Senior Communication Designer

Steampunk; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk in McLean, VA is seeking a Senior Communications Designer to build an enterprise communications strategy and operating model for a large federal advisory program.

You will design a "one voice" communications framework, develop personas, craft executive reports, and apply plain-language standards while guiding AI-assisted content workflows under governance. The role emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders and transitioning operations to client staff.

Qualifications

• Requires ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
• Bachelor's degree required
• 8+ years of communications strategy or content design experience
• Experience applying plain-language standards to complex content
• Experience building personas and stakeholder segmentation
• Experience wireframing and usability-testing with executives
• Experience measuring communications effectiveness and iterating
• Experience creating knowledge-transfer materials for client teams

Responsibilities

• Deliver an Enterprise Communication Strategy.
• Stand up a one-voice communications operating model with shared calendar and templates.
• Build personas and stakeholder maps for executive, oversight, workforce, and public audiences.
• Design executive reports and dashboards, wireframe and usability-test with leadership before automation.
• Apply Plain Writing Act standards to all content.
• Measure messaging efficacy and refine dissemination approaches based on feedback.
• Support AI-assisted content drafting under governance with human review.
• Create knowledge-transfer materials to enable client teams to sustain the program.

Skills

Communications strategy

Plain-language writing

Stakeholder mapping

Persona development

Wireframing

Usability testing

Executive reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Overview

Steampunk is seeking a Senior Communications Designer to build an enterprise communications strategy and operating model for a large federal advisory program.

Contributions

• Deliver an Enterprise Communication Strategy
• Stand up a “one voice” communications operating model — shared calendar, standardized templates, plain-language standards
• Build personas and stakeholder maps segmenting executive, oversight, workforce, and public audiences to tailor communications while preserving the “one voice” standard
• Design executive reports and dashboards, wireframed and usability-tested with the leadership audience before automation
• Apply Plain Writing Act standards to all communications content
• Assess communication messaging efficacy through surveys and stakeholder engagement, continuously refining dissemination approaches based on findings
• Support piloting of AI-assisted content drafting, tailoring, and summarization under approved governance, with mandatory human review before release, and never inputting sensitive, proprietary, PII, PHI, or CUI into an AI tool without authorization
• Build and deliver communications knowledge-transfer materials, progressively transitioning routine operation of the communications program to client staff

Qualifications

Required:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
• Bachelor's degree
• 8+ years of communications strategy or content design experience, including executive-facing reporting products
• Demonstrated experience applying plain-language standards to complex technical/policy content
• Experience building personas and stakeholder/audience segmentation for large, multi-audience communications programs
• Experience wireframing and usability-testing communications products with executive audiences
• Experience measuring communications effectiveness through surveys or feedback mechanisms and iterating based on results
• Experience building communications knowledge-transfer materials to enable client teams to sustain a communications program independently

Preferred:

• Federal communications experience, including familiarity with the Plain Writing Act
• Experience piloting AI-assisted content workflows under a formal governance/human-review process
  About steampunk

  Steampunk is a Change Agent in the Federal contracting industry, bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland, Federal Civilian, Health and DoD sectors. Through our Human-Centered delivery methodology, we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges. As an employee owned company, we focus on investing in our employees to enable them to do the greatest work of their careers – and rewarding them for outstanding contributions to our growth. If you want to learn more about our story, visit http://www.steampunk.com.

  We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.Steampunk participates in the E-Verify program.