Community and Public Engagement Lead

M&C Saatchi World Services is a full-service marketing company renowned for using commercial advertising to solve the world’s toughest challenges. World Services is a specialty branch of M&C Saatchi Group, and we provide strategic communications, behavior change, and marketing support to Public Sector clients with special emphasis on the US Federal Government and State, Local, Tribal, & Territorial leaders.

M&C Saatchi World Services US is seeking a Community & Public Engagement Lead to oversee enterprise-level community outreach, public engagement strategy, and stakeholder-facing activities within a federal and DoD-aligned mission environment. This leader will develop and maintain the Community & Public Outreach Plan, manage community engagement KPIs, maintain outreach directories and calendars, and ensure engagement activities are strategic, measurable, and aligned with program priorities.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

The Community & Public Engagement Lead provides strategic direction to ensure outreach initiatives are coordinated across communications, digital strategy, policy, and analytics teams. This role requires a senior-level practitioner with expertise in public engagement, messaging alignment, and cross-channel community coordination.

This is a hybrid role; however, the ideal candidate will live in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region.

What you'll do:

• Lead all activities related to public and community engagement across the program.

• Develop, maintain, and execute the Community & Public Outreach Plan, including goals, messaging, and annual engagement strategy.

• Oversee the creation and maintenance of engagement KPIs, performance dashboards, and continuous improvement metrics.

• Maintain community directories, outreach calendars, and engagement tracking systems.

• Coordinate outreach activities across multiple internal teams, ensuring alignment with digital, content, and strategic communications functions.

• Manage engagement workflows, ensuring timely coordination with stakeholders, partners, and program offices.

• Build and maintain relationships with community groups, installation programs, service branches, and family support organizations.

• Ensure messaging consistency, audience alignment, and policy-informed engagement approaches.

• Provide executive-level reporting, summaries, and recommendations to leadership.

• Coordinate with analytics teams to integrate measurement frameworks into dashboards and reporting tools.

• Support event planning, public engagement campaigns, and community-focused communications.

• Ensure all materials meet accessibility, compliance, and quality standards.

You’ll bring:

• Fluent written and spoken English required.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in public engagement, community outreach, stakeholder relations, or strategic communications.

• BA/BS in Public Relations, Communications, Public Affairs, Marketing, or a related field.

• Strong leadership and organizational skills with the ability to manage complex engagement programs.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to build and sustain relationships with diverse audiences.

• Strong analytical skills to develop, track, and report on engagement metrics.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and stakeholder needs in a dynamic environment.

• Knowledge of stakeholder mapping, segmentation, and engagement modeling.

• Understanding of measurement frameworks, KPI development, and performance tracking.

• Familiarity with digital engagement tools, CRM systems, and community platforms.

• Experience developing enterprise-level engagement plans and frameworks.

• Demonstrated success managing outreach programs, calendars, KPIs, and engagement metrics.

• Experience managing cross-functional coordination across communications, digital, and analytics teams.

WHAT YOU GET

We offer a competitive salary ($130,000-$155,000) and a benefits package designed to support your health, family life, financial wellbeing, and growth.

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