Manager, Area Public Relations

Under the direction of the Area Presidency and the Area Communication & Publishing Director, the Manager of Public Relations leads a team that builds relationships of mutual understanding with leaders, influencers, and organizations to help the Area Presidency and Church leaders across the area. The manager accomplishes this by:

• Defining the relationship building portion of the communication strategy. It will include a plan to establish relationships with people, communities, and organizations to help achieve area priorities and the mission of the Church

• Establishing and strengthening the reputation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and promoting religious freedom

• Creating activities and events focused on connecting Church leaders across the area with key opinion leaders to lift and bless this area of the world

• Training and supporting volunteer communication councils in their efforts

Lead the team that develops the outreach portion of the communication strategy that will build, maintain, and strengthen critical relationships with government, interfaith, and community leaders and their staff at national and local levels:

• Establish relationships between key opinion leaders and Church leaders that align with the priorities of the First Presidency and the Area Presidency (such as strengthening families and youth or protecting religious freedom).

• Develop, maintain, and prioritize a list of key contacts across the area with whom the Church should seek to build and maintain relationships of mutual understanding.

• Oversee the training of national and local communication councils to build, maintain, record outreach efforts, and provide ongoing support to communication volunteers.

• Assure that the necessary permissions to visit with heads of state are received from Church headquarters well in advance of outreach visits.

• Develop the effort to monitor and report key issues related to religious freedom or other legislative matters across the area. This should be done in close collaboration with the Area Legal Counsel, Director for Temporal Affairs, and partners such as the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University:

  • Identify key opinion leaders for the annual International Law and Religion Symposium or regional religious freedom symposia together with the Area Legal Counsel to propose to the Area Presidency.

  • Organize religious freedom or other relevant events together with other organizations to build and continuously strengthen key relationships.

  • Inform leaders and influencers on relevant key issues.

• Coordinate government relations and communication initiatives in the area:

  • Coordinate closely with the international government relations team in Salt Lake City and the Church hosting team, who often host visitors from the Area.

  • Work closely with the international government relations offices in Washington D.C., New York, Geneva, and Brussels and all global area offices.

  • Provide relevant speaking points for outreach visits to opinion leaders and members of the diplomatic corps from the Area, wherever in the world these visits may occur.

  • Assure all diplomatic outreach is captured in the Connect customer relations database.

• Oversee the effort to identify and develop relationships with key members of the media across the area to encourage the sharing of Church messages, community involvement, and inspiring actions of Latter-day Saints:

  • Develop a prioritized list of key national journalists and help communication councils do the same at the local level.

  • Help train communication councils on working with the media.

  • Provide spokesperson training to councils and Church leaders and develop relevant speaking points that align with the overall global and area communication plan.

  • Work closely with Church headquarters to assure messaging alignment on global issues.

  • Assure outreach interactions are recorded in the Connect customer relations database.

• This role will require regular travel, including monthly travel to the Canada Area Office, travel to Ottawa as needed and, as needed, travel to Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City Utah, USA.

• Bachelor's degree in communication-related field or equivalent (ie, public relations, communication, journalism, marketing, international relations, political science, social science, social media), with a master's degree preferred. (Equivalent experience may replace education.)

• Must have at least 7+ years’ experience.

• Bilingual English and French capabilities are preferred

• Must demonstrate a proven track record of effective people management with at least two years’ experience in people management.

• Experience in developing, designing, and executing strategic outreach plans

• Ability to understand critical issues such as religious freedom and other legislative issues that are essential to the establishment and growth of the Church

• Strong understanding of the Canadian political system and organizations

• Strong people skills and experience in building relationships with key opinion leaders

• Extensive experience with a wide variety of communication channels

• Strong understanding of public relations and relationship building

• Skilled at utilizing research methods and strategies to address practical problems

• Ability to communicate complex ideas and processes in a straightforward way to leadership and communication teams at all levels

• As areas grow, may build a team of relationship staff and work to develop them professionally

• Excellent writing and editing skills in English

• French language capability is preferred

• Ability to think critically and solve problems

• Ability to function in a team setting and collaborate with other members of the area team

• Competency in the use of technology, including the Microsoft Office product suite and customer relationship management tools such as Salesforce

Additional Employment Criteria:
1. Must be legally authorized to work in Canada without sponsorship
2. Must be able to reside in the greater Toronto, Canada region, while employed in this role

Primary Office Location - 95 Melbert Rd, Etobicoke, ON M9C 3P8, Canada

Note: To manage inquiries efficiently, please direct all questions to our Canada Talent Acquisition and HR team. They are available to assist you with any questions regarding this role. Please do not contact the Hiring Manager directly. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.