Public Relations & Issues Management Director

GuideWell operates in one of the most scrutinized sectors in the American economy—a not-for-profit health services company navigating regulatory complexity, public trust, network disputes, and enterprise transformation at scale. This role is the enterprise's front line on reputation: responsible for leading proactive and reactive media relations, national and regional earned media strategy, corporate newsroom strategy, executive thought leadership, and end-to-end issues and crisis communications including hurricane preparedness, emerging risk monitoring, and complex provider negotiations. The Director must be a seasoned media strategist and issues counselor who operates with speed and judgment, builds and owns relationships with the reporters who matter most, and serves as a trusted advisor to senior leaders in high-stakes moments. Success in this role is measured by share of voice, quality and tier of media placements, strength of executive visibility, and the organization's ability to respond to threats and seize opportunities faster than the news cycle.

Key Responsibilities:
•    Lead development and execution of proactive earned media strategies that measurably increase GuideWell’s share of voice, executive visibility, and placement quality in priority national health, business, and policy outlets. 
•    Serve as sought-after and trusted advisor to leadership and executives.
•    Own and actively cultivate relationships with top-tier reporters and editors in health care, business, policy, and general news across Florida, regional, and national markets - positioning company executives as the go-to sources before and as stories develop. 
•    Serve as a strategic spokesperson and media advisor, ensuring the right leaders give the right interviews at the right time. 
•    Develop and execute enterprise thought leadership programs (in partnership with the thought leadership lead) and corporate newsroom content strategy with a consistent, high-quality publishing cadence. 
•    Drive national and trade media outreach, targeted pitching, and executive platform development. 
•    Lead press release drafting, approval, and distribution process for the Enterprise. 
•    Build and maintain enterprise position statements, talking points, and media response materials aligned with strategic priorities. 
•    Monitor national media trends, competitor activity, and health care policy developments to inform proactive story development and rapid response. 
•    Integrate earned media strategy with digital, social, and owned channels, understanding how stories travel across platforms. 
•    Oversee agency and vendor relationships, including scope management and performance accountability. 
•    Provide strategic counsel and support to communications colleagues across brand, marketing, sales, public policy, and local strategy. 
•    Serve as the enterprise’s primary issues and crisis communications leader, acting as the communications decision-maker in the room alongside legal, compliance, HR, IT, Government Relations, and operational leaders. Lead strategic planning and end-to-end crisis response for hurricanes and natural disasters, operational disruptions, network disputes, regulatory and legislative scrutiny, and reputational threats and opportunities to strengthen trust. 
•    Proactively identify, track, and escalate emerging risks—providing timely, strategic, and actionable counsel to senior leadership on reputation management and media positioning. 
•    Develop, update, and maintain crisis communications playbooks, escalation protocols, and rapid-response frameworks; conduct post-crisis analysis to drive continuously improvement and enterprise preparedness. 
•    Partner with Sr. Dir. Enterprise Communications in leading communications planning for complex provider negotiations, contract disputes, and value-based care/network strategy, ensuring compliant, aligned, and timely messaging. 
•    Produce reactive statements, holding statements, Q&As, talking points, and executive briefing materials with speed and precision—including turnarounds of 30 minutes or less in active situations. 
•    Establish ongoing reputation risk monitoring and sentiment tracking of key reputation risk categories including but not limited to ACA, rate filings, network adequacy, CMS visibility, and report regularly to senior leadership with strategic implications and recommended adjustments. 
•    Develop and own a media measurement framework that tracks share of voice, outlet tier, sentiment, and executive visibility on a regular cadence—reporting insights to senior leadership, leveraging insights from colleagues across Communications, Marketing and Customer Experience (CMX). 
•    Develop monitoring/reporting process that effectively measures media relations results quantitatively and qualitatively. 
•    Manage weekday media clips ensuring relevance and timely distribution.
•    Manage regular executive and board-level news and reputation summaries at a cadence appropriate to business need, in collaboration with CMX and other enterprise insights teams.

Key Requirements: 
•    7+ years’ related work experience. Experience Details: Media Relations, Communications or a related field 
•    Related Bachelor’s degree or additional related equivalent work experience in Media Relations, Communications or a related field
•    Demonstrated experience leading through influence in cross-functional environments and managing external agency/vendor relationships - including scope, performance, and budget accountability.
•    Experience of active ownership of senior media relationships resulting in measurable earned coverage in national and/or trade outlets; direct leadership of crisis or issues communications in high-stakes environments; and demonstrated ability to produce rapid-response materials under deadline pressure.
•    Demonstrated track record in a regulated, complex, or high-scrutiny industry (health care, insurance, financial services, or similar strongly preferred). 
•    Proven ability to develop and execute media strategies that drive measurable outcomes (share of voice, placement quality, executive visibility, sentiment) 
•    Deep understanding of how stories travel across earned, owned, and social channels; strong instincts for national and trade media landscapes in health care, business, and policy; excellent writing across formats (press releases, statements, Q&As, thought leadership, executive briefs) 
•    Experience applying audience research and communications analytics to guide strategy. 
•    Sound judgment under pressure with ability to produce rapid-response materials in 30 minutes or less 
•    Experience managing reputational risk in regulated, high-scrutiny environments 
•    Demonstrated ability to navigate politically sensitive situations with discretion 
•    Proven record of accomplishment managing communications through organizational transformation, M&A activity, or significant operational disruption. 
•    Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and manage without authority across legal, compliance, HR, IT, and operational functions 
•    Executive presence with ability to counsel and challenge senior leaders 
•    Strong consulting and negotiation skills 
•    Proven ability to manage external agency relationships to outcome.

Preferred:
•    Master’s degree  
•    Demonstrated track record in a regulated, complex, or high-scrutiny industry (health care, insurance, financial services, or similar). Experience in a multi-entity or matrixed organization. 
•    Bilingual - English / Spanish
General Physical Demands
Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally to move objects. Jobs are sedentary if traversing activities are required only occasionally. 

Physical/Environmental Activities
Must be able to travel to multiple locations for work (i.e. travel to attend meetings, events, conferences). Occasionally 
What We Offer: 
As a Florida Blue employee, you will be at the heart of GuideWell’s vision – to lead the nation in transforming health through compassionate, connected, and technology-enabled care that delivers personalized value and empowered living. 
To support your wellbeing, comprehensive benefits are offered. As an employee, you will have access to: 
 

• Medical, dental, vision, life and global travel health insurance;
• Income protection benefits: life insurance, short- and long-term disability programs;
• Leave programs to support personal circumstances;
• Retirement Savings Plan including employer match;
• Paid time off, volunteer time off, 10 holidays and 2 well-being days;
• Additional voluntary benefits available; and
• A comprehensive wellness program

Employee benefits are designed to align with federal and state employment laws. Benefits may vary based on the state in which work is performed. Benefits for intern, part-time and seasonal employees may differ.
To support your financial wellbeing, we offer competitive pay as well as opportunities for incentive or commission compensation. We also conduct regular annual reviews with pay for performance considerations for base pay increases. 
Annualized Salary Range: $136,000 - $221,000
Typical Annualized Hiring Range: $136,000 - $170,000
Final pay will be determined with consideration of market competitiveness, internal equity, and the job-related knowledge, skills, training, and experience you bring.
We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer committed to cultivating a work experience where everyone feels like they belong and can perform at their best in pursuit of our mission. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.