Public Engagement and Communications Specialist I

Location: South Portland, ME (Portland)

What We're Looking For

Join our growing team! At HNTB, you can create a career that is meaningful to you while building communities that matter to all of us. For more than a century, we've been delivering solutions for some of the largest, most complex infrastructure projects across the country. With our historic growth, this is an exciting time to join our team of employee-owners.

HNTB is seeking an entry level professional interested in public engagement, communications, and graphic design. This position is ideal for someone beginning their professional career who is eager to gain hands-on experience supporting public-facing communications for transportation and infrastructure projects. The successful candidate will work alongside experienced staff, developing skills while supporting the creation of outreach materials, digital content, public meetings, and other engagement activities. As HNTB’s public engagement practice continues to grow, this position offers significant opportunity for professional development and career growth alongside the practice.

Our public engagement team supports transportation and infrastructure projects of all sizes in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, helping connect project teams with the communities they serve. The work is varied, fast-paced, and highly collaborative, with opportunities to contribute to projects from early planning through design and construction across Northern New England. Our work blends public engagement, communications, graphic design, and digital outreach, giving team members exposure to everything from public meetings and stakeholder coordination to managing project websites, presentations, outreach campaigns, and visual communications.

Occasional travel throughout Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire is required to support public meetings and stakeholder engagement activities.

What You'll Do

Assists in the development and implementation of communication and outreach strategies to educate the public and stakeholders on infrastructure projects. This could include research, outreach strategies, and best practices.

Conducts routine investigations and collects data needed for effective communications strategies and/or to fulfill federal regulatory outreach requirements, including environmental impact evaluations if applicable.

Prepares and coordinates dissemination of outreach materials, facts and information on project messaging to stakeholders according to the public outreach plan including external agencies, associations, and news organizations using print, periodicals, radio, social and/or visual communication media.

Tracks and maintains routine records and reports related to public involvement meetings, public hearings and outreach events.

Drafts speeches, create and design presentation materials, and/or compose correspondence for use in mailings, meetings, or other public consumption.

Responsible for initial fact checking for reports, articles, and other publications.

May help coordinate community meetings, public forums, working groups and other public meetings including scheduling, determining location, advertising, and ensuring proper setup/tear down and relevant collateral materials according to client expectation and project goals and budget.

May interact with clients to coordinate implementation of communication and outreach programs.

Performs other duties as assigned.

What You'll Need

Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Marketing, Communications, English, Journalism or related field, or

In lieu of education, 4 years of relevant experience

What You'll Bring

• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and professionally
• Strong organizational, time-management, and attention-to-detail skills, with the ability to balance multiple assignments and deadlines
• Creative thinking and problem-solving skills, with an interest in finding engaging and accessible ways to communicate information
• An eye for visual communication and an interest in creating clear, polished public-facing materials
• Interest in digital communications, including websites, social media, email communications, and online engagement tools
• Ability to develop clear, visually engaging presentations and an interest in supporting public-facing meetings
• Collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively as part of multidisciplinary project teams
• Initiative, curiosity, and resourcefulness, with a willingness to take on unfamiliar tasks, learn new tools and approaches, ask questions, and independently seek solutions when appropriate
• Interest in transportation, infrastructure, planning, or public-sector communications