Public Information Officer

The City of Morganton is a vibrant and energized city located in the foothills of North Carolina with scenic rural landscapes and abundant outdoor adventure opportunities, which is how we earned our name “Nature’s Playground”.  We are seeking a Public Information Officer with the energy, experience, and expertise matching the fast pace and high quality that is the hallmark of the City. 

This dynamic position will develop, implement, and maintain effective communications strategies for the City and its Departments, and will play a key role in creating and managing Morganton’s external brand by establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with the news media and external audiences. This position is also responsible for managing Morganton’s brand among internal staff.  The PIO oversees, creates and implements all City communications across a multitude of platforms. This position is primarily responsible for the generation of press releases, graphic design elements, social media content, website content, photography and videography elements, external and internal newsletters, and more. The PIO responds to public information requests in a timely fashion, and works closely with City elected officials and staff to distribute communications in a manner consistent with the City’s brand and long-range marketing and communications goals.  This position also serves as the go-to brand manager for the City, ensuring communications are all kept to the same high standard.

May work long hours on a variable schedule, especially for special events and extraordinary occurrences that affect the City. Successful candidate will be adept at thinking on their feet, managing a high workload of varying priorities, juggling tasks covering a multitude of City departments, and being nimble enough to adapt to communications needs on little notice in creative and engaging ways.

Qualifications:   Knowledge and skills as typically provided by a degree from an accredited college or university in a relative field (public relations, journalism, communications, marketing, public information etc,) supplemented by relevant experience is preferred.    Professional experience in public relations, journalism, communications, marketing or a related field providing the skills needed will be considered in lieu of education. Experience working in government or high-profile private sector PR role is valued.

Successful candidate will be a pro-active, dependable, adaptable and creative individual who is capable of working with limited supervision and taking ownership of the process while working as part of a larger team.  Should have experience in writing press releases, newspaper/magazine stories, and talking points, as well as knowledge of strategic communications, marketing, public relations and the latest communication trends.  Experience with social/digital media, including a high degree of competence with digital cameras and computer applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, MS Word, Excel, and Publisher; CSS, HTML, and WYSIWYG website content software.  Pay range is $50,738 - $76,107; starting pay dependent on experience & qualifications.