, route, or escalation digital inquiries in accordance with City policies and established communication protocols as appropriate.
• Monitor digital analytics and apply insights to improve communication effectiveness and audience engagement.
• Provide recommendations regarding communication trends, emerging issues, and opportunities to enhance public understanding of City initiatives.
• Provide on-site digital documentation of City meetings and events, including live posting, photography, video capture, and logistical coordination.
• Create marketing materials, digital assets, presentations, and graphics that support City programs, services, and initiatives and reflect established City messaging priorities.
• Develop and maintain templates and visuals for use across all departments to ensure consistent City branding.
• Prepare clear and accessible visual communication tools such as infographics, summaries, and scorecards.
• Coordinate with departments to understand their content generation needs and ensure departmental messaging aligns with overall City communication priorities.
• Assist in preparing internal and external communication materials as needed.
• Collect, track, and prepare departmental performance data in partnership with City Administration for scheduled scorecard reporting.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of community engagement principles and effective methods for fostering resident participation.
• Knowledge of public communication principles, media practices, government transparency requirements, and ethical standards related to public information.
• Knowledge of governmental social-media requirements, public-record obligations, records retention, and accessibility requirements.
• Knowledge of marketing design principles and the ability to produce professional digital and print materials that support brand identity.
• Knowledge of social media platforms, digital advertising tools, analytics, and SEO best practices.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including demonstrated public speaking, presentation, and copywriting abilities.
• Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to effectively engage diverse constituent groups including residents, staff, officials, and other members of the public.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to multitask, meet deadlines, and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to analyze communication data and apply insights to improve messaging and engagement.
• Ability to work professionally and collaboratively with City policymakers, department directors, community partners, and public stakeholders.
• Ability to contribute to long-range communication and community engagement planning.
• Ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences and support inclusive engagement practices.
• Working proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and familiarity with Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, or similar design platforms.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Graphic Design, Communications, Public Relations, or a related field

• 2 to 4 years of professional experience in marketing, communications, digital content creation, or graphic design

or

• Any combination of education, training, and/or experience which would qualify for the position including a portfolio demonstrating experience in graphic design, social media content, and professional layout

Preferred Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in community engagement, public outreach, or resident-focused communication
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and CMS platforms (e.g., CivicPlus, WordPress)
• Portfolio showcasing design, photography, video, and digital content work