Sr. Manager, External Communications

The Aspen Group (TAG) is one of the largest and most trusted retail healthcare business support organizations in the U.S. and has supported over 20,000 healthcare professionals and team members at more than 1,300 health and wellness offices across 48 states in four distinct categories: dental care, urgent care, medical aesthetics, and animal health. Working in partnership with independent practice owners and clinicians, the team is united by a single purpose: to prove that healthcare can be better and smarter for everyone. TAG provides a comprehensive suite of centralized business support services that power the impact of five consumer-facing businesses: Aspen Dental, ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, WellNow Urgent Care, Chapter Aesthetic Studio, and Lovet Pet Health Care. Each brand has access to a deep community of experts, tools and resources to grow their practices, and an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality consumer healthcare experiences at scale.

As a reflection of our current needs and planned growth we are seeking an individual to join our organization as a Senior Manager, External Communications supporting the Aspen Dental brand. The Senior Manager, External Communications, plays a critical role in protecting and advancing Aspen Dental’s reputation across media, public discourse, and community engagement.

In an environment where trust, transparency, and disciplined communication are essential, this role helps shape and drive enterprise external communications strategy, ensuring that Aspen Dental shows up with clarity, credibility, and accountability — especially in high-stakes moments. This leader partners closely with executives and cross-functional stakeholders to proactively tell Aspen Dental story, manage reputational risk, and integrate community impact into the broader narrative of access to care and service to communities.

Key Responsibilities

Media Relations & Storytelling

• Operates with an enterprise-first mindset, balancing brand autonomy with system-wide reputation impact.
• Identifies themes and insights across brands to strengthen Aspen Dental’s overarching story.
• Develop and oversee annual external communications plans
• Lead proactive and reactive media relations efforts across Aspen Dental’s enterprise and brand portfolio.
• Develop press materials, statements, Q&A, and executive briefing documents.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with national, regional, and trade media.
• Support executive visibility through thought leadership, interviews, and strategic placements.
• Ensure alignment across enterprise messaging and brand narratives.

Crisis & Issues Management

• Serve as a core member of Aspen Dental’s crisis communications team.
• Serve as a steady, accountable voice during high-pressure situations, modeling calm judgment and disciplined decision-making
• Draft timely, clear, and effective communications during high-risk or high-visibility situations.
• Monitor emerging issues and support leadership with risk assessment and response recommendations.
• Maintain and update crisis playbooks, media holding statements, and escalation protocols.
• Foster strong cross-functional alignment, partnering closely with Legal, Risk, HR, Operations, and Brand teams to ensure coordinated responses.

Social & Real-Time Engagement Support

• Collaborate with social care and digital teams to ensure consistent messaging across earned and owned channels.
• Support high-profile or sensitive digital responses where reputational considerations are elevated.
• Analyze digital and media trends to proactively identify reputational risks and narrative opportunities

Philanthropy & Community Impact Communications

• Support communications for signature community initiatives and partnerships.
• Help position philanthropy and access-to-care initiatives as integrated components of Aspen Dental’s reputation strategy.
• Collaborate with brand and field teams to amplify community impact stories.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner across Marketing, Brand, Legal, Risk, HR, and Operations to ensure external alignment.
• Work with agency partners to execute media strategy and scale outreach efforts.
• Help drive consistency and process discipline in external communications across a growing, multi-brand organization.

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience in corporate communications, public relations, or external affairs.
• Strong media relations experience with demonstrated success securing earned coverage.
• Experience supporting crisis and issues management in complex or regulated environments.
• Excellent writing skills with the ability to translate complex topics into clear, compelling narratives.
• Strong judgment and ability to operate calmly under pressure.
• Experience in healthcare, consumer services, retail, or regulated industries preferred.
• Executive presence and ability to counsel senior stakeholders.

What Success Looks Like

• Consistent, strategic earned media coverage that reinforces Aspen Dental’s credibility and leadership.
• Calm, coordinated responses during issues or crises.
• Clear and disciplined messaging across brands and channels.
• Strong internal partnerships built on trust, sound judgment, and reliability.

Annual Pay Range: $125-145k with bonus opportunity

A generous benefits package that includes paid time off, health, dental, vision, and 401(k) savings plan with match