Crisis Communications Manager
Impact: Organisational reputation protection through expert crisis communications management
Develop and execute communications strategies to protect and restore organisational reputation during crises including product failures, executive misconduct, data breaches, and public controversies. Draft crisis statements, manage media relations, coordinate internal communications, and advise senior leadership on reputational risk.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 60% Team / 40% Solo
- Client facing
- Frequent
- Impact visibility
- Moderate
- Travel
- 15 to 25% for crisis response and media briefings
- Schedule flexibility
- Structured
- Remote work
- Hybrid
- Typical work hours
- 45 to 70 hours/week
- Stress level
- Moderate
At a glance
- Median salary
- $160,000
- Entry-level
- $85,000 - $115,000
- Senior
- $280,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 10% (as fast as average)
- Demand
- Growing
- Freelance potential
- Low
- Salary growth potential
- High - 65 to 80% growth from entry to senior
- Typical student debt
- Low
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- 65
Soft skills
- 35
Technical complexity: Moderate
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Bachelor's Degree
- Licensing
- No
- Years to mid-career
- 3 to 5 years
- Years to senior
- 7 to 10 years
- Career switching
- Hard
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
Where you can go from here
Typical progression
- PR Coordinator > Communications Manager > Crisis Communications Manager > VP of Communications > Chief Communications Officer
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 15% low risk as crisis communications requires human judgment and relationship management
- AI disruption risk
- Low
- Demand trend
- Growing
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 7/10
- Meaning
- 7/10
- Work-life balance
- 6.5/10
- Prestige
- 7/10
- Social perception
- High