Press Secretary Job Description

A press secretary is the person reporters call when they want an answer from an elected official, an agency head, or a government office. The Bureau of Labor Statistics files the job under public relations work and notes that in government, public relations specialists may be called press secretaries and keep the public informed about the activities of officials and agencies. In the federal civil service, the matching classification is the Public Affairs Series, GS-1035, which the Office of Personnel Management defines around establishing and maintaining mutual communication between federal agencies and the general public.

The title covers a wide spread of offices. A House member's press secretary may be the only communications hire in a small Washington suite, writing every release and booking every hometown radio hit. A governor's or mayor's press secretary usually runs a small shop with deputies and a digital lead. A cabinet department or large city agency may have a press secretary who speaks on record for the secretary or commissioner while a separate public affairs staff handles routine inquiries.

The core of the job is the daily exchange with reporters. That means reading the morning clips and wires before the principal does, deciding which incoming questions get a written statement, which get a call back, and which get a polite decline. It means knowing the ground rules cold: on the record, on background, deep background, and off the record. It also means enforcing those rules consistently so the office stays credible with the reporters who cover it every day.

Writing fills much of the rest of the day. Press secretaries produce news releases, statements, talking points, op-ed drafts, briefing memos, and short social posts. Every piece has to clear internal review, which in government often means policy staff, counsel, and sometimes an ethics or records officer. Moving a statement through that chain fast without losing accuracy is a skill in itself.

Events are the third pillar. A press conference or bill signing involves picking the venue, setting the backdrop, credentialing reporters, arranging the mult box for audio, preparing the principal with likely questions, and deciding when to end the questioning. Media availabilities, editorial board meetings, and sit-down interviews each carry their own preparation routine.

Crisis work cuts across everything. A bad headline, a viral clip, or an emergency in the district can blow up the plan for the day in minutes. The press secretary has to get facts from staff who are still gathering them, agree on what can be confirmed, and put out something accurate before rumor fills the gap. In emergency management settings, that work ties into a joint information center and coordinated messaging with other agencies.

In larger offices, the press secretary reports to a communications director or chief of staff and may supervise press assistants or deputy press secretaries.

Education. A bachelor's degree is the usual entry point, typically in journalism, communications, political science, public relations, or English. A graduate degree is optional for most press roles; a master's in public affairs or strategic communication can help for agency jobs that blend press work with program communications. Build a portfolio alongside the degree: published clips, releases you wrote, statements that ran, and an interview or two you prepared someone for.

Typical experience. For a first press secretary title, plan on roughly 2 to 4 years in a related seat. Feeder jobs include press assistant or staff assistant in a legislative office, reporter or producer at a local outlet, campaign communications staffer, or public information officer at a city or county agency. For a senior press secretary job in a governor's office or cabinet department, expect to need a longer track record, typically 5 to 8 years, including real crisis experience and a record of speaking on record.

Skills that carry the job:

• Fast, clean writing under deadline: a statement that needs no rewrite
• Command of attribution rules and the judgment to apply them the same way every time
• Message discipline: staying consistent with what the principal said last week and last year
• Event production: advance work, credentialing, staging, audio feeds
• Interview preparation, including mock questioning and briefing books
• Calm judgment when facts are incomplete and reporters are on deadline
• Working relationships with beat reporters, producers, and bureau chiefs

Tools you will meet. Media databases and monitoring platforms such as Cision, Meltwater, and TVEyes; Granicus GovDelivery for email and text bulletins; social scheduling tools; shared drafting in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace; and broadcast-ready basics like a phone gimbal and a portable mic kit for quick video. Generative AI assistants can help with first drafts, summaries, and transcription, but every output needs a human check against the record.

Credentials. No license is required. Some communicators pursue the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), awarded by the Universal Accreditation Board, or the Communication Management Professional (CMP) certification from the Global Communication Certification Council. Neither replaces clips and references in a political hire.

Political roles versus career roles. Press jobs that serve a single elected official are at-will and end when the official leaves office. Career public affairs positions in federal, state, and local agencies follow civil service rules, with formal applications, qualification reviews, and pay grades. Knowing which track you are applying to shapes how you prepare: a political hire turns on references and trust, while a civil service hire turns on how well your application maps to the posted qualifications.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of public relations specialists, the occupation that includes press secretaries, to grow 2 percent from 2025 to 2035, slower than the average for all occupations. BLS still expects about 23,000 openings for public relations specialists each year over the decade, and expects most of them to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals, accounts for 11 percent of public relations specialist jobs in the BLS breakdown of the largest employers.

For people aiming at Capitol Hill, the Congressional Research Service publishes the clearest pay picture. Its 2025 In Focus reports, built from the Statement of Disbursements of the House and the Report of the Secretary of the Senate and stated in constant 2025 dollars, put the median press secretary in a House member office at $78,605 for 2024 and the median press secretary in a Senate office at $90,677 for fiscal year 2024. The same reports show the next rung up: House communications directors had a median of $103,106 and Senate communications directors $158,231. Below the press secretary, Senate deputy press secretaries had a median of $67,541 and press assistants $61,353. Those numbers describe the ladder well: press assistant, deputy, press secretary, communications director.

Turnover follows the calendar. When a member of Congress retires or loses, or a governor or mayor leaves office, the personal staff goes with them. Executive branch press jobs filled by political appointees turn over with each administration. That churn opens seats every cycle, but it also means press secretaries plan their next move well before election night. Career public affairs positions inside agencies are civil service jobs that continue across administrations.

Federal data show generative AI spreading through agencies. In a July 2025 report, the Government Accountability Office found that generative AI use cases reported by federal agencies increased about nine-fold, from 32 to 282, and said the technology could improve written communications among other mission-support work. For a press office, the practical effect is faster first drafts, quicker transcripts and clip summaries, and translation help. The accountability side does not move: a principal's name sits on every statement, and errors made by a tool still become the office's errors.

Access itself has become a legal fight at the highest level. As of late October 2026, CNN, MSNOW and Politico were asking a federal court to make earlier orders from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly permanent, saying the White House was still keeping their reporters out of the rotating press pool, according to the Associated Press. For press staff at every level, it is a reminder that decisions about who gets a seat, a credential, or a question can draw legal scrutiny.

Experienced press secretaries can move into communications director jobs, agency public affairs leadership, public affairs consulting, corporate and nonprofit communications, and senior campaign roles. The skills the job tests daily go with them: writing fast and accurately, keeping reporters' trust, and staying steady when a story is moving against your principal.

Dear Ms. Alvarez,

I am applying for the Press Secretary position in the Office of the County Executive. For the past three years I have served as deputy press secretary to a state senator, where I handle daily press calls, write statements and releases, and staff the senator at public events across a district that spans two media markets.

Reporters who cover the statehouse know me as someone who calls back before deadline and gives them an answer they can use, even when that answer is that we cannot comment yet. I keep a running log of every inquiry and every commitment I make, so nothing slips when a session day gets crowded. That habit has helped me build working relationships with the capitol bureau, the regional television stations, and the two weekly papers that matter most in our district.

Last winter, a water main break closed schools in the largest town we represent. I set up a shared statement process with the city's public information officer, drafted updates every two hours, and prepared the senator for three live interviews in one afternoon. Families got consistent information from both offices, and the coverage reflected that.

I also handle the office's digital channels, write first drafts of op-eds, and prepare briefing books before every editorial board meeting. I use AI tools for transcripts and rough summaries, and I check every word against the record before anything goes out under the senator's name.

The County Executive's focus on transit and housing is work I want to help explain to residents clearly and quickly. I would welcome the chance to talk about how I can support your communications team.

Sincerely, Jordan Reyes