Sr. Director, Communications

Sr. Director, Communications

Austin

35432

1

This is a remote position available to candidates residing in ABC-approved states.

HQ

Location:

Austin, TX

At Action Behavior Centers (ABC), we help children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reach milestone moments. Compassionate care is at the heart of everything we do, and our highly trained clinicians deliver evidence-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy tailored to each child’s unique needs.

Our autism services include diagnostic support, 1:1 individualized Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI), Family Guidance, and school readiness programs across hundreds of centers in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas. Because no family should have to wait for help, ABC offers immediate access to care.

The Sr. Director, Communications is responsible for building and leading ABC's proactive earned media and public relations strategy, and for strengthening ABC's external reputation across two critical audiences: the families and their children in our care, and the teammates who provide that care. This role will help shape and amplify the stories that differentiate ABC, recognizing that positive family-facing coverage also builds trust and pride among current and prospective teammates.

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, this role partners closely with the CMO and executive leadership on reputation strategy and crisis communications, bringing communications subject matter expertise and leading execution against a shared reputation strategy. This is a hands-on leadership role for an entrepreneurial communicator who has led a communications function or owned significant PR / reputation responsibilities, is comfortable pitching press directly, and can move ABC from a reactive to a proactive posture on reputation.

The role oversees a team of two and partners closely with Marketing leadership, Recruiting, People Services, Clinical, Operations, and Legal. ABC's external digital marketing agency leads SEO, AIO, and paid media performance. This role owns PR and earned media strategy directly, partnering with ABC's existing content and creative teams within Marketing to amplify earned media wins across owned, social, and paid channels.

• Help define and continually evolve ABC’s external narrative, identifying the stories, proof points, and areas of thought leadership ABC should own within autism care and ABA therapy
• Build and lead ABC's proactive earned media strategy, identifying, developing, and pitching stories that reinforce ABC's differentiation and reputation
• Serve as ABC's primary point of contact for press inquiries and media relationships
• Develop and drive thought leadership opportunities, including speaking engagements, bylines, and media placements, with a particular focus on ABC's clinical leadership
• Identify and develop human interest stories from families and clinicians that support both family-facing and employer-facing reputation goals
• Partner with Legal and executive leadership to develop messaging and manage communications around payer dynamics, ownership structure, industry scrutiny, and other externally sensitive topics
• Partner with ABC's existing content and creative teams on press release drafting and distribution; this role does not own day-to-day content production, webinars, e-books, or organic social content, which remain owned by Integrated Marketing and Creative Services

• Own the communications strategy for ABC's workplace reputation across Glassdoor, Indeed, Linked In, and Reddit, setting priorities and messaging that the Communications team executes against
• Partner with Recruiting and People Services to align employer brand strategy with recruiting and retention goals, informed by ongoing sentiment and recruiting funnel data
• Monitor and interpret online sentiment, review platform trends, and social listening data to identify emerging reputation risks and opportunities
• Provide strategic recommendations on how to close gaps between ABC's intended employer brand and how it is currently experienced and discussed externally

• Partner with the CMO and executive leadership on reputation risk, crisis preparedness, and issue anticipation
• Develop and maintain a crisis communications framework and response…