Vice President, Public Affairs

BerlinRosen, an Orchestra company; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

End of year bonus

Hybrid work model

Job summary

BerlinRosen, part of Orchestra, is seeking an experienced Vice President for Public Affairs in New York, hybrid work. The role leads integrated communications strategies across earned/owned/paid media, guides client relations, and develops strategic campaigns in land use, energy, tech, and higher education.

You'll manage a team, drive business development, and collaborate with senior leaders to ensure impactful storytelling and strong client outcomes.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in strategic communications or public affairs.
• Proven ability to lead teams and manage client accounts.
• Strong storytelling and media pitching skills.
• Knowledge of New York City & State politics is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of integrated comms strategies.
• Drive daily client communications with leads.
• Manage junior staff and ensure quality of work.
• Coordinate across teams to deliver services.
• Lead thought leadership programs.
• Support business development and growth.

Skills

Strategic comms

Media relations

Team leadership

Client management

Storytelling

Policy knowledge

Job description

About Berlinrosen

BerlinRosen is part of Orchestra, a strategic communications and marketing company built for today’s complex and fragmented world. From decoding audiences to designing bold strategies, Orchestra integrates people, platforms, and stories that stick to help clients build lasting influence. The company offers programs that span from the highest level strategic business counsel through to tactical execution. Orchestra brings together 700+ people with experience across consumer and lifestyle, technology, nonprofit and philanthropy, real estate, sports, travel, hospitality, and more. Made up of leading firms BerlinRosen, Civitas Public Affairs Group, Derris, Glen Echo Group, Inkhouse, M18, Message Lab, Onward and Small Girls PR. It also launched Brightmode, a talent acquisition firm for communications professionals, and Versus Media Group, a strategy-first political media team. Learn more at www.orchestraco.com.

About Berlinrosen

BerlinRosen is part of Orchestra, a strategic communications and marketing company built for today’s complex and fragmented world. From decoding audiences to designing bold strategies, Orchestra integrates people, platforms, and stories that stick to help clients build lasting influence. The company offers programs that span from the highest level strategic business counsel through to tactical execution. Orchestra brings together 700+ people with experience across consumer and lifestyle, technology, nonprofit and philanthropy, real estate, sports, travel, hospitality, and more. Made up of leading firms BerlinRosen, Civitas Public Affairs Group, Derris, Glen Echo Group, Inkhouse, M18, Message Lab, Onward and Small Girls PR. It also launched Brightmode, a talent acquisition firm for communications professionals, and Versus Media Group, a strategy-first political media team. Learn more at www.orchestraco.com.

People of all backgrounds and abilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Orchestra is committed to building and maintaining a diverse staff, and recognizes that its continued success depends on hiring and retaining high-quality creative professionals with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Opportunities for advancement exist, and we are committed to helping all staff develop and grow.

About The Public Affairs Team

Our Public Affairs team is a group of strategists, campaign managers and communications experts who help clients navigate high-stakes political, regulatory and reputational challenges. We lead integrated campaigns across media, stakeholder engagement, advocacy, research and paid media, coordinating seamlessly across internal teams and external partners to drive outcomes for clients across healthcare, nonprofits, technology, land use, education, infrastructure and other sectors. The team works on fast-moving state and national campaigns across a wide range of issues, collaborating with a strong network of advisors, consultants and local partners in markets across the country.

About This Role

BerlinRosen is seeking an experienced communications, media relations and public affairs strategist to join us as a Vice President. In this role, you will counsel clients across our practice through comprehensive communications strategies that engage stakeholders and public audiences across integrated communications channels–including earned, owned, and paid media–to drive policy changes at the state, local, and federal level, elevate organizations and their leaders, and build brand awareness Issue areas include land use and zoning, energy, economic development, tech and innovation, and higher education. You will work with a team of expert colleagues and lead the day- to-day account flow by managing junior staff and client relations. As a core leader of the team, you should thrive in a fast‑paced environment, demonstrate thoughtfulness in creating a collaborative culture, and have expertise in team capacity planning and business development.

Role location:

This role is based in our New York, N.Y. office on a hybrid basis. The Public Affairs team is in-office 3 days per week.

Accountabilities And Qualifications

As a Vice President on the Public Affairs team, you will…

• Lead the development of integrated communications strategies including earned, owned, and paid media to meet clients’ objectives
• Drive high‑touch, daily client communications with the same client leads: brainstorming, flagging concerns and problem‑solving
• Manage a team of junior staff on each account you lead, strategically influencing deliverables’ quality and staff development by delegating, modeling smart practices and providing feedback
• Coordinate across internal and external teams to deploy integrated services (media relations, digital advertising, research) to meet your clients’ goals
• Drive new story angles and other media opportunities for clients, conceptualizing creative feature stories even when there is no news to announce and identify new targets across print, broadcast, radio and podcasts and trying new approaches until the story lands
• Lead thought leadership programs for executives, drafting persuasive and compelling pitches and op‑eds on behalf of a client; identify new opportunities to raise an executive’s visibility through awards or conferences
• Work closely with senior team leaders on capacity planning to ensure that the team is running efficiently
• Contribute to business development and growth efforts

Essential Skills

• 8+ years of experience working in strategic communications and media relations in relevant spaces ( advocacy, politics or government.) Agency experience is a plus.
• Strong storytelling skills and demonstrated ability to create news moments, with the ability to provide examples that clearly demonstrate these capabilities
• Savviness and creativity in media relations and pitching, social media content ideation and influencer engagement with the knowledge to identify new targets and thoughtful angles until the story lands
• Understanding of New York City and State politics and media preferred, expertise in other geographies valued
• Experience with thought leadership and executive profile raising a plus
• Experience in designing media and marketing programs to reach stakeholder audiences
• Experience engaging and maintaining strong relationships with relevant reporters and handling rapid response and long lead stories
• At least 2 years of experience managing teams
• Ability to confidently communicate clearly and effectively both verbally and in writing, with varying levels of staff, clients and the media and is comfortable thinking on their feet
• Organized and used to a fast‑paced environment with the capability to handle multiple assignments at once, work quickly and meet deadlines in a fast‑paced environment
• Proven ability to become a savvy and nimble student of the “news” and quickly identify new media opportunities and narratives to insert our clients’ voices into the news cycle

WORKING AT BERLINROSEN

Salary range

(commensurate with experience and skills): $140,000-$150,000

Vice Presidents are eligible for end of year bonuses based on firm, team and individual performance.

We're part of Orchestra, the first communications company built for today’s media landscape. Since 2022, it’s acquired nine firms, including: BerlinRosen, Civitas Public Affairs Group, Derris, Glen Echo Group, Inkhouse, M18, Message Lab, Onward and Small Girls PR. It also launched Brightmode, a talent acquisition firm for communication professionals. Learn more at: www.orchestraco.com.

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