Public Information Officer – Outreach and Communications

The Colorado State Land Board seeks an Outreach & Communication Officer to oversee strategic communication and engagement efforts and champion the agency’s mission-driven work.

What is the State Land Board?

The State Land Board is a constitutionally created agency led by five Governor-appointed Commissioners who are supported by agency Staff. We steward a $4.4 billion endowment of assets for the intergenerational benefit of Colorado’s K-12 schoolchildren and public institutions. The agency is the second-largest landowner in Colorado and we are proud to generate revenue on behalf of beneficiaries — Colorado public schools — by leasing trust land and mineral estate for assorted uses. We compete in private sector markets daily and we generated $280+ million in revenue in 2024. We achieve that with only 48 employees dispersed across seven offices across the state. We take pride in being entrepreneurial and business-savvy. 

The Job Opportunity

This isn’t your typical government job. We want you to share in our excitement over intergenerational stewardship of natural resources and share in our pride of providing significant financial support to Colorado’s public schools. You are the primary promoter of the work we do. Here’s a more detailed look at your duties:

Be the agency’s Chief Storyteller. 

• Serve as the agency spokesperson externally with all audiences. Be the voice of the agency and set our tone.
• Be the expert manager of public relations for the division, and must be sensitive to the needs and expectations of the Department of Natural Resources, the Governor’s office, and other stakeholders.
• Be out and about. A lot. Attend, sponsor, or host many outreach programs that reflect the breadth of the agency’s leasing portfolio and the scope of our impacted beneficiaries. On any given week you may get your boots dirty during a rural property tour, attend a grand opening for a school we helped fund, or present at the podium of a commercial real estate event downtown.
• Formulate and implement the agency’s communications work plan and strategy to ensure that SLB’s history, values, and mission-driven work are reflected in the agency’s public communications, marketing materials, website, and other communications resources. Please note that the agency deliberately doesn’t have much of a social media presence. (Pro applicant tip #1: review the website at slb.colorado.gov/about.)
• Determine, measure, reinforce, and assess the agency-wide communication standards.
• Determine methods and metrics for analyzing program effectiveness to leverage positive recognition from stakeholders. Build tools for staff and Board that help apply the standards to produced materials.

Support a sales-oriented culture at an agency that does $250+ million in revenue annually.

• Partner with the Program Managers to create professional marketing materials for leasing programs that span eleven disparate industries. (Pro applicant tip #2: review the annual report and stewardship report at slb.colorado.gov/reports.)
• Determine how to build and maintain communications-supportive records in our customer relationship management (CRM) system.

3) Provide strategic administrative support and communicate the Director’s and Commissioners’ strategic initiatives. 

• Manage all internal communication in collaboration with the Director and leadership team to support a positive workforce culture where employees believe their individual work contributes to fulfilling the mission and are empowered to contribute their skills and ideas toward the team’s continued growth.
• Support the CFO and Director in advocating for the division through financial communications.
• Coordinate outreach and communication to local governments in collaboration with Director and Program Managers.
• Coordinate outreach and communication to trust beneficiary groups in collaboration with the Director.
• Contribute content and also review content for the Commissioners’ monthly Board packet materials. The packet can be 150+ pages with more than a dozen Staff authors contributing text. (Pro applicant tip #3: review packets online at slb.colorado.gov/public-meetings.)

4)  Perform ubiquitous ‘other duties as assigned.’ 

• Check-in regularly with six district offices located across the state. A perk of this job is getting to interact with nearly everyone at our agency (and we think the people who work here are pretty great!). The position communicates and collaborates with program managers, SLB staff, six district offices, and other state agencies.
• Take care of your administrative duties. We are a collaborative team but be prepared to make your own copies.

What can you expect from us in return for your hard work?

We are a lean team of ~50 staff members that places significant emphasis on promoting and maintaining a positive work environment. We get our work done, and we have fun doing it.  The qualities of our environment include transparent and open communication, work-life balance (we mean it), and a focus on training and development. You’ll regularly explore and travel our state on day trips or multi-day trips: be prepared for a few nights away from home during traveling board meetings. As a state employee, you have access to a suite of HR benefits and holidays, including professional development funds and tuition reimbursement. And you can feel good knowing your work is directly supporting Colorado schools. 

What attributes are we looking for?

This is a position that succeeds based on experience. At a minimum, you need:

• Excellent written, oral, interpersonal, and team-related skills.
• Eight (8) years of professionally-relevant experience. Experience must include media relations and strategic communication and/or marketing.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Google Suite (Workspace) and Adobe.
• Must possess and maintain a Colorado Driver’s License for travel to board meetings.

Substitutions: Related education can substitute for years of experience. Degrees considered include Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degrees in journalism, public relations, communications, and political science. Demonstrated application of professional certifications such as Certified Public Information Officer will also be considered.  

Preferred qualifications: We’ll feel extra lucky if we can find a leader who has experience collaborating with a Board. To be successful as a member of this agency, you’ll have these professional traits and skills:

• Good written and oral communication with the ability to convey information to others effectively and efficiently
• Experience in managing the needs and tasks of government agency public information and media relations
• Experience in being the voice of the executive suite and/or governing board of an organization
• Independent yet also a team player, proactively helps others
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Customer-service mindset, respectful, helpful
• Proactive, takes initiative, self motivated
• Possesses good problem solving skills, seeks to understand alternatives, employs logic and good judgment
• Self confident and self aware
• Great work ethic: results oriented, disciplined, conscientious, thorough and diligent
• Honest, trustworthy, dependable
• Enthusiastic, energetic, optimistic, positive attitude
• Organized and professional
• Adaptable and open to change

We hope this sounds like you. Tell us why. Apply online through the state portal. 

PS: We compete in the private-sector markets every day and operate largely independently from state government. But not from HR. So please follow the lengthy prompts to apply for this position through the state hiring portal. Only candidates who apply through the state portal will be considered. Think of it as an endurance test. We hope to see you at the finish line.