Strategic Communications Manager, External Relations & Corporate Reputation

LANXESS; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 117,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Benefits

Flexible work

Training & development

Diversity & inclusion

Job summary

LANXESS in Pittsburgh is seeking a Senior Communications Leader to develop and execute strategies that strengthen reputation across North America. You will partner with business units, production sites, and leadership to translate priorities into clear external and internal messaging.

You will lead media relations, crisis communications, executive visibility, and stakeholder engagement, manage agencies, and use analytics to drive impact while navigating legal and operational realities in a

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications or related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Lead media relations and act as spokesperson.
• Partner with BU teams to identify stories and trends.
• Develop crisis communications plans and executive messaging.
• Translate priorities into clear communications for audiences.
• Hybrid role with on-site Pittsburgh 3-4 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes communications strategies across North America.
• Leads media relations, issues management, and crisis communications.
• Prepares leaders for media or stakeholder interactions.
• Manages agency and partner relationships.

Skills

Media relations

Executive visibility

Crisis communications

Stakeholder engagement

Agency management

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Communications

Job description

• Develops and executes communications strategies that strengthen LANXESS' reputation, visibility, and stakeholder trust across North America. The role serves as a strategic partner to business units, group functions, and production sites by translating business priorities, innovation stories, customer-facing initiatives, and sensitive issues into clear, credible communications for external and internal audiences.


• Leads media relations, issues management, crisis communications, executive visibility, digital storytelling, stakeholder engagement, and selected business-facing communications activities. The role also prepares leaders and site representatives for media or stakeholder interactions, manages agency and partner relationships, and uses communications insights to improve impact and alignment with business objectives.


• Responsible for agency management, communication analytics and special projects.


• High degree of independence and requires strong strategic judgment in a fast-paced and often ambiguous environment. The role must balance corporate reputation, business objectives, stakeholder expectations, legal considerations, and operational realities when developing communications strategies and messaging for varied audiences.

Experience / Skills

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Marketing, English, Business Administration or a Communications-related field.


• 10 or more years of relevant experience.


• Lead proactive/reactive media relations, act as spokesperson, develop press materials, manage journalist relationships, monitor issues and coverage.


• Partner with Market & Brand Communications and Business Units (BU) commercial teams to identify customer stories, product/application successes, sustainability stories, trade show/event opportunities and market trends.


• Develop issues management and crisis communications plans, including executive messaging, stakeholder statements, and media response materials.


• Translate business priorities, innovation topics, customer stories, and site-level developments into clear communications for internal and external audiences.


• This is a HYBRID role with an on-site presence required in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office at a minimum of 3-4 days per week every week.

Location Pittsburgh

Employee Type Regular

Who We Are

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 12,000 employees in 32 countries. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives and consumer protection products. LANXESS has achieved leading positions in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index and the MSCI ESG and ISS ESG ratings, among others, for its commitment to sustainability.

Be part of it!

What We Offer

• Compensation We offer competitive compensation packages, inclusive of a global bonus program. The established starting salary for this position, in this location, is $129,600. Please note, the actual compensation may vary based on geographic location, work experience, education, and skill level.


• Comprehensive Benefits We provide a variety of benefits to support your financial security, health and wellbeing including retirement plans, health programs, life insurance and medical care.


• Work-Life & Flexibility We support you in maintaining a balance between working hours and personal life. With our global "Xwork" program, we offer flexible working arrangements in all countries in which we operate.


• Training & Development We are committed to your professional and personal development and encourage you in the ongoing pursuit of education, training and knowledge through both formal and informal learning.


• Diversity LANXESS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes, religion, national origin, veteran status and political beliefs.

LANXESS has a value-based performance culture. We are seeking a range of human interests, backgrounds, and experiences that can be engaged to achieve respect, ownership, trust, professionalism, integrity and healing across all sectors.

We are looking to find diverse and talented people to join our team. Studies have shown that some individuals are less likely to apply if they do not meet 100% of the criteria. We are looking to equalize the gap! If you are excited about this role but your past experiences do not align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We will look to assess your talent against our competencies, values and requirements to get the best organizational fit. You might be the right candidate for this or other roles we have available!

Join the LANXESS team!