Senior Publicist - Social and Environmental Change - Remote / Work from Home

Position details

• Reports to: Director
• Location: Remote (Team based in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Byron Bay, Port Macquarie)
• Employment type: Full-time (4 day week)
• Experience level: Approximately 8+ years' journalism and or PR agency experience
• Salary: $110,000-120,000 plus super 

Purpose of the role

The Senior Publicist leads the design and delivery of high-impact PR campaigns that shape public understanding, influence policy and support social and environmental change. The role holds responsibility for media strategy across a portfolio of accounts, national and top-tier journalist relationships, and the mentoring of junior team members, while working across issues such as domestic violence, youth homelessness, sexual violence and advocacy, miscarriage and reproductive loss, bullying and systemic inequality, and climate and environmental responsibility. 

This is a senior role for someone who already operates in social and environmental campaigns at a national media level and can be trusted to carry O&C's standards of care, rigour and strategic thinking with minimal oversight.

About O&C

O&C is a specialist PR agency focused on storytelling for social and environmental impact. We work with organisations and founders leading change across areas including early pregnancy loss, maternal mental health, end-of-life care, youth homelessness, domestic violence, bullying, and climate and environmental responsibility.

Our clients are values-led and impact-driven, often working within broken systems and contested public conversations. We operate as a small, senior, high-performing team. Every pitch is crafted with precision, every journalist relationship nurtured with care, and every client backed by a strategy that elevates them as thought leaders. The work requires rigour, care, emotional intelligence and a strong sense of purpose.

Key responsibilities

Media and thought-leadership delivery

• Set and lead media strategy across a portfolio of accounts, bringing important social issues into the national conversation.
• Pitch and secure coverage in national, state and specialist media, drawing on an established network of senior journalists, editors and producers.
• Lead thought-leadership placement — commentary, op-eds, speeches, panels and profiles — that positions clients and spokespeople as leading national voices.
• Lead rapid-response and crisis media, exercising judgement on framing, timing and risk under pressure, including out-of-hours support when a moment demands it.
• Monitor media and political trends, identifying newsjacking and proactive opportunities across the client portfolio.

Client management and campaign leadership

• Act as a trusted strategic counsel on positioning, framing and reputational risk.
• Collaborate with the team across campaign ideation and strategy across social change, advocacy and impact projects, from concept through to evaluation.
• Prepare and quality-control written materials, including media releases, briefing notes, Q&As, key messages and backgrounders.

Project management and operations

• Maintain accurate oversight of account status, budgets and reporting using tools such as Asana, Harvest and Google Workspace.
• Manage competing deadlines and priorities across multiple accounts within a four-day work week structure.
• Contribute to agency planning, resourcing and the ongoing improvement of systems and processes.

Ethical storytelling and case-study care

• Set the standard for O&C's ethical storytelling principles when working with vulnerable people and case studies.
• Lead judgement calls on consent, safety and the longer-term impact of coverage on case studies and spokespeople.
• Support clients and media to navigate sensitive, high-risk or contested stories with care.

Team leadership and development

• Mentor and upskill Account Managers and junior team members in pitching, writing and media strategy.
• Uphold and role-model O&C's bespoke pitching and writing standards across the team.
• Share media intelligence, relationships and best practice to lift the capability of the wider team.
• Contribute to agency-level strategy, positioning and, where relevant, new business and growth.

Next Steps

To submit your application please click 'Apply Now' by the closing date.

For more information, see here:

https://www.odetteandco.com.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/odette-barry/

https://www.instagram.com/odetteandco/