DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR PRESS & PUBLIC INFORMATION

About the role

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

Operating under the highest level of executive leadership, the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information & Media Relations acts as the Chief Press Officer, Brand Architect, and strategist for the agency's public narrative. This pivotal role bridges traditional press operations with modern digital communications, directing all public facing media relations, proactive storytelling, and digital marketing strategy across DSS, HRA, and DHS.

The selected candidate will be an experienced communications leader and a sharp, data-driven storyteller. They will manage the agency's daily interface with the press corps, drive impactful coverage across print, broadcast, and digital outlets, and oversee a sophisticated digital ecosystem. This role is intensely strategic, requiring an individual who can seamlessly pivot from an aggressive news cycle or crisis response to high-impact brand management that scales trust across diverse demographics.

DSS-HRA is recruiting for one (1) Assistant Administrator of Public Affairs (HRA) M-V to function as a Deputy Commissioner of Public Information & Media Relations who will:

• Oversee the administration and operation of the Office of Pess and Public Information. Act as the primary editorial and creative director for all public-facing materials. Direct the rapid-response press operation, establishes high-stakes communication protocols, and serves as the primary advisor to the Commissioner and executive leadership during crises. Ensure that all press disclosures are accurate, legally compliant, and carefully aligned with the administration's broader policy goals. Oversee media relations, including press releases, media advisories, briefings, interview prep, and rapid response.
• Provide direct executive leadership and performance management for a multi-disciplinary communications team, including the Press Secretary, graphic designers, editorial writers, and multimedia content creators. This role is responsible for setting clear performance benchmarks, conducting regular evaluations, and cultivating a high-performing culture to ensure the team consistently delivers elite, high-stakes public relations materials under tight deadlines.
• Champion the agency's digital ecosystem, directing high-performing content teams to deliver accessible, high-impact digital experiences that optimize audience acquisition and engagement metrics. Pioneer brand reputation management by continuously evaluating audience sentiment trends and engineering agile communication pivots based on predictive analytics.
• Establish compliance guardrails across the digital lifecycle, ensuring all content meets elite standards for inclusive design (captions, alt text) and secure data privacy practices.
• Spearhead high-impact agency branding and marketing campaigns and serve as the strategic internal communications architect, establishing transparent, top-down messaging channels that clarify complex programs.
• Oversee marketing campaigns that increase awareness and uptake of services; partner with program leads to target priority audiences and create targeted client and public messaging. - Establish enterprise-level KPIs and performance benchmarks to measure the bottom-line impact of media reach, digital traffic, audience sentiment, and operational outcomes.

Hours/Shift: Monday - 8:30am-5:30pm

Qualifications & Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and five (5) years of full-time progressively responsible experience in public relations, journalism, promotion, advertising, or a related aspect of the communications field; or
• Education and/or experience equivalent to "1" above.