Senior Public Affairs Specialist ​

About the role

Astrion is seeking a Senior Public Affairs Specialist to directly support the Cryptologic and Cyber Systems Division (HNC) within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. This is a full-time position requiring an active TS/SCI clearance with limited travel as needed. The role involves media monitoring and analysis, communication effects assessment, strategic communication planning, and professional engagement to support Department of the Air Force communication efforts.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required
• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Bachelor's degree in journalism, public relations, marketing, or related field
• Disclosure of Political Appointments
• Ability to perform periodic alert duty as the public affairs on-call representative for after-hours media and other inquiries
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite software
• Strong office automation skills (technology, software, and systems to automate and streamline routine office tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce manual errors)
• Familiarity with the DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) platform
• Strong military writing skills (will serve as backup for the Technical Writer)
• Strong virtual collaboration skills, including Microsoft Teams and setup/management of Senior Staff Meetings

Responsibilities

• Media Monitoring and Analysis: Conducts continuous, multi-source analysis of media content to inform senior leader decision-making. Identifies relevant print, broadcast, and online coverage of the Department of the Air Force on an ongoing basis, applying both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods to evaluate the immediacy, salience, and potential impact of that coverage. Requires mastery of media content analysis principles, methods, and techniques — including operationalizing analytic terms and units of measurement, ensuring intercoder reliability, delineating media frames and their sources, and explaining frame relevance to Air Force issues. Mastery of data gathering and analytical skills sufficient to accumulate, organize, evaluate, and interpret data; identify relevant issues; reach valid conclusions; and offer meaningful recommendations and resolutions.
• Communication Effects Assessment: Integrates social science research findings — drawn from formal opinion research surveys, focus groups, and related instruments — with media assessments to produce comprehensive, evidence-based communication effects assessments.
• Strategy and Planning: Develops long-range communication strategies and deliberate communication plans grounded in precise identification and characterization of target audiences and the desired effects of Department of the Air Force communication efforts. Requires skill in defense policy and plans development, including detailed knowledge of recent and historical Air Force planning, programming, and budget issues relevant to deliberate communication activities.
• Professional Engagement: Participates in meetings, conferences, briefings, and seminars addressing program planning, emerging and advanced technologies, and support system concepts; applies insights gained to strengthen organizational communication practice. Requires skill in maintaining effective working relationships with groups interested in or affected by public affairs programs and policies; skill in producing written products that convey complex information to audiences of differing expertise; and ability to present information orally in a logical, clear, and concise manner.
• Other duties as assigned