Director - Media Relations / Earned Media

Golin Chicago is looking for a Director - Connector to join our team!

As a Connector, you are:

A relentless media relations powerhouse navigating the entire media landscape. Shaping stories to stand out among the thousands of pitches reporters receive every day. Golin Connectors don't just reactively wait for ideas to pitch to media, they proactively hunt for opportunities. Not waiting for stories to come to you, but creating them. They have their finger on the pulse of cultural moments and real-time trends our clients can leverage and turn those ideas into nationally covered media stories.They're smart, scrappy, and hungry for coverage, never taking no for an answer and always finding creative ways to tell our clients' stories. They follow the industry, see the work that's winning and are driven to replicate the same success with our clients.

About Golin:

Golin is a global, award-winning public relations agency that helps company create change that matters. Together, we discover powerful human truths that bind us, create with bravery, and collaborate inclusively and obsessively. Golin's 1700 global employees operate across 50+ offices worldwide, allowing us to provide our clients with comprehensive solutions for multi-market, regional and global communications programs.

Every agency is talking about AI. At Golin, we are using AI to rewrite the rules of PR. We're even promising to become the first fully AI-integrated agency by 2026. We are committed to upskilling our workforce, democratizing access to tools, and integrating AI into our daily work to maximize the value we deliver to our clients.

We're especially committed to going all in for our people. We challenge our employees to be courageously happy and have empowered them to do so by offering our LifeTime benefits program. LifeTime offers flexible time off, enhanced family care, generous health and wellness benefits, workplace hybrid flexibility, and a monthly LifeTime stipend for the gym or hobbies.

Our expertise ranges from brand-building and cutting-edge digital content to corporate reputation, healthcare advocacy and measurement. Golin aligns earned-first, data-driven creative with the customer journey through our collaborative G4 Model to deliver maximum impact for clients. Our roster includes many of the largest CPG, retail, food, healthcare technology and consumer service companies in the world.

What You'll Do:

• Develop and execute comprehensive earned media strategies across consumer, lifestyle, automotive trade, and business outlets
• Bring expertise in both corporate and consumer PR
• Leverage existing media relationships to secure top-tier placements and coverage
• Lead team development of strategic materials including messaging frameworks, media lists, and targeted pitches
• Serve as primary media contact, maintaining relationships with key reporters and managing day-to-day account operations
• Oversee junior staff while fostering client relationships and identifying growth opportunities
• Execute campaigns flawlessly with strong project management skills and proactive solution-finding
• Collaborate across internal teams to develop innovative ideas that drive client success
• Cultivate a supportive team culture focused on growth, inclusivity and partnership
• Travel for events as needed

Who You Are:

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, or related field
• 8+ years of PR experience combining account management and media relations
• Recent earned media portfolio demonstrating successful placements within the last 3-6 months
• Proven track record executing large-scale media programs across diverse outlets
• Deep understanding of the current media landscape and a strong media relationship network
• Excellent communication, presentation, and problem-solving abilities
• Client service passion with the ability to manage multiple priorities
• Creative mindset that brings fresh ideas to benefit clients and agency growth

Golin has included the base salary range or hourly rate for this role. Actual compensation offered within the range will depend upon, among other factors: a candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience; actual ranges for current or former employees in the role; and market considerations.

Salary range:

$94,000 - $165,000

Any request to schedule an interview and any legitimate offer of employment will only come from an authorized representative of Golin. We will never require an applicant to provide sensitive personally identifiable information in order to conduct an interview.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.

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