Internal Communications Editor in Chief

Ford - Olympia, WA

Full-time - Mid Level

Olympia, WA

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

About the position

At Ford, we are committed to building a better world through innovative mobility solutions. As part of the Ford Communications team, you will play a crucial role in conveying our exciting innovations to a global audience. This position as Editor in Chief for the Internal Communications team is pivotal in engaging over 170,000 global employees, ensuring they are informed and inspired through strategic and engaging content across our internal channels. You will be responsible for developing creative editorial content for Ford's employees, partners, and alumni through various platforms, including the @FordOnline intranet and the BlueOvalNow employee app. In this role, you will lead the editorial process and content team, collaborating with cross-functional partners, interactive designers, videographers, and internal reporters. Your leadership will be essential in creating editorial plans that support major company events, such as product launches. You will also be tasked with re-evaluating and reimagining processes to maintain a high-performance internal communications newsroom. By utilizing data and insights, you will identify unique storytelling opportunities that drive engagement and business results, while also monitoring and evaluating content performance. Your role will not only involve content creation but also inspiring a culture of optimism and creative excellence within the team. You will balance staff and production budgets while ensuring that the editorial strategy aligns with the overall goals of Employee Engagement. This position requires a strategic thinker with a passion for storytelling and a commitment to enhancing the internal communications landscape at Ford.

Responsibilities

• Develop creative, streamlined editorial content for Ford's employees, partners, and alumni via the @FordOnline intranet, the BlueOvalNow employee app, digital signage, and alumni communications.
• Build and lead the editorial process and content team, including cross-functional partners, interactive designers, videographers, and internal reporters.
• Collaborate with the larger Ford Communications team to create editorial plans to support all major skill team moments like product launches.
• Re-evaluate and reimagine processes and practices as needed to consistently maintain a high-performance internal communications newsroom.
• Inspire your team to tell compelling stories through film and video, graphic design, and thoughtful prose tailored to internal audiences.
• Use data and insights to identify unique storytelling opportunities to drive attention, excitement, engagement, and business results.
• Identify and exploit emerging content and creative platform trends/software.
• Deliver multi-channel content propositions to optimize storytelling objectives.
• Act as a true organizational leader and partner within the overall Ford Employee Communications team to ensure the editorial strategy is aligned with that of Employee Engagement.
• Inspire a culture of optimism, competitiveness, and creative excellence.
• Monitor and evaluate content performance and engagement.
• Utilize data and research to ensure that campaigns are successful.
• Balance staff and production budgets.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, English or related field.
• 8-10 years of experience in communications, including experience in online editorial or content management roles.
• Five or more years of experience leading online publishing, channel planning, or content amplification strategies.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in a news-making environment plus public relations or internal communications, digital content marketing or content creation.
• Demonstrated track record developing comprehensive, integrated strategies designed to tell an enterprise story to internal audiences.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills with an ability to develop compelling stories that are persuasive, engaging, and quotable.
• Energetic and skilled storyteller - long form, short form, visual and up to date with latest trends.
• Experience applying quantitative methods, including data, research, impact, and measurement to content strategy.
• Demonstrable experience with and knowledge of social and digital media platforms and tools to bring a mobile-first approach to our employee app.
• Strong knowledge of AEM-based publishing and collaboration tools such as Trello.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year's Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.