Senior Director, External Communications

Company: Labcorp
Location: Durham
Posted on: August 8, 2022

Job Description:

Reporting to the VP, Head of Communications, the Senior Director, External Communications is responsible for developing and overseeing external communications strategies to support Labcorp's mission, strategic priorities, values, culture and brand. Responsible for the development and oversight of the overarching strategy and tone for all external communications across all aspects of the business and geographies.Lead a team with a heavy focus on media relations, reputation management, crisis communications, financial communications as well as promotion of the brand, products and services globally. The Senior Director is responsible for sharing the company's story externally and will provide senior counsel to executive committee members and segment executives as needed and will work closely with leaders across the company.The Senior Director will work collaboratively with leaders in Corporate Strategy, Investor Relations, Finance, Government Affairs and Marketing to support external communications activity for M&A, earnings, corporate responsibility reporting and public affairs activity.Responsibilities include:

• Act as a practical visionary who will work closely with leaders across the organization to provide perspectives and solutions in setting a proactive external communications strategy, including innovative storytelling and engagement ideas to help protect and expand the company's reputation.
• Act as a lead spokesperson, particularly on highly sensitive issues where the company's reputation can be at significant risk.
• Establish and maintain deep relationships with key media and leading conference organizers globally across print, broadcast and social media channels, including reporters, editors and influencers.
• Build extensive relationships with conference organizers and think tanks to promote Labcorp's expertise in diagnostics and drug development.
• Serve as counsel to the leadership team on a multitude of matters associated with broad communications and messaging. Provide counsel on specific issues and developing and implementing plans on an ongoing basis.
• Partner with Investor Relations to lead all financial communications, including earnings and M&A activity.
• Collaborate on efforts to position Labcorp as an employer of choice.
• Partner with the VP, Head of Communications and other ESG leaders to craft the organization's corporate responsibility story and lead the CR report process.
• Lead the external relations team and build a high-performance environment that attracts, retains and develops the team.
• Measure effectiveness of external communications through a variety of vehicles. Collaborate across the Communications team and across the enterprise to develop relevant metrics and reporting.
• Provide media coaching and training.
• Manage external agency partners on both proactive and reactive external communications efforts.Requirements:The ideal candidate should have extensive experience as an external communications leader with a strong network of media, conference and think tank relationships, ideally within a highly regulated industry.Candidates should have:
  • Bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, public relations or related field preferred.
  • A minimum of 18+ years of experience in external communications.
  • Previous health care/life sciences experience.
  • Global media relations experience.
  • Consumer experience a plus.
  • Business financial communications experience, including M&A experience.
  • Be a commercial minded strategic thinker who is a quick learner, with good intuition and a self-starter.
  • Exceptional and persuasive written, oral and interpersonal communication skills.
  • Keen attention to detail.
  • Emotionally intelligent and proven ability to influence and gain trust of different senior leaders quickly.
  • Proven strong ability to lead, influence and navigate and build relationships across all levels of the organization, including senior leaders and Communication team members.
  • Ability to effectively lead, manage, motivate and develop a team.
  • Excellent judgment and creative problem-solving skills, including negotiation and conflict resolution.
  • Strong business acumen and ability to show up as a business leader & communications expert.
  • Strong executive presence and confidence to challenge the status quo with senior leaders.
  • Ability to facilitate and distill multiple perspectives from senior executives into communications that will resonate with broad audiences.
  • Ability to stay ahead of trends in technology to ensure Labcorp uses the best channels to reach team members in the most effective and cost-efficient manner possible.
  • Excellent planning skills, with a proven ability to manage, prioritize and allocate resources.
  • Ability to make decisions in a rapidly changing environment and perform in high pressure situations with multiple stakeholders, including senior executives under tight timeframes.
  • Ability to translate complex business issues into readily understandable, creative and strategic communications for a variety of audiences.
  • Ability to handle sensitive or proprietary company information in a confidential manner.
  • Analytical -- able to gather, analyze, package and make thoughtful recommendations based on insights from data.
  • Ability to identify, recommend and manage outside resources to ensure success of projects.
  • Ability to stand in for VP, Head of Communications as needed.
  • Strong background working in virtual team environment.
  • Willing and able to travel as needed (approximately 25%).Labcorp is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer:As an EOE/AA employer, the organization will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, age, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status.For more information about how we collect and store your personal data, please see our Privacy Statement .

Keywords: Labcorp, Durham , Senior Director, External Communications, Executive , Durham, North Carolina