Corporate Communications Director

Your Role 

The Communications and Corporate Citizenship team is responsible for the reputation of Ascendiun and its Family of Companies with all audiences—internal and external. The Director, Corporate Communications (Media Relations & Crisis Management) will report to the Senior Director of Corporate Communications. In this role you will lead a team that supports media relations, crisis communications for the Family of Companies.

The Director may also be called upon to lead special initiatives and additional portfolios of work as needed. Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.
 

Responsibilities

Your Work 

In this role, you will: 

• Be responsible for leading a communications team for media relations, crisis management, driving proactive storytelling with news media to boost the Family of Company's brand and reputation.
• Partner with executive leadership, key stakeholders and other corporate communications colleagues to design and implement strategic communications plans in support of the Family of Companies (Ascendiun, Blue Shield of California, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, Stellarus & Altais]) priorities with the goal of establishing, advancing and maintaining a favorable corporate reputation with targeted audiences including customers, providers, brokers, public officials, opinion leaders, regulators, consumers, media, and employees.
• Oversee enterprise crisis communications planning and successfully anticipate, manage issues to protect the Family of Companies’ brand and reputation.
• Develop and drive media relations strategy that leads to positive national, regional, and local news coverage.
• Successfully manage and mentor team members to learn, grow and contribute to a high-performing team.

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience 

• Requires a bachelor’s degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree 

• Requires 10 years of prior relevant experience in strategic communications, including a

  demonstrated track record of providing advice and counsel to management, developing and executing successful communications strategies and programs

• Requires 6 years of prior people management experience with direct responsibility for supervising, coaching, and evaluating direct reports 

• Requires strong interest in health care and the ability to create thoughtful, original content.

• Requires broad understanding of all facets of communication, including knowledge and

• understanding of social media

• Requires experience in strategic communications, including a demonstrated track record of providing advice and counsel to management, developing and executing successful communications strategies and programs

• Requires excellent verbal and presentation skills, executive presence, professionalism, and ability to influence C-level executives and build partnerships at all levels

• Requires seasoned project management skills with ability to develop and execute multiple end- to-end programs concurrently with little oversight

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

About Blue Shield of California

As of January 2025, Blue Shield of California became a subsidiary of Ascendiun. Ascendiun is a nonprofit corporate entity that is the parent to a family of organizations including Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Altais, a clinical services company; and Stellarus, a company designed to scale healthcare solutions. Together, these organizations are referred to as the Ascendiun Family of Companies. 

At Blue Shield of California, our mission is to create a healthcare system worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable. We are transforming health care in a way that genuinely serves our nonprofit mission by lowering costs, improving quality, and enhancing the member and physician experience. 

To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.

Blue Shield is a U.S. News Best Company to work for, a Deloitte U.S. Best Managed Company and a Top 100 Inspiring Workplace. We were recognized by Fair360 as a Top Regional Company, and one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States by Points of Light. Here at Blue Shield, we strive to make a positive change across our industry and communities – join us!  

Our Values: 

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short. 
• Human. We strive to listen and communicate effectively, showing empathy by understanding others' perspectives.
• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals. 

Our Workplace Model 

We believe in fostering a workplace environment that balances purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility - providing clear expectations while respecting the diverse needs of our workforce. Our workplace model is designed around intentional in-person interaction, collaboration, connection, creativity and flexibility:

• For most teams, this means coming into the office two days per week.

• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location, out of state employees, and employees in certain member-facing roles should work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

• For employees with medical conditions that may impact their ability to work in-office, we are committed to engaging in an interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to ensure their work environment is conducive to their success and well-being.

The Company reserves the right to require more presence in the office based on business needs, and requirements are subject to change with periodic reviews.  

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail. 

Equal Employment Opportunity:

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.