Assistant Director - Employee Communications

Company: Northwestern Mutual
Location: Saint Francis
Posted on: February 15, 2026

Job Description:

The Assistant Director, Strategic Employee Communications plays a critical role in engaging, equipping and activating employees and leaders across Northwestern Mutual. This role leads communications that help employees understand priorities, take action, and feel connected to our culture, strategy and employee experience. With a strong focus on supporting HR priorities, Total Rewards and well-being, the New North project, and campus experiences, this leader partners closely with senior stakeholders to translate complex topics into clear, compelling and actionable communications that drive awareness, alignment and engagement. This role thrives in a highly collaborative and fast-moving environment. You’ll proactively connect dots, think creatively, and ensure audiences have the right information, at the right time, in the right way. You’ll have myriad opportunities to flex your leadership, storytelling and project management skills combined with the ability to directly influence the employee experience. What Youll Do Serve as strategic communications partner to senior leaders within the People Function and across the enterprise to consult on communication strategy. Lead the development and implementation of enterprise employee communication strategies, including messaging, channels, content planning, and measurement. Lead projects and working teams in developing communication initiatives that support communication goals and objectives. Translate complex, technical, and sensitive topics into simple, actionable communications that reflect an audience-first mindset. Influence partners on communication best practices and help evolve experiences and processes behind messages. Develop metrics/measures to evaluate communication effectiveness to continually improve engagement and clarity. Develop and maintain editorial calendars, toolkits, and resources to ensure consistency and alignment across channels. Work to understand business partner communication needs and provide a proactive, rapid response to time-sensitive issues. Work independently and efficiently with guidance on only the most complex situations. Provide day-to-day project leadership and may lead, guide or mentor other team members. What Youll Bring to the Role Bachelors degree. 8 or more years of experience in professional communication, organizational communication, public relations, marketing or related communication field. Demonstrated ability to build trusted partnerships with senior leaders and influence decision-making at all levels. Strong planning, prioritization, and project management skills — able to manage multiple fast-moving priorities. Ability to listen to, engage, and influence business partners; synthesize and relate complex information; and develop and implement integrated communications strategies, flexing strong consultative abilities throughout. Exceptional writing, verbal and storytelling skills across a variety of formats and stakeholders. Ability to lead others to solve complex problems and analyze information to make business decisions. Audience-centric mindset: ability to simplify, clarify, and guide people toward action. Comfortable navigating ambiguity, solving complex problems, and connecting details to strategy. Previous supervisory/leadership experience preferred. In-person (3 days/week) candidate preferred. Skills You Have Attention to Detail: Focuses on specific details to spot and correct errors in advance of them being found and surpass quality expectations. Performs work with thorough proofreading for presentation, content, accuracy, and overall quality. Business Influence: Collaborates, communicates and influences direct reports, stakeholders, and other business functions based on understanding of the marketplace, organizational needs, and the client as a people manager. Executive Presence: Builds and maintains an authentic personal brand, inspiring and motivating people to pursue a desired outcome by sharing a clear vision and demonstrating confidence, professionalism, self-awareness and trust with business stakeholders. Project Management: Delivers projects in alignment to business requirements, specific success criteria, and stakeholder expectations. Plans, manages, and completes projects keeping cost and time considerations in mind. Strategic Thinking: Uses critical thinking and knowledge of business demand to plan, design, prioritize and execute high impact initiatives and programs. Writing & Editing: Creates and edits persuasive content so that it is appealing, understandable, or relatable to the intended audience; Has knowledge of the variety of formats, styles, and techniques for developing and reviewing materials. Compensation Range: Pay Range - Start: $94,640.00 Pay Range - End: $175,760.00 Geographic Specific Pay Structure: Structure 110: $104,090.00 USD - $193,310.00 USD Structure 115: $108,850.00 USD - $202,150.00 USD We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients interests at the center of all we do. Get started now! Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer who welcomes and encourages diversity in the workforce. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives. Skills Strategic Thinking (NM) - Advanced, Cross Functional Partnering & Planning (NM) - Advanced, KPIs & Metrics (NM) - Advanced, Writing & Editing (NM) - Expert, Information Optimization (NM) - Expert, Project Management (NM) - Expert, Strategic Vision & Planning (NM) - Advanced, Interpersonal Savvy (NM) - Expert, Talent Development & Planning (NM) - Advanced, Executive Presence (NM) - Advanced, Adaptive Communication (NM) - Advanced, Problem Management (NM) - Advanced, Content Management (NM) - Expert, Financial Services Industry Acumen (NM) - Intermediate, Decision Making (NM) - Advanced, Business Influence (NM) - Advanced, Accountability (NM) - Expert, Attention to Detail (NM) - Expert

Keywords: Northwestern Mutual, Elmhurst , Assistant Director - Employee Communications, PR / Public Relations , Saint Francis, Illinois