Strategic Communications Manager, External Relations - Pittsburgh, PA

VetJobs; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); Hybrid; USD 117,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive starting salary ($129,600)

Comprehensive Benefits

Work-Life & Flexibility - Xwork

Training & Development

Diversity & Equal Opportunity Employer

Job summary

LANXESS is seeking a senior communications leader in Pittsburgh for a hybrid role requiring 3-4 days on-site weekly. You will develop strategies to strengthen reputation, lead media relations, crisis communications, and executive visibility across North America, and collaborate with market and brand teams to highlight customer stories and market trends.

Expect close partnership with business units and sites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in communications-related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Lead proactive/reactive media relations and manage journalist relationships.
• Develop press materials and monitor coverage.
• Partner with business units on customer stories and market trends.
• Develop crisis and issues management plans with executive messaging.
• Translate priorities into clear communications for internal and external audiences.
• Hybrid role with on-site presence in Pittsburgh 3-4 days/week.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes communications strategies that strengthen LANXESS’ reputation and trust across North America.
• Leads media relations, crisis communications, executive visibility, and stakeholder engagement.
• Manages agency relationships and uses insights to improve impact.
• Balance corporate reputation with business objectives amid legal considerations.

Skills

Bachelor's Degree in Communications,PR

10+ years of experience

Lead media relations

Spokesperson experience

Press materials

Journalist relationships

Crisis communications planning

Executive messaging

Hybrid work in Pittsburgh

Education

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

Job description

Job Highlights

• 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!