OTI Strategic Communications Specialist – Washington, D.C (GS-13)

The OTI Strategic Communications Specialist is a full-time Personal Services Contract (PSC) position at the GS-13 equivalent level and located in Washington, D.C. Offers for this position are due no later than January 19, 2022 at 1:00pm Eastern Time. For full information about this position, as well as instructions on how to apply, please read the entire solicitation at www.OTIjobs.net.

INTRODUCTION:

The OTI Strategic Communications Specialist is expected to be dedicated primarily to outreach activities. The initial supervisor for the position under this solicitation will be OTI’s Communications Team Leader or their designee. OTI’s Communications Team is within OTI’s Program, Learning, and Innovation (PLI) division.

The Strategic Communications Specialist has responsibility for developing and implementing a wide variety of outreach strategies for OTI and for designing and providing relevant technical assistance to the regional teams. The Strategic Communications Specialist participates in the development of new outreach products and conducts staff training pertaining to outreach and public affairs. The Strategic Communications Specialist is responsible for managing and maintaining OTI’s information on the USAID website and for the compilation, editing and dissemination of OTI reports and updates.

While the Strategic Communications Specialist works under the direction of the Communications & Outreach Team Leader, they need to demonstrate a high degree of autonomy and responsibility. The incumbent must be articulate and able to represent OTI in various forums, meetings and seminars, and have a sound understanding of USAID’s operational processes in Washington. The Strategic Communications Specialist must be an individual with excellent writing, editing, storytelling, and interpersonal skills with an understanding of U.S. policy interests and the role transition programming can play in the mitigation of conflict and the development of democracy. The Strategic Communications Specialist must be able to communicate effectively, in person and in writing, with diverse audiences and be able to accomplish a wide range of assignments on short notice.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Note: Duties and responsibilities are listed in order of importance for this position

• Spearhead the development and implementation of OTI’s office-level and country-specific strategic outreach plan, including cultivating strategic outreach opportunities, development of information products, and monitoring/supporting implementation of plans;
• Coordinate with and assist the three OTI divisions – in particular, the Field Programs Division and its regional teams – in the development of information products and improved business practices, as well as the development of mechanisms for the dissemination of such products to OTI field staff and implementing partners. Provide updated guidance and recommendations on current OTI outreach products, including annual reports, country program reporting, success stories, and web-based materials;
• Seek out and initiate new forums through which OTI can more effectively engage with key audiences based on the analysis of current outreach efforts and new outreach priorities and targets identified by OTI country teams and senior staff. Advise OTI country teams and senior staff on improving effectiveness of their outreach to target audiences within USAID and with key stakeholders;
• Manage, oversee the drafting and strategic use of content across OTI’s social media accounts and the USAID.gov website, and assist with campaigns involving other USAID offices;
• Track, manage, and coordinate clearances across the office and agency in response to information requests (Taskers);
• Represent and articulate OTI’s mission and global programs to key players (select visitors, officials from international organizations, bilateral donors, and national and local foreign government officials);
• Identify, develop and maintain professional relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), implementers, international donors, USAID, U.S. government agencies and other organizations of importance to OTI programs in Washington and the field, serving as a liaison to coordinate outreach activities and assist in the preparation of presentations and briefings;
• Liaise with OTI and other U.S. government communicators to respond to media inquiries in a timely fashion;
• Manage production and distribution of OTI print and multimedia materials disseminated through OTI’s external and internal websites and for presentations to internal and external audiences;
• Manage generation of country fact sheets, quarterly field reports, success stories, OTI’s Annual Report, Congressional Budget Justification, and other information products, including updating guidelines for OTI staff, editing documents, and distributing the final products through the USAID external website and other outreach channels;
• Provide training and mentoring on OTI program implementation for OTI staff and implementing partners both in Washington and the field. Development and updating training materials as required;
• Conceptualize, produce and edit videography, photography and graphic design materials as needed;
• When required, provide support to OTI country program teams as an auxiliary team member in the field and in Washington, DC;
• When required, act as Team Leader during their absence;
• When required, supervise staff as delegated by the Team Leader (e.g. Program Managers, Program Assistants, Administrative Program Assistants, etc.). Provide orientation, training, and mentoring to staff supervised; assign work, explain how duties are to be performed to meet expectations and communicate how the successful performance of those duties will be measured; evaluate staff performance; recognize good performance; communicate where performance needs to be improved; resolve complaints; and approve leave requests and timesheets as well as training, travel, program and operations requests; and,
• Serve on temporary details within OTI, other USAID bureaus/offices, or other USG agencies under this scope of work for a period not to exceed six months. Duties performed while on detail must be directly related to the scope of work. Contracting Officer (CO) approval is required for the temporary detail. Any extension past the six months requires CO approval.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

At a minimum, the offeror must have:

At the GS-13 Strategic Communications Specialist level:

1. )A Master’s degree with five (5) years of work experience;

OR

Bachelor’s degree with seven (7) years of work experience;

AND

2.) One (1) year of work experience in designing, implementing, and coordinating outreach activities, campaigns and strategies;

3.) One (1) year of work experience writing and editing content such as 1-pagers, reports and other communications documents for a federal agency or international development programs for a variety of audiences;

4.) One (1) year of work experience supporting the design and development of multimedia products such as videography and photography materials;

5.) One (1) year of work experience managing social media accounts and conceptualizing, designing, and editing content across social media platforms.

Please direct questions about this position or the offer process to the OTI Recruitment Team at otijobs@usaid.gov.