Join the diverse and dynamic team that powers Michigan's largest energy provider and one of the nation's largest gas and electric combination utilities. Consumers Energy services 6.8 million of Michigan's 10 million residents - caring for our friends and neighbors in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. We embrace a cleaner and leaner utility vision focused on eliminating energy waste and adding renewable energy from sources such as wind and solar.

Location for this position is negotiable

Job Summary

The Communications Consultant contributes to and maintains the primary internal communication channels (e.g., intranet, digital signage, all employee emails). They consult with and provide client communications planning and communications creation support for internal business units such as Corporate Giving; Safety; Lean/CE Way; IT; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Ethics and Compliance and more.

As part of the Communications team, the consultant is tasked with finding creative, innovative, and effective ways to drive Culture, employee engagement, employee empowerment, understanding of Company strategy/priorities, and changes through storytelling and messaging to the organization.

What you will do:

• Develop and manage key tactics and assets for communications to all employees and targeted internal audiences. This includes meeting with clients to understand their needs, developing communications solutions and creating the content (writing, editing, formatting and basic visuals).

• Responsible for advising on a communications strategy for a variety of efforts, developing a communications plan (i.e., change management needs, key messages, timeline, stakeholders, audience, channels and visual assets) and managing the various components to execute the communications plan.

• Writer/editor for Internal Communications - Responsible for drafting messages for our internal intranet (Connect), email and other channels. Provides editing & reviews of messages for other team members or clients, including supporting officer/executive communications.

• Develop graphic design and/or video assets for Internal Communications -creating assets to include in messages for our internal intranet and email (including but not limited to infographics, icons, 1-pagers, short videos, posters, presentations, etc.) to simplify complex information and drive understanding.

• Assist in determining content strategy for our internal intranet (blogs, executive blogs, announcements, articles and events), digital signage platform, and all-employee or large distribution emails.

• Ensure consistent application of corporate identity standards across all communications.

• Execute a variety of communications campaigns, including awareness, branding, change management, executive, social, human interest and more. May execute more complex topics or campaigns.

• Other non-essential duties as assigned or may be necessary.

We encourage you to apply if possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Quality, engaging storytelling and technical/professional writing

• Ability to proofread and edit

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)

• Experience with creating communications on Microsoft SharePoint or a similar intranet platform

• Ability to create visual elements that support communications (e.g., video and graphic design) using Canva, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator or similar.

• Consulting and strategic relationship building with employees at various levels of the organization. Comfortable working with subject experts to draw out the details of stories/ideas.

• Project management skills including coordinating stakeholders/SMEs, scheduling, and managing related logistics to achieve production milestones.

• Ability to juggle several projects simultaneously while maintaining organization and adherence to a detailed action plan / deliverables timeline.

• Ability to draw out key conclusions, stories and takeaways from data.

• Ability to use data and problem-solving tools to assess effectiveness and determine appropriate next steps.

We encourage you to apply if you have (an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered and reviewed).

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing/Advertising, Public Affairs, Human Resources, Community Affairs, Communications, Journalism, Media/Digital Media, Change Management or other relevant field of study.

• 2+ years of prior experience in communications firm, advertising, social media marketing, broadcasting, public relations, internal or external corporate communications, and creative writing.

Why should you join our team?

At Consumers Energy, we offer more than just a place to work. We foster a culture that supports career development, growth, and stability, and we take pride in offering our co-workers excellent benefits and compensation packages. We are deliberately creating an inclusive culture that makes our diverse team of co-workers feel valued, supported, and empowered every day. We're a company made up of thousands of people, all with different stories to share and work to do, but we stand united in our company purpose: world class performance delivering hometown service.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation packages

• Medical, Dental and Vision

• 401k with company match
• Paid parental leave

• Up to 13 paid Holidays

• Paid time off

• Educational Assistance Program

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

We, at CMS Energy, value Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It is part of our DNA. We treat our employees with respect, we treat each other fairly and we value the opinions of others. We are passionate about building and nurturing an environment where everyone feels included. We don't discriminate. We seek to learn about each other and better understand our unique differences. Our uniqueness makes us authentic. We create safe spaces where everyone can be who they truly are. We invite difficult conversations and uncomfortable topics. We value diverse perspectives; this is what makes us great together. We harbor an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women's Advisory Panel (WAP), Women's in Energy (WE), Minority Advisory Panel (MAP), Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy (PACE), GENERGY, capable, Interfaith and Veterans Advisory Panel (VAP) are key enablers to living the values of our company culture: Caring, Empowered, Deliberate, Agility, and Ownership.

All qualified applicants will not be discriminated against and will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability, race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.