Communications Specialist / Senior Communications Specialist

Hazen and Sawyer Communications and Public Outreach

Location: Silver Spring, MD (Washington, DC metro area)

Experience Level: Mid level (5–8 years)

Practice Area: Communications & Public Outreach

Employment Type: Full time

Position Overview

Hazen and Sawyer is seeking a Communications Specialist or Senior Communications Specialist to join our growing Communications and Public Outreach practice. This role supports strategic communications for Hazen clients including tailored communication planning, strategic messaging, stakeholder engagement processes and tools, communication counsel for client leadership, clear understanding of community demographics and key issues, and other related efforts for water and environmental projects across the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally.

Experience in the water or environmental sector is preferred, especially prior experience working with or for water utilities; previous communications consulting experience preferred; strong transferable experience in public facing, issue driven communications is essential.

Key Responsibilities/What You’ll Do

Strategic Communications & Client Advisory

- Develop and implement strategic communication plans and processes that are tailored to the unique demographics, issues, and available resources of clients

- Meet with client representatives to gain understanding of needs and issues of concern

- Engage with Hazen technical teams to understand complex engineering and utility management issues

- Collaborate closely with other Hazen communication team members to share expertise, resources, and insights

- Advise clients on communications strategy and engagement best practices

- Translate complex technical and regulatory information into clear, accurate, audience appropriate messages and how best to deliver those to key audiences

Community & Public Outreach

- Identify and analyze stakeholder groups and recommend effective engagement approaches tailored to diverse audiences

- Prepare compelling content tailored to key audiences for use in outreach materials such as fact sheets, presentations, mailers, infographics, web content, and digital engagement tools

- Attend community meetings, client discussions, and other gatherings as needed

Desired Skills & Capabilities

Communications Specialist (typically 5–6 years):

- Proven aptitude in strategic thinking

- Supports and implements communications and outreach efforts in collaboration with others

- Produces high-quality content and supporting visual materials

- Assists with client coordination and public engagement activities

Senior Communications Specialist (typically 7–8 years):

- All previous skills as noted

- Leads communications tasks or small projects independently with ability to collaborate effectively with others

- Serves as a trusted advisor to clients on communication strategies, outreach tailored to key audiences, and risk communications

- Helps mentor junior staff and supports business development

Required Qualifications/What We’re Looking For

- 5–8 years of professional experience in communications, public outreach, public affairs, community engagement, or stakeholder engagement

- Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, journalism, or a related field

- Demonstrated experience developing and executing strategic communication efforts tailored to key audiences and issues, using tools and practices relevant to meet defined outcomes

- Strong writing, editing, and message development skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information

- Comfort engaging directly with clients, public agencies, and diverse stakeholders

- Proven strategic thinking skills

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience working for a water or wastewater agency, or in a consulting agency working with water and wastewater agencies

- Experience working in a consulting agency, or multi-client environment

- Experience supporting infrastructure, environmental, public health, or water related projects

- Familiarity with risk or crisis communications principles

- Experience planning or supporting public meetings and community engagement activities (in person and virtual)

- Experience collaborating with designers, videographers, or web developers to produce outreach materials

Hazen and Sawyer is an employee-owned environmental engineering and consulting firm focused exclusively on water, wastewater, water reuse, and water resources. For more than 75 years, we have partnered with public agencies and utilities to help communities protect public health, safeguard the environment, and plan for a resilient water future.

Strategic communication is critical to the success of today’s water projects. Our Communications and Public Outreach practice works side by side with technical experts and communication professionals to develop strategies for our clients to effectively engage stakeholders through tailored approaches, manage risk and preserve credibility, and build trust around complex, highly visible infrastructure, environmental and management issues. Communicating effectively to key audiences for the water sector requires a keen understanding of the complex relationship these agencies have with their customers, elected officials, regulators, advocacy groups, and community members, as well as their resource constraints and other limitations.