Senior Director for Global Media Relations - University Communications and Marketing

About this role

Carnegie Mellon University is a private, global research university that stands among the world’s most renowned education institutions. With ground-breaking brain science, path-breaking performances, creative start-ups, big data, big ambitions, hands-on learning, and a whole lot of robots, CMU doesn’t imagine the future, we invent it. If you’re passionate about joining a community that challenges the curious to deliver work that matters, your journey starts here!

We are seeking an experienced, ambitious, innovative, and highly collaborative leader to serve as the Senior Director for Global Media Relations. Operating within the central University Communications and Marketing (UCM) division, this critical leadership role is responsible for shaping and executing a proactive, global media strategy that elevates the university’s reputation as a premier world leader in interdisciplinary innovation, technology and societal impact.

Reporting to the Vice President for University Communications and Marketing, with the essential expectation of direct working relationships with the president, executive management team, deans, and other senior university leaders and UCM colleagues, the Senior Director will manage a high-performing team of media professionals in close collaboration with the UCM Associate Vice President for Strategic Communications.

The successful candidate will blend traditional high-impact media placement with a forward-looking "AI mindset," modernizing how CMU identifies trends, shapes narratives, and scales its thought leadership globally. This leader must possess exceptional interpersonal skills to seamlessly navigate a decentralized campus ecosystem and serve as a trusted partner to executive leadership, faculty, and internal communications stakeholders.

Extensive emphasis is placed on cultivating and maintaining trusted relationships with national and local reporters, editors and producers that can help advance the interests of the university.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Media Outreach & Placement • Global and Local Strategy: Build, maintain, and expand deep, trusted relationships with elite national, international, regional, state, and local news media outlets, as well as non-traditional and emerging news media platforms. • Proven Placements: Drive a continuous track record of high-impact news placements highlighting CMU's distinct research, innovations, and academic milestones. • Issues Positioning: Work with the university’s crisis response team, UCM’s reputation management lead, the president’s office, and key academic and administrative units to proactively craft media messaging that best positions the university when sensitive issues arise that could adversely affect the university’s reputation and operations. • Campaign Architecture: Design and deploy comprehensive external media campaigns that tie directly into the broader university brand strategy.

National Thought Leadership Development • Executive & Faculty Positioning: Proactively identify and package specialized faculty research, academic expertise, and executive perspectives into compelling national narratives. • Content Innovation: Collaborate, edit, curate and at times, write, sophisticated media packages, op-eds, press pitches, and multimedia content optimized for national newsrooms. • Speakers Bureau: Oversee media training infrastructure to prepare internal leaders and researchers for high-profile national interviews and public events.

Tech & AI-Driven Media Innovation • Proactive Trend-Setting: Act as an industry pioneer by integrating predictive data analytics, AI workflows, and emerging media technologies to identify breaking news cycles before they trend. • Modernized Newsroom Efficiency: Safely and ethically implement generative AI and advanced monitoring tech stacks to accelerate narrative creation, pitch personalization, and team workflow output. • Data-Backed Reporting: Overhaul media tracking systems to interpret complex impact data, providing senior university leadership with actionable insights on brand sentiment.

People & Relationship Leadership • Talent Development: Directly supervise, mentor, and advocate for the central media relations team, cultivating a culture of high performance, creative agency, and psychological safety. • Campus-Wide Collaboration: Act as an expert PR counselor to decentralized school-based marketing and communications teams across CMU to coordinate cross-campus narratives.

Adaptability, excellence, and passion are vital qualities within Carnegie Mellon University. We are in search of a team member who can effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners at a high level of integrity. We are looking for someone who shares our values and who will support the mission of the university through their work.

Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, or a related field required (Master’s degree preferred). • Eight (8) years of progressive professional experience in media relations, public relations, or strategic communications in a complex and/or high-profile organizational or media environment. • Track Record: Documented success in cultivating relationships and securing consistent placements with top-tier national news editors, producers, and journalists. • Leadership: Five (5) years of demonstrated leadership experience, with a proven ability to lead, upskill, and inspire diverse communication professionals. • A combination of education and meaningful experience from which comparable knowledge is proven may be considered.

Preferred Knowledge and Skills • The Higher Education Landscape: Deep familiarity with research universities or complex, highly decentralized institutional settings. • An "AI Mindset": Advanced literacy in media tracking tech stacks and a forward-thinking grasp of how artificial intelligence tools can responsibly accelerate communication efforts. • Excep

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