Vice President External Communications

About Lumen

Lumen connects the world. We are igniting business growth by connecting people, data and applications - quickly, securely, and effortlessly. Together, we are building a culture and company from the people up - committed to teamwork, trust and transparency. People power progress.

Lumen's commitment to workplace inclusion and employee support shines bright. We've made the Newsweek 2024 Greatest Workplaces for Diversity list and achieved a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for the fifth consecutive year. Plus, we're the top employer in the communications and telecom industry, ranking 12th overall across all industries in The American Opportunity Index.

We're looking for top-tier talent and offer the flexibility you need to thrive and deliver lasting impact. Join us as we digitally connect the world and shape the future.

The Role

The Vice President - External Communication role is a critical part of the Lumen Corporate Communications Team. This individual will create and execute our external communications strategy, including our media approach, for a company that is in the midst of a major transformation and enabling the AI economy. Our candidate is an amazing storyteller and media relations professional and will work with peers across the business to ensure Lumen's messages are reaching key external stakeholders.

Our candidate will have deep relationships with key financial media and is an expert at developing and maintain lasting relationships with core media. This leader will set up a speakers bureau for the company and ensure our key spokespeople are media trained and are on point with corporate messaging.  

This leader will own our CEO's media relations needs by proactively seeking opportunities that will benefit the company as well as assessing media interview requests. We are looking for a process-oriented leader, who can help set up repeatable messaging processes and structure needed for a high-performing organization.  

Our leader in this role will partner with our Issues Management team to anticipate issues that may cast the company in an unfavorable light and serve as key contributor to development of strategy to respond and resolve.

This candidate will lead a highly valued strategic function that is a key role by executive management. This position leads the External Communications function including: Product Communications, Executive Communications, Financial & Issues Communications, and Social Media.

This role will report to the Vice President - Corporate Communications and will partner closely with the EVP & Chief Marketing Officer. This person will also have a direct working relationship with the CEO and senior most leaders in the company.

The Main Responsibilities

• Lead Lumen's external communications function

• Develop and manage talent in support of a best-in-class Communications organization

• Develop and implement an external communications strategy in support of the company's business objectives, including media relations, executive communications, awards and rankings, and social media

• Engage with cross-functional stakeholders to develop messaging, create key themes, and ensure consistent internal and external messaging

• Direct proactive efforts to gain positive coverage of Lumen, it's transformation and progress towards growth.

• Develop and execute strategy regarding CEO and other senior executive media interviews, including proper executive briefing/preparation prior to interviews

• Have great 'first call' relationships with Financial and Tier 1 media 

• Serve as a senior-level spokesperson for the business

• Highly creative and an amazing storyteller - needs to be able to unearth and shape a story within the company

• Ensure appropriate media training is available and provided to employees responsible for interacting with external media sources

• Serve as a clearinghouse for corporate inquiries and enlist appropriate subject matter experts to assist when necessary  

• Create deep partnerships with our Social Media and Issues Management team

• Manage crises and issues as required

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Bachelor's degree in communications, public relations or journalism and mass communications

• Excellent judgement, interpersonal and relationship building skills

• Calm under pressure and solution focused when unforeseen circumstances arise

• Ability to work lengthy and unpredictable hours

• Strong project management and organizational skills

• Ability to develop strong and compelling stories about complex topics

• Excels in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment

• 5 - 10 years of supervisory experience

• 10 - 15 years experience in corporate communications positions for Fortune 500 company (-ies)

Legal Statements

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Compensation

The starting salary for this role differs based on the employee's primary work location. Employees typically do not start at the top of the range, though compensation depends on each individual's qualifications.

Location Based Pay Ranges

$167,580 - $223,440 in these states: AR, ID, KY, LA, ME, MS, NE, SC, and SD.

$176,400 - $235,200 in these states: AZ, AL, FL, GA, IN, IA, KS, MO, MT, NM, ND, OH, OK, PA, TN, UT, VT, WV, WI, and WY.

$185,220 - $246,960 in these states: CO, HI, MI, MN, NV, NH, NC, OR, and RI.

$194,040 - $258,720 in these states: AK, CA, CT, DE, DC, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, TX, VA, and WA.

As with the pay range variety that's based on the region of a country, specific offers are determined by various factors such as experience, education, skills, certifications and other business needs.

Requisition #: 335884

Background Screening

If you are selected for a position, there will be a background screen, which may include checks for criminal records and/or motor vehicle reports and/or drug screening, depending on the position requirements. For more information on these checks, please refer to the Post Offer section of our FAQ page (/jobs. lumen. com/global/en/faq) . Job-related concerns identified during the background screening may disqualify you from the new position or your current role. Background results will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Equal Employment Opportunities

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, cit.