Executive Director, Public Relations

Kaiser Permanente; Oakland (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente seeks an Executive Director, Public Relations to lead Enterprise Newsroom, Intelligence & Analytics and to shape proactive narrative strategy across markets and national functions.

The role drives editorial governance, rapid-response coordination, and enterprise storytelling, partnering with Issues Management to align communications with business priorities and reputation goals. Strong leadership, judgment, and external orientation are essential.

Qualifications

• Minimum twelve (12) years of relevant professional experience.
• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university or four (4) years of experience in a directly related field required.
• High School Diploma or General Education Development (GED) required.

Responsibilities

• Lead Enterprise Newsroom, editorial planning, and enterprise storytelling.
• Oversee intelligence, monitoring, and analytic reporting for decision support.
• Coordinate rapid-response and cross-market activities with Issues Management and regional teams.
• Develop and apply enterprise measurement frameworks for reputation, media impact, and thought leadership.
• Provide visibility into media strategies and stakeholder dynamics across markets and national functions.

Skills

Executive presence

Strategic thinking

Influence without authority

Team leadership

Matrixed environments

Education

Bachelor's degree

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

Job Summary:

Reporting to the head of External Communications, the Executive Director, Public Relations serves as the enterprise leader for Enterprise Newsroom, Intelligence & Analytics and is responsible for newsroom operations, editorial planning, communications intelligence, social listening, stakeholder monitoring, reporting, analytics, and rapid-response coordination across all regions and national functions. This leader builds and operates Kaiser Permanentes modern communications operating system-providing leaders with the visibility, insights, and enterprise coordination needed to shape proactive narrative strategy, monitor stakeholder dynamics, measure communications performance, identify emerging risks, and respond effectively in a rapidly changing environment.

Enterprise accountability: Serves as the central intelligence and coordination hub for External Communications & Reputation by leading enterprise newsroom operations, editorial governance, stakeholder intelligence, rapid-response coordination, and analytics capabilities that strengthen decision-making, reputation management, and enterprise alignment across markets and national functions.

Operating model considerations: This role leads integrated communications transformation across earned, owned, and social channels by modernizing enterprise capabilities, strengthening editorial strategy and channel orchestration, improving how stories and priorities move across the system, and helping the Public Affairs leadership team align communications, reputation, policy, and business priorities during periods of rapid change. Transformation in practice includes capability modernization, stronger cross-functional alignment, clearer leadership expectations, and a more proactive enterprise storytelling model-not crisis ownership, which sits with Issues Management.

This role owns the enterprises proactive external voice-shaping the narratives, media agenda, executive visibility, and storytelling platforms that define Kaiser Permanentes presence in the market. The Executive Director partners closely with Issues Management during high-stakes moments, but the center of gravity for this role is proactive reputation-building, earned influence, enterprise storytelling, and brand visibility.

The Executive Director serves as a trusted advisor to enterprise and regional leadership, helping shape organizational priorities, influence enterprise decision-making, and guide executive positioning in moments of opportunity, ambiguity, and change. This role requires judgment, external orientation, and the ability to balance stakeholder expectations while advancing Kaiser Permanentes mission, reputation, and business objectives.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Enterprise Newsroom
• Builds and leads a modern enterprise newsroom that serves as Kaiser Permanentes engine for editorial planning, content prioritization, story mining, and enterprise storytelling.
• Develops enterprise editorial calendars, content governance processes, and decision rights that align storytelling priorities to enterprise and business objectives.
• Surfaces, curates, and elevates stories from markets and national functions to strengthen enterprise narrative development and audience relevance.
• Intelligence & Monitoring
• Leads enterprise media monitoring, social listening, stakeholder intelligence, and narrative tracking to identify emerging risks, opportunities, and trends.
• Develops intelligence products, insights, and briefing materials that support executive decision-making and strengthen enterprise readiness.
• Rapid Response Coordination
• Operates enterprise rapid-response capabilities and supports issue escalation, breaking news response, and cross-market coordination in partnership with Issues Management and market teams.
• Maintains operating rhythms and escalation pathways that connect markets and national teams during fast-moving external developments.
• Analytics & Reporting
• Develops enterprise communications measurement frameworks, dashboards, and reporting tools that track reputation, media impact, thought leadership, social engagement, stakeholder sentiment, and campaign effectiveness.
• Delivers executive reporting and actionable insights that inform strategy, resource allocation, and continuous performance improvement.
• Enterprise Coordination
• Provides visibility into media strategies, campaigns, issues, and stakeholder dynamics across markets and national functions, and establishes common reporting standards, performance measures, and planning rhythms that support enterprise alignment.

Basic Qualifications:

Experience

• Minimum twelve (12) years of relevant professional experience.

Education

• Bachelors degree from an accredited college or university or four (4) years of experience in a directly related field required.
• High School Diploma or General Education Development (GED) required.

License, Certification, Registration

• N/A

Additional Requirements

• Experience in large, complex, regulated organizations
• Exceptional judgment
• Ability to influence without authority
• Experience operating in matrixed environments
• Proven capability building and team leadership
• Executive presence and strategic thinking

Preferred Qualifications

• Healthcare preferred but not required