Marketing and Communications Specialist

Join our team and help shape the future of transportation! 

Leidos is hiring an experienced Marketing and Communications Specialist based at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center's Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory (STOL) in McLean, Virginia. This advanced research lab and smart garage enable groundbreaking research and testing that allow the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to validate and refine new transportation services and technologies developed by Leidos and our partners.

Learn about STOL here: https://highways.dot.gov/research/laboratories/saxton-transportation-operations-laboratory/saxton-transportation-operations-laboratory-overview    

About the Role: 

As a Marketing and Communications Specialist, your primary focus will be planning and managing events such as conferences, trade shows, workshops, and stakeholder meetings. This includes everything from session planning and sponsor engagement to post-event reporting and attendee follow-up. You will also contribute to general marketing and communications activities to support USDOT initiatives, including the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO), Highly Automated Systems Safety Center of Excellence (HASS COE), and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 

You will collaborate with professionals in Transportation, Engineering, Software Development, and Artificial Intelligence to produce impactful products that advance research, shape the industry's future, and encourage the adoption of intelligent transportation systems and automated vehicle technologies. 

Responsibilities Include: 

As a key member of our team, you will take a lead role in planning and managing events, including conferences, trade shows, and stakeholder workshops. This involves coordinating all aspects of event logistics, session planning, and sponsor engagement to ensure seamless execution and maximum impact. Specifically, you will: 

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with event sponsors, working collaboratively to align on shared goals and deliverables. 

• Design and manage conference sessions, including drafting session abstracts, coordinating speaker schedules, and developing presentation materials. 

• Conduct in-depth market research to identify new and emerging conferences or events that align with program objectives, recommending opportunities to expand our presence. 

• Track and analyze event attendance, engagement levels, and interactions with marketing materials to measure effectiveness and provide actionable insights for future initiatives. 

• Oversee the collection and organization of post-event feedback, synthesizing findings to evaluate event success and inform continuous improvement. 

• Coordinate the capture and organization of event leads and post-event attendee lists, ensuring follow-up activities are well-organized and timely. 

• Provide internal support for event registration processes, distributing detailed event updates and ensuring stakeholders are informed and prepared. 

• Maintain comprehensive records of event plans, budgets, and post-event summaries, serving as a resource for team members and stakeholders. 

• Manage the procurement and organization of event supplies, branded collateral, and apparel, ensuring timely delivery and readiness for deployment. 

• Develop event-specific checklists, briefings, and schedules to guide event execution and streamline internal workflows. 

• Respond promptly and professi