Manager, Community Relations and Outreach

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement CATS’ community relations and outreach strategies in alignment with agency communications and service priorities.
• Establish standards, tools and processes for community engagement activities, including public meetings, briefings and outreach events.
• Ensure engagement approaches are inclusive, accessible and responsive to diverse communities.
• Develop comprehensive recaps and program updates on a regular basis, audience both internal and external.

• Build and maintain relationships with neighborhood groups, advocacy organizations, community-based organizations and regional partners.
• Serve as a primary liaison between CATS and external stakeholders regarding service initiatives, projects and operational changes.
• Coordinate engagement efforts with municipal, county and regional agencies as appropriate

• Plan and lead community meetings, open houses, listening sessions and outreach events related to service changes, projects and/or initiatives.
• Ensure materials and pre/post presentations are clear, accurate and tailored to community audiences.
• Support staff participation in community events and forums.
• Ensure community engagement and outreach events are properly staffed and those staffing are trained.

• Coordinate with Communications, Marketing, Planning Customer Service and Operation teams to support outreach related to service changes and major initiatives.
• Translate technical service information into accessible language for public audiences.
• Ensure community feedback is documented and shared with appropriate teams.

• Collect, analyze and summarize community feedback, concerns and trends.
• Identify recurring issues or barriers and recommend engagement or communication improvements.
• Lead and support development of reports and summaries on outreach activities and outcomes.

• Lead and manage community relations staff and outreach specialists.
• Establish performance expectations, accountability structures and professional development priorities.
• Build a scalable outreach team capable of supporting expanding service and project needs.

• Coordinate with Customer Service, Marketing, Planning, Operations and Legal teams to ensure consistent messaging and engagement practices.
• Support agency-wide initiatives through aligned outreach strategies.
• Participate in cross-functional planning related to service changes and major projects.

Core Competencies:

Community Engagement Leadership – Designs and leads outreach and engagement strategies that connect the agency with communities and stakeholders.

Stakeholder Relationship Management – Builds trust-based relationships with advocacy groups, community organizations and partners.

Public Meeting & Outreach Execution – Plans and facilitates effective community meetings and engagement events. Properly hires and trains support staff for outreach and events. 

Service Communication Translation – Converts technical service information into accessible, public-facing language.

Organizational Leadership & Talent Development – Builds and leads a high-performing community relations team.

Cross-Functional Collaboration – Aligns outreach efforts with communications, operations and planning activities; note other business units may be engaged pending need.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of community engagement and public outreach, e.g. IAP2, IAP2 Gold Spectrum
• Public-sector communication and transparency expectations.
• Methods for collecting and incorporating community input into organizational processes.
• Accessibility and inclusive engagement practices.

Skilled In:

• Designing and implementing outreach strategies and engagement plans.
• Facilitating public meetings, presentations and listening sessions.
• Building and maintaining stakeholder relationships.
• Translating technical or operational information into public-facing language.
• Analyzing feedback and identifying engagement trends or issues.
• Event activations and managing outreach teams at large events and/or community outreach events.

Ability to:

• Lead community engagement efforts in complex or high-visibility environments.
• Balance community concerns with operational and policy constraints.
• Manage multiple outreach initiatives and timelines.
• Coordinate effectively with internal teams and external partners.
• Maintain professionalism, diplomacy and cultural awareness in public interactions.
• Develop and lead staff while establishing accountability and performance standards.

Minimum Qualifications:

·        Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, community engagement, public administration, urban studies, or a related field and five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in community relations, public outreach, or stakeholder engagement or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

·        Demonstrated experience leading community engagement or outreach programs/activations in a public-facing organization.

·        Experience managing staff or leading work and outreach teams.

·        Experience in International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)

Preferred Qualifications:

·        Experience in  public-sector, transportation, transit or regulated environment.

·        Experience working with diverse communities and advocacy groups.

·        Experience planning and facilitating public meetings or forums; strong public speaking experience.

·        Experience supporting service change or project-related outreach efforts.

·        Experience managing staff for major event and or outreach activations.

·        IAP2 Gold Spectrum

Working Environment and Physical Demands:

The Manager of Community Relations works primarily in an office environment but regularly attends community meetings, outreach events, and public forums at various locations. The role requires use of standard office equipment and frequent interaction with the public and external partners. Evening or weekend work may be required to support community meetings or special events.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.

Other Requirements and Conditions:

Note on January 1, 2027, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) will transit to an independent transit authority, the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority (MPTA).  This role, along with all other CATS positions, will also transition to the MPTA and will no longer be employees of the City of Charlotte.

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email Careers@ci.charlotte.nc.us

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.