Director of Legislative Affairs & Communications Date Posted: Feb 10, 2025 Requisition ID: 456237 Location: Indianapolis, IN, US, 46204 Work for Indiana Begin a fulfilling career with the State of Indiana by joining one of the largest employers in the state, offering a diverse range of opportunities across 60+ agencies. At the state, you'll find competitive compensation, a robust benefits package and a commitment to work-life balance. Most importantly, you'll have the chance to make a real and measurable impact on the lives of Hoosiers across Indiana. At the State of Indiana, we don’t just talk about diversity and inclusion—we make it our goal to create a welcoming, accessible, and equitable workplace with a workforce that is representative of Indiana's population. As a proud equal opportunity employer, reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to complete the application and interview process as well as perform the essential functions of a role. About the Professional Licensing Agency: The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency is seeking an individual to help protect the health and safety of the citizens of Indiana by providing quality, efficient service to all professional licensees, applicants, and the public. The fundamental purpose of this position is to provide administrative support to the board director, the licensing board/commissions, and to directly supervise the customer service representatives’ projects across a broad scope of career opportunities. As a State of Indiana employee, you impact the well-being of Indiana’s communities every day. Role Overview The Director of Legislative Affairs, Communication and Instruction (Director), under the direction of the Executive Director for the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA), is responsible for developing and leading the IPLA’s internal and external marketing and communications efforts and serving as the agency’s legislative director in working with the General Assembly. Additionally, the Director will assist the Executive Director in the daily operation of the agency. The Director will have strategic and operational responsibility for interagency projects and agency wide initiatives as delegated by the Executive Director and will establish methods to streamline agency processes and improve operational systems to maximize efficiency. The Director will also oversee agency-wide educational initiatives, including personnel training and board member orientation. The position will evaluate and initiate strategies to communicate with the more than 200 different licensed professions overseen by the IPLA. The Director will also advise and manage external communications delivered by the Executive Director, including but not limited to: social media and online communications, drafting speeches for public business and trade association events and so forth. The Director will also be required to respond to incoming media inquires that could be extremely high profile and sensitive in nature. The Director is also responsible for developing and implementing the organization’s public policy agenda. In this role, the candidate will engage in furthering legislation to benefit consumers and make Indiana an even better place to live and work. This individual will drive policy development within the agency, specifically concerning the agency’s 38 boards, by providing a collaborative framework for communication between the executive and legislative branches, issue and impact identification and build policy strategies that are beneficial to the State of Indiana and consistent with the Governor’s values and legislative priorities. In doing so, the individual will be expected to work effectively within government affairs and with other senior stakeholders throughout Indiana. This position requires significant independent thought and the ability to make numerous decisions on a daily basis. Salary Statement: The salary for this position traditionally starts at $75,010.00 but may be commensurate with education or work experience. Essential Duties / Responsibilities: + Develop PLA’s overall communication plan outlining strategies and tactics on major PLA public policy initiatives, legislation and administrative rules. + Direct and develop all legislative activities such as tracking and monitoring all bills, testifying at committee hearings, initiating and responding to legislative communications and coordinating all legislative operations with the Governor’s legislative team; at direction of Executive Director, Deputy Director in their absence. + Review all rule drafts prior to promulgation to ensure compliance with the Governor’s directives + Resolve high profile matters with the agencies’ nearly 300 board members. + Oversee website development and the aesthetic framework for the agency’s web pages by working with IT and board directors to ensure pertinent and current information is presented in the best way. + Responsible for coordinating the message for 38 different boards and commissions and presenting these ideas to staff, specifically the Executive Director and Deputy Director, creating buy-in from all coworkers, so everyone in the agency understands the mission and message being delivered to the public and General Assembly. + Manage external communications and marketing of all boards and professions and the entire agency’s accomplishments in business, industry and government publications . + Maintain relationships with media to ensure appropriate delivery of PLA information to the public. + Establish engaging and informative communications to educate the State and licensed professions about PLA ’s new and existing services . + Manage the distribution of regular newsletters for licensed professions to promote utilization of services. + Develop, oversee and enhance crisis communications management . + Serve as a project manager on all agency communication projects. + Build relationships with agency communication leaders and work with executive staff to create enterprise services to bridge any gaps in technology and state communication needs. + Develop communications strategies to drive adoption of PLA services by educating and creating awareness for both internal and external customers. + Perform related duties as assigned by the Executive Director. + Perform legal research and analyze legal issues related to agency matters at discretion of General Counsel. + Represent agency in public forums and speaking engagements when necessary. + Serve as liaison on all interagency and intergovernmental initiatives. + Oversee all information that is disseminated from our office such as application, website design and maintenance, newsletters, and social media. + Advise Executive Staff on matters impacting agency, state and federal government, and public opinion. + Assist the Executive Director in planning and organizing the workflow within the office to ensure effeciency and consistency among groups, team based fulfillment of shared functions and equitable allocation of resourses. + In coordiantion with Executive Staff, and respective board staffs, develop stratgegy to effectively communicate with each board or agency when required to adopt rules; open channels of communication between all invovled parties to ensure timely submission. + Implement and maintain education programs and initiatives agency-wide, including: + Creating and distributing periodic publications, such as newsletters, to educate professionals licensed under the agency of current events impacting their profession and new requirements for licensure. + Managing education program for compliance division, including training initiatives in areas such as inspections and testimony preparation. + Develop and maintain manual for agency policies and procedures to be utilized in training personnel. + Coordinate education program for new board members in accordance with orientation upon appointment. + Develop education initiatives as necessary for cuurent and new employees, board members and licensees. Job Requirements: + Ability to work independently, make decisions with little guidance, solve complex problems and provide customer-focused solutions in a rapidly changing environment. + Significant experience in communicating public policy through the writing of articles, speeches, briefings, legislative correspondence and responding to media inquiries. + Experience in understanding business and healthcare policy (financial, housing, and healthcare issues). + Experience in managing public inquiries and correspondence. + Mastery of the Indiana legislative process and have the ability to maintain professional relationships with the legislative community and diverse constituencies. + Excellent public speaking, negotiation and conflict resolution capabilities. + Intimate knowledge of Statehouse media, message development and implementation. + Understanding of trade associations. + Bachelor’s degree . + Demonstrate experience with responding to media. + Extensive knowledge of journalistic principles and practices for the dissemination of information. + Must have good organizational skills to track numerous projects and be able to quickly shift to competing priorities. + Demonstrate experience of building key strategic relationships with internal and external stakeholders. + Highly effective internal and external communication skills: written, oral, and group presentations . + Exceptional time, project and resource management skills . + Knowledge with working with news media, state agencies, federal agencies, elected officials (both state and national) and the public to ensure good relations and accurate and timely responding/reporting of information. + Demonstrated high degree of ethics and integrity . Benefits of Employment with the State of Indiana: The State of Indiana offers a comprehensive benefit package for full-time employees which includes: + Three (3) medical plan options (including RX coverage) as well as vision and dental plans + Wellness Rewards Program: Complete wellness activities to earn gift card rewards + Health savings account, which includes bi-weekly state contribution + Flexible work scheduling options, including the potential for hybrid remote work for employees whose work may be performed outside state facilities + Deferred compensation 457B account (similar to 401k plan) with employer match + Two (2) fully-funded pension plan options + A robust, comprehensive program of leave policies covering a variety of employee needs, including but not limited to: + 150 hours of paid new parent leave + Up to 15 hours of paid community service leave + Combined 180 hours of paid vacation, personal, and sick leave time off + 12 paid holidays, 14 on election years + Education Reimbursement Program + Group life insurance + Referral Bonus program + Employee assistance program that allows for covered behavioral health visits + Qualified employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program + Free Parking for most positions + Free LinkedIn Learning access Equal Employment Opportunity: The State of Indiana is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to recruiting, selecting, developing, and promoting employees based on individual ability and job performance. Our policy is to provide equal employment opportunity to all people in all aspects of employer-employee relations without discrimination because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or veteran status. We will comply with the spirit as well as the letter of all applicable state and federal laws. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and require reasonable accommodations to complete this application, you can request assistance by contacting the Indiana State Personnel Department at jobs@spd.IN.gov. The State of Indiana has established a culture that welcomes equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all employees and applicants. We encourage you to apply if you feel you have the transferrable skills to be successful in this position and we look forward to reviewing your application. Current Employee? 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