Director of Communications

The work we do matters!

Hiring Agency:
Economic Development - Agency 72
Location:
Lincoln, NE
Hiring Rate:
$35.252
Job Posting:
JR2026-00030252 Director of Communications (Open)
Applications No Longer Accepted On (If no date is displayed, job is posted as open until closed):
11-11-2026
Job Description:
Are you a natural leader and looking to make a difference? The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) is looking for a Director of Communications to help Grow Nebraska. DED's mission is to provide quality leadership and services that enable Nebraska’s communities, businesses, and people to succeed in a global economy. Under administrative direction, positions at this level are responsible for the development and management of the agency’s Communications Division including marketing, communication, advertising, and/or public relation strategies, policies, and programs.

This position will have full supervisory responsibility for professional and support staff. The position will provide expert consultation/support to higher level administrators on complex, rapidly changing and potentially critical/controversial issues regarding communication/public relations strategies.

Why join us:
• Stable Employment Opportunity
• Career Development and Learning
• Tuition Reimbursement
• 156% match on the first 4.8% contribution to the Retirement Plan
• 13 Paid Holidays
• Generous Leave Accruals and Benefits
• Opportunity to be a part of a caring organization

Job Duties:

- Coordinates with key management to study the objectives, promotional policies and needs of the agency to identify, develop, implement, and evaluate marketing, communications, advertising, and public information/relation strategies for the agency to positively influence public opinion, or promote ideas, products, and services.
- Direct supervision of the Department's communications team.
- Develops and implements the informational and educational programs of the agency to ensure that the public is kept informed of agency programs and activities through newspaper releases, radio tapes, video tapes, film strips,correspondence, social media, website, and direct contact.
- Assigns, coordinates, and reviews activities of marketing and communications staff on special projects and the public-information-related work of technical production and office support staff members to arrange for stories, subjects, facilitate the completion of project assignments and ensure the accuracy and completeness of writing, typing, photography, layout, printing, and/or typesetting.
- Advises agency management and divisions to provide editorial expertise and technical assistance, discuss potential and actual reaction to and impact of agency information releases, and suggest alternative approaches for disseminating information.
- Confers with news media representatives to discuss agency public information needs, develop, and maintain contacts, and facilitate the dissemination of agency and program information through the mass media.
- Negotiates with media vendors and/or contracted advertising agency to determine annual advertising budget for agency.
- Plans, organizes, coordinates, and controls work unit operations and programs to establish operational priorities,coordinate these operations with their functions within the agency, and ensure program objectives and standards are established and attained and are congruent with overall goals.
- Develops and directs the implementation of operational plans pertinent to the operations/programs managed to ensure the establishment of appropriate goals and the development of action steps to achieve those goals.
- Determines and requests/submits staff, material, and equipment needs for the operations/programs managed to contribute to the formulation and justification of budgetary requests for the agency as a whole.
- Establishes and maintains cooperative relationships with representatives from the community, state and local government officials, business officials and other public interest groups.
- Writes, designs, composes, edits, researches, compiles, and/or selects copy and layout for informational/administrative pamphlets or other publications, audio-visual materials; media releases, displays, exhibits, and/or speeches, to organize data so that it will reach and be understood by the target audience.
- Attend events and present information to community groups, individuals, government officials.
- Responsible for agency annual reporting.
- Event planning and marketing for the Nebraska Governor's Summit.
- Other duties as assigned within the scope of the classification.

Requirements / Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in business administration, public administration, political science, government management, economics, accounting, marketing, teaching, or another job-related field; plus five years of job-related experience.

Preferred Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree in journalism, communications, marketing, public relations; Previous supervisory experience; Event planning experience

Other: This position requires travel. As such, the incumbent must be able to provide a valid driver's license or another form of reliable transportation. Regular and Reliable attendance is required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Knowledge of: the principles and practices of journalism; the principles and practices of public relations; the English language including spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word usage, and grammar; the techniques, formats, and styles of informational material preparation; the methods and practices of public information dissemination; the principles, practices and processes for marketing/advertising, promotion of ideas, services, imaging and branding; agency operations, rules, policies, and objectives; agency program legislation and goals; statewide and local media sources and operations, including appropriate contact persons, possible costs, and publication/broadcast deadlines; reference sources including agency reference material and external information sources; the inter-relationships of agency marketing, communications, advertising and public relation/information activities; methods of securing adequate publicity for news items; business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, leadership techniques;coordination of people and resources.

Ability to: communicate effectively in individual or group settings with news media representatives, governmental or program officials, agency staff, and the public, at levels understandable to each audience; apply the principles and practices of public relations/journalism to operation of a public information function; operate electronic hardware and software appropriate for online information development and delivery, including audio and visual formats; write/edit copy to fit assigned space in a layout; compare finished product with established standards and/or original to identify errors; evaluate the public information potential of written, illustrative, and related material for a specific project assignment; develop the information dissemination approach most likely to reach the target audience; assess the impact and effectiveness of specific public information materials or activities in meeting the interests of the public or media and the needs of the agency; develop and apply agency policies and procedures for the public information function; assign and review the work of others; plan and organize the operations of a public information function; coordinate the various aspects of design from layout to design to paste-up; plan small to large scale events.

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Benefits

We offer a comprehensive package of pay, benefits, paid time off, retirement and professional development opportunities to help you get the most out of your career and life. Your paycheck is just part of your total compensation.

Check out all that the State of Nebraska has to offer! Benefit eligibility may vary by position, agency and employment status. For more information on benefits, please visit: https://statejobs.nebraska.gov/index.html#benefits

Equal Opportunity Statement

The State of Nebraska values our teammates as well as a supportive environment that strives to promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging. We recruit, hire, train, and promote in all job classifications and at all levels without regard to race, color, religion, sex. age, national origin, disability, marital status or genetics.