Communications Director, Economic Progress & Policy Communications

Stand Together is a philanthropic community. We help America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems. Our partners transform their results by accessing our capabilities including funding, tapping into our unique network including Fortune 500 CEOs, civil rights leaders, and hundreds of nonprofit leaders, and utilizing our playbook for applying principles that are proven to help people thrive. Together, we are driving solutions on economic opportunity, education, healthcare, bridging partisan divides, and dozens of other pressing issues.

As part of the marketing communications team and as a preferred partner to our priority initiative and business teams, the external communications team creates value by developing and executing strategies that build reputation and support our issues and program marketing efforts. We create awareness, advocacy, and belief with key stakeholders using earned media, thought leadership and social amplification to lift the stories of our network heroes, whose bottom-up solutions offer a better way. We are a creative, passionate, and principles-focused team who tirelessly integrates to achieve our common goals, using research-based insights and key performance indicators to access outcomes and continuous improvement.

The Communications Director, Economic Progress & Policy Communications leads the development and implementation of stakeholder communication strategies. The candidate will oversee highly complex, integrated communication initiatives that cross the Stand Together community, supporting priority initiatives and sub-brands whose focus is to drive economic progress through bottom-up innovation free from government intrusion that lowers the cost of living, encourages upward mobility, promotes environmental stewardship, health care advances, and economic and social progress.

• Concept, execute, and measure communication strategies with a special focus on economic solutions that 1) lower the cost of living through productivity gains (good deflation), 2) create upward mobility through widespread economic growth, 3) protect the environment through more efficient use of resources, 4) save lives and improve well-being through health care innovation, and 5) inspire future generations to dream big, expand opportunities, and take risks
• Break down complex policies into simple, easy to understand, salient messages and storylines that break through with earned media and customers, in the channels where they willingly consume information
• Specifically develop key messages, press releases, statements, and other communications materials necessary to best position the organization; manage message development and review with Stand Together’s content capability and agency partners where appropriate
• Integrate with internal stakeholders to ensure plans align with Stand Together’s and other priority initiatives’ key priorities, having trade off conversations where needed to manage resources
• Provide an enterprise view of risk, when policy or campaign initiatives overlap, complement, or may conflict between brands, with a keen eye for building, protecting, and maintaining community reputation
• Partner with marketing, digital and internal communication to ensure earned media and thought leadership content is woven through owned and paid channels, amplifying reach, and deepening our bench of program advocates
• Use expertise to evaluate the strength of existing media and influencer relationships that support the economic progress priority; cultivate existing and grow new relationships across traditional and non-traditional sources, creating a steady drum beat of news highlighting community experts as ‘go-to’s’ for grassroots and national culture moments and inflection points
• Prepare principals for media and thought leadership engagements, ensuring key messages are conveyed with consistency and relevancy; engage with analytics and insights capability for research when needed
• When needed, serve as an on-record spokesperson
• Proactively build strong horizontal relationships throughout the marketing communications capability and Stand Together community to effective drive alignment and execution of community wide thought leadership strategies
• Possess the poise, maturity, and intellectual decision and prioritization skills to build trust with senior leaders
• Meet deadlines and adjust to shifting priorities; provide strategic, often crisis guidance, in a fast-paced, high profile media environments
• Set effective KPIs and manage recaps, reporting, with a focus on continuous improvement
• Manage vendor partnerships and budgets effectively
• Proficient in word, power point and excel

• 10+ years of experience in a corporate relations or policy communications role
• Policy, public relations, and Tier 1 media experience valued
• Experience in a matrixed environment, managing multiple brands or business units appreciated
• Strong writer, with a proven ability to prioritize, manage multiple priorities and feedback, under tight deadlines
• A builder who can easily establish new relationships and create rapport. When needed, can serve as a liaison between the communications function and other business areas or vendors
• Can adapt behavior to engage and influence others, whether individuals or a team
• Experience preparing presentations, key messaging with coaching. Effective presentation skills and persuasive skills
• Ability to develop work plans that organize project work into discrete tasks, sequencing activities to achieve maximum efficiency. Able to adapt projects and programs based on stakeholder or business partner feedback.
• Can anticipate operational/program issues and identify preventative measures and mitigation strategies. Identifies, clarifies, and resolves complex problems within own work area or team
• Unparalleled experience developing communication strategies and plans, including objective setting, identifying high value outcomes and prioritization of supporting tactics
• Ability to use data and analytics in planning and plan measurement
• Understands and considers reputational impacts in planning; experience incorporating strategies that protect and build the brand’s reputation with multiple stakeholders.
• Knowledge of Associated Press style
• Demonstrated ability to write content across channels/mediums; adapt voice to channel.
• Ability to coach and develop talent