Public Affairs Specialist

Location: Portsmouth, NH

About the role

Support our public affairs and community engagement strategy as well as communications to external stakeholders through charitable donations, community engagement events, and legislative policy support. This role requires a strong strategic external communications background and an understanding of public affairs and corporate social responsibility strategy.

This is a high-visibility, externally facing role operating at the intersection of community relations, media, and government affairs. The pace of the work is driven by external forces—legislative sessions, community concerns, and news cycles—and the ideal candidate is energized by that dynamic. The successful candidate will produce polished, professional materials in support of public affairs and community engagement work, including PowerPoint presentations, briefing documents, talking points, and event materials.

This role requires travel of 25–50% of the time, including occasional short-notice travel in response to legislative activity, community events, or media situations. Candidates must be comfortable with flexible scheduling and the ability to mobilize quickly when circumstances require it.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the execution of corporate social responsibility initiatives, including philanthropic activities, volunteer programs, and sustainability efforts.
• Develop relationships with key community and legislative leaders in targeted areas where we work.
• Create educational content and brand awareness communications for direct and indirect distribution to customers and stakeholders.
• Keep a steady pulse on the "Voice of Community" and provide strategic oversight and direction in response to community and customer feedback.
• Identify opportunities for community engagement; support and manage logistics, budgets, spending, and on-site interaction with community groups, customers, or legislative representatives.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to engage external stakeholders (e.g., lawmakers, advocacy allies, media, government agencies) on priorities and issues—educating on our contributions and perspectives in support of sustainable waste management solutions.
• Amplify and build credibility for our perspective by mobilizing stakeholders (e.g., trade associations, advocacy groups, third-party alliances, nonprofits) who can demonstrate support and partnership for our essential services and the role we play in sustainability and economic impact on communities.
• Lead strategic planning for external affairs activities, including proactive event development, stakeholder mapping, issue anticipation, and narrative development that positions WIN Waste as a trusted community partner and essential services provider.
• Conduct briefings with cross-functional teams to help shape proactive and reactive strategies and communications for the company.
• Develop and execute a plan to promote the brand’s sustainability initiatives, identifying opportunities to leverage positive developments to promote a positive brand image, including facility tours and supporting broader corporate requests.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with local communities, non-profit entities, and other stakeholders to promote the brand’s values and contributions to local economies.
• Build a network of internal volunteers and identify appropriate engagements to drive meaningful teammate opportunities to engage with the community.
• Develop a community engagement campaign calendar and comprehensive plan for reaching key audiences, including paid advertising, microsites, and earned media opportunities.
• Develop a working knowledge of waste-to-energy facility operations and environmental compliance in order to communicate accurately and credibly with regulators, legislators, media, and community stakeholders on technical subject matter.

Requirements

• Required bachelor’s degree in journalism, English, Communications, Public Relations, Public Policy, or a business-related field.
• 7+ years of work experience in communications, public relations, public affairs, campaign, and/or agency experience.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint and Excel. Preferred experience with CSR software.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities in a deadline-driven environment with competing external demands.
• Must be comfortable operating with limited supervision and making sound communications judgments in real time.
• Familiarity with energy, environmental, infrastructure, or industrial sectors strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting or working alongside legislative affairs, regulatory affairs, or government relations functions strongly preferred.
• Prior experience interpreting or communicating technical or regulatory subject matter to non-technical audiences strongly preferred.

Benefits

• Industry-leading benefits, including multiple and flexible medical plans.
• Outstanding PTO program, floating holidays, and strong 401k program with company match.
• Tuition reimbursement plan and college loan reimbursement.
• College scholarship program for dependents.
• Parental Leave Program.
• Inclusive culture with employee engagement events and employee resource groups.
• Competitive total compensation package including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and short-term disability.
• Paid vacation, holidays, and personal days.