Deputy Communications Director, Ops and Infrastructure
Salary
Depends on Qualifications
Location
Houston, TX
Job Type
Regular Full-time
Job Number
16844
Department
Commissioner Precinct 1
Division
Communications
Opening Date
06/23/2026
Closing Date
7/23/2026 11:59 PM Central
Max Number of Applicants
100
Position Description
About the Office of Commissioner Rodney Ellis There are four precincts in Harris County. The four elected commissioners, along with an elected county judge, serve as members of Harris County Commissioners Court, the administrative head of the county's government. Commissioner Rodney Ellis represents the constituents of Precinct One.
With approximately 1.17 million residents, Harris County Precinct One is a diverse, urban precinct that covers 363 square miles. Precinct One's multi-racial, multi-ethnic population is roughly 33 percent African American, 38 percent Latino, 21 percent Anglo, 6 percent Asian and 2 percent other or multiple races. Precinct One stretches south to Brazoria County and reaches into eastern and northern sections of Harris County. The Precinct's territory includes a large section of Downtown Houston, including the Downtown Harris County Courthouse Complex, Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park and the BBVA Compass Stadium. Other notable landmarks include the 263-acre NRG Park Complex and the renowned Texas Medical Center. The Precinct is also the higher educational home to Houston Community College, Rice University, Texas Southern University, the University of Houston and the University of St. Thomas. Precinct One manages more than 21 parks, 10 community centers, numerous hike-and-bike trails, three maintenance service centers and several area offices, all of which provide an array of services to Precinct One residents.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis' Office Mission Precinct One: Commissioner Rodney Ellis' Office, is committed to becoming a national model for delivering responsive public service that utilizes inclusive, innovative, and collaborative approaches to improve the quality of life, advance equality of opportunity, and promote the fair treatment of all people in Harris County.
Key Areas of focus for our organization include, but are not limited to:
Advancing more effective, fair and equitable criminal justice system.
Furthering economic justice, equity, and opportunity for all Harris County residents, especially those often and historically left behind by government programs.
Ensuring equitable outcomes in health and access to quality, affordable healthcare.
Fighting for environmental and climate justice that keeps all communities safe and healthy.
Equitably investing in developing and maintaining resilient infrastructure and transportation for the 21st century.
Building and defending voting rights and a democracy that ensures equitable representation.
Progressing equity and social and racial justice as common threads through all areas of public policy and public service.
What you will do at Precinct One:
The Deputy Communications Director is the senior day-to-day operations leader for the Communications Division in the Office of Commissioner Rodney Ellis, responsible for helping the team run with clarity, discipline, speed, quality, and strategic focus. Reporting to the Communications Director, the Deputy translates OCRE-wide and division priorities into strong systems, clear workflows, visible calendars, accountable assignments, reliable budgets, useful reports, and polished public-facing work.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Division Operations, Systems, and Workflow Management
Lead the day-to-day operating rhythm of the Communications Division, ensuring priorities, assignments, timelines, deliverables, approvals, and next steps are clear, visible, and moving forward.
Oversee and improve division-wide operational systems, including meeting cadences, documentation practices, file organization, onboarding tools, internal follow-up systems, trackers, scheduling routines, and cross-team coordination processes.
Work closely with the Operations Manager and administrative support staff to maintain consistent systems for routine reminders, meeting follow-up, vendor documentation, budget tracking support, and workflow visibility.
Lead scalable systems across the division while partnering with administrative and operations support staff on implementation, documentation, scheduling, reminders, tracker maintenance, and routine follow-up.
Production Calendar, Quality Control, and Approvals
Own and manage the division-wide communications production calendar, including major campaigns, press materials, digital content, creative projects, newsletters, mailers, speeches, talking points, recurring deliverables, rapid-response needs, media events, and communications-driven public moments.
Build, maintain, and improve systems for project tracking, status updates, deadline management, approval routing, and follow-through so major projects have a clear owner, timeline, status, next step, and escalation path.
Establish and enforce quality-control standards across communications products, including clarity, accuracy, accessibility, formatting, grammar, branding, message alignment, approval status, and readiness for publication or distribution.
Help enforce intake, review, and approval processes, including sensitivity tiers and escalation protocols.
Exercise delegated approval authority on routine and elevated materials within established approval structures, and escalate sensitive or high-risk matters as needed.
Strategic Communications, Editorial Support, and Infrastructure Storytelling
Support communications strategy, planning, and production for major office priorities, with a particular focus on infrastructure, including multimodal connectivity, flood mitigation, sidewalks, street lighting, parks and trails, mobility improvements, public facilities, and other capital projects that affect daily life for Harris County residents.
Translate complex infrastructure, engineering, funding, timeline, and implementation details into clear public-facing materials that explain what is being built, why it matters, who benefits, and how projects advance equity, safety, resilience, accessibility, and quality of life.
Review, edit, and help develop public-facing materials, including statements, talking points, press materials, newsletters, web content, event materials, infrastructure explainers, project fact sheets, and other communications products.
Ensure communications products are clear, accurate, values-driven, accessible, and aligned with Commissioner Ellis's voice and priorities.
Cross-Team Coordination, Press/Event Readiness, and Partner Management
Coordinate across narrative, media, digital, creative, events, Community Affairs & Advocacy, Policy, Programs, Development and Infrastructure, Engineering, Flood Control, Budget, administrative teams, external partners, and vendors.
Ensure communications work is integrated, timely, strategically aligned, accurate, and properly resourced.
Oversee communications planning and readiness for press conferences, media availabilities, announcements, briefings, mid-tier events, and other communications-driven public moments.
Ensure clear timelines, owners, approval paths, talking points, press materials, signage needs, media logistics, digital promotion, photography/video coordination, and post-event follow-up are in place.
For major infrastructure events, ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, park openings, and large-scale public events led by the Events Director, serve as a communications thought partner and workflow lead.
Ensure message alignment, media readiness, content planning, approvals, and coordination with key teams are fully integrated into the broader event plan.
Team Leadership, Reporting, Capacity Management, and Process Improvement
Provide day-to-day direction, support, and accountability for designated staff, managers, projects, and workflows within the Communications Division.
Serve as a senior designee for the Communications Director when needed, including representing the division in internal meetings and coordinating cross-divisional communications needs.
Other Duties as Assigned
Harris County is an Equal Opportunity Employer
https://hrrm.harriscountytx.gov/Pages/EqualEmploymentOpportunityPlan.aspx
If you need special services or accommodations, please call (713) 274-5445 or email ADACoordinator@bmd.hctx.net.
This position is subject to a criminal history check. Only relevant convictions will be considered and, even when considered, may not automatically disqualify the candidate.
Requirements
Education:
Experience:
6+ years of experience in communications, operations, project management, public affairs, government, campaigns, advocacy, nonprofit leadership, journalism, agency work, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience managing complex operations, production calendars, cross-functional projects, approval processes, budgets, vendors, administrative systems, or high-volume deliverables.
Licensure:
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Strong organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to create order, visibility, and accountability in a fast-paced environment.
Experience building or improving systems, templates, dashboards, SOPs, trackers, reporting tools, or other operational infrastructure.
Excellent writing, editing, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to review and improve public-facing materials for clarity, accuracy, tone, message alignment, and quality.
Strong judgment and discretion, including the ability to identify risk, understand context, manage sensitive information, and know when to escalate decisions.
Experience supervising staff, managing teams, or coordinating across multiple senior stakeholders with competing priorities.
Ability to translate big-picture strategy into concrete plans, timelines, assignments, workflows, and finished products.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to producing polished, accurate, high-quality work.
Experience with budget tracking, vendor coordination, contracts, invoices, procurement, or resource planning preferred.
Ability to lead systems and enforce process while working collaboratively with administrative and operations support staff.
Ability to push for clarity, accountability, and realistic timelines without becoming a bottleneck.
Commitment to equity, justice, and the values of the Office of Commissioner Rodney Ellis, and experience supporting communications, programs, or operations that engage or serve diverse communities, including communities of color.
NOTE: Qualifying education, experience, knowledge and skills must be documented in your job application. You may attach a resume to the application as supporting documentation but ONLY information stated on the application will be used for consideration. "See Resume" will not be accepted for qualifications.
Preferences
Government, campaign, advocacy, nonprofit, public-sector, or mission-driven communications experience is a plus.
Spanish fluency is also a plus.
General Information
Hours:
Full-time | Regular
Monday - Friday | Evenings and weekend will be required at times.
Work environment:
This position includes standard office work which may require remaining stationery and working at a computer workstation for extended periods.
Will generally perform duties in an office, though sometimes at external event locations Occasional travel within Harris County
Location:
Employment may be contingent on passing a drug screen and meeting other standards.
Due to a high volume of applications positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.
HARRIS COUNTY EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Harris County offers a highly competitive benefits program, featuring a comprehensive group health plan and defined benefit retirement plan.
The following benefits are offered only to Harris County employees in regular (full-time) positions:
Health & Wellness Benefits
Paid Time Off (PTO)
Retirement Savings Benefit
The following benefits are available to Harris County employees in full-time and select part-time positions:
In accordance with the Harris County Personnel Regulations, group health and related benefits are subject to amendment or discontinuance at any time. Harris County Commissioners Court reserves the right to make benefit modifications on the Countys behalf as needed.
For plan details, visit the Harris County Benefits & Wellness website:
www.benefitsathctx.com
01
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education completed as it relates to this position? Qualifying information must be documented in the Education section of your application.
02
If you selected a college degree in response to the previous question, which of the following best describes your major?
03
Please describe your educational background including level of education completed, area of study and completed major and minor programs.
04
Which of the following best describes your verifiable experience in communications, operations, project management, public affairs, government, campaigns, advocacy, nonprofit leadership, journalism, agency work, or a related field? (To be considered, qualifying experience must be documented in your applications employment history)
05
Please provide the dates of employment during which you obtained experience working in communications, operations, project management, public affairs, government, campaigns, advocacy, nonprofit leadership, journalism, agency work, or a related field. Provide the month and year that began and ended the experience [ Example: "January 2020 - December 2025" ] If this experience is not clearly documented in the Work Experience section, your application will be disqualified. If you do not have this experience, type "N/A" in the space provided.
06
Do you have government, campaign, advocacy, nonprofit, public-sector, or mission-driven communications experience?
07
This role requires a Valid Drivers License (Texas upon hire) Do you have a Valid Drivers License?
08
Are you bilingual in English and Spanish? If yes, do you consider yourself fluent?
Required Question
Employer Harris County
Address 1111 Fannin St
Ste. 600
Houston, Texas, 77002
Phone 713-274-5445
Website https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/harriscountytx