UnitedHealth Group Media Relations Director

Director - Media Relations

This position reports to the Vice President, Media Relations and offices in Washington, DC.

At UnitedHealth Group, we are a healthy, growing business. We are a Fortune 25 company that has been honored in a number of ways. UnitedHealth Group was ranked number 14 on the 2008 "BusinessWeek 50 Rankings," a list of top performing companies in each of the 10 sectors that make up the Standard & Poors 500 and named "Americas most admired company for health care innovation" in Fortunes most recent survey. Our UnitedHealthcare business has received accolades, too. UnitedHealthcare was named South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 2007 Healthcare Provider of the Year and recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for helping reduce health care disparities for its Asian-Language Provider Directories. These honors serve as a reminder of the many people at UnitedHealth Group whose talent and dedication are helping to make health care work better, and underscore the Companys work to advance social responsibility initiatives.

The Associate Director, Media Relations supports UHGs strategic direction for both proactive and reactive national media relations, and assists in the overall coordination of external contacts with major media outlets.

This position is in the Corporate Communications group which is charged with enhancing and protecting the companys corporate reputation and communicating internally and externally with all company stakeholders including but not limited to: employees (current and future), patients, medical professionals, elected officials and related staff, local civic and community leaders, academia, the scientific community, regulators and governmental agencies and officials.

* Implement the companys media relations activities, including areas such as financial communications, legal communications, product communications, crisis communications, corporate philanthropy, human resource issues and key national and local issues. * Coordinate interviews with senior executives; provide supporting documentation and materials to ensure UHGs preparedness and key message penetration. * Coordinate activities to support external communications and media activities for the companys key corporate reputation initiatives, and respond to media inquiries resulting from company-specific or industry-related issues. * Develop and improve relationships with key journalists and media outlets. * Assist in developing briefing documents to inform colleagues and gain consensus on key messages.  Support corporate litigation, national crisis communications, major company meetings and corporate initiatives. * Implement new strategies to ensure communications are in concert with rapidly changing technologies, including web-based technologies. * Work closely with corporate, regional, divisional and local site representatives to ensure broad understanding of external communications strategies. * Participate in the implementation of communications and PR strategies to support and advance the strategic priorities of the Company.

Qualifications

* Bachelors Degree. * Strong health insurance and health care background preferred. * 8+ years experience in communications, media relations and/or public affairs for a major corporation. * Proven media relations skills and relationships with top-tier media; experience as a corporate spokesperson. * Extraordinary initiative and flexibility, with the ability to get things done in a highly regulated environment. * Demonstrated ability to provide candid counsel to C-level executives on business and communications issues. * Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to interface with all levels of management. * Ability to project a confident image to executives, peers, and business associates. * Possess excellent communications and presentation skills. * Ability to travel nationally as necessary.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: equal opportunity employer M/F/D/V

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace.  Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment. In addition, employees in certain positions are subject to random drug testing.

Job Communications Specialists and Management

Primary Location US-DC-Washington

Organization Communications

Schedule Full-time

Number of Openings 1

Please refer to job code 1252659 when responding to this ad.

Category:	Healthcare/Social Services
Location:	Washington, DC
County:	District Of Columbia County
ZIP Code:	20001
Pay Rate:	Open
Job Terms:	full time
Company:	UnitedHealth Group
Phone:	email only please
Fax:	email only please