Reports to: Center Director
Position Type: Full-time, Executive Leadership
Salary Range: $100,000 – $110,000
Salary Grade: T28
Benefits: See full list of benefits here
Location: Philadelphia, PA (working from NY and DC areas will also be considered)
Other: This is a grant-funded position.
Summary of Position
The Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, at Temple University is seeking a Director of Communications to join our growing team. As a mission-driven organization we take seriously the importance of rigorous research, engagement, communication activities, and advocacy. Our diverse team is committed to communities that demand affordable, accessible, high-quality education from high school through higher education and beyond. Our teammates demonstrate why #RealCollege matters: we have collectively lived the challenges of navigating government bureaucracy and cash-strapped colleges, experienced the trauma and perils of living without financial stability, and experienced marginalization along nearly every possible line.
Using communication and strategic planning skills, the Director of Communications will set and guide the strategy for all organizational communications and collateral to consistently articulate Hope’s mission across multiple platforms and audiences. The Director of Communications will ensure that the Hope Center is viewed as the primary source, disseminator, and conduit of information within the student-focused higher education space. The Director of Communications will work closely with leadership within the organization as the communications partner on a variety of strategic initiatives.
It is an exciting and difficult time to be working on creating significant social change. We seek teammates who are committed to our mission, committed to creating and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment, and are capable and comfortable with working effectively in a fast-paced environment.
Essential Functions
- Develop, implement, and evaluate the annual communications plan across Hope audiences in collaboration with the leadership team and constituents
- Take Hope Center research and findings, and transform them into exciting and powerful messages and disseminate them to the right audiences through the best distribution channels
- Research, defend, and explain complex issues and positions taken by the Hope Center to the media
- Serve as a unifying force within the higher education community and the Center, and position Center communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels
- Assess current Center communications operations and make recommendations to improve the future goals of the Center
- Expand the Center’s reach and presence within media outlets that target under-represented populations
- Manage the development, distribution, and maintenance of all print collateral including, but not limited to reports, newsletters, the website, and social media campaign materials
- Develop online and social media content that engages diverse audience segments and leads to measurable action; decide who, where, and when to disseminate
- Coordinate webpage maintenance—ensure that new and consistent information (article links, stories, and events) is posted regularly with the support of a Website Specialist and/or contractor
- Coordinate and organize an annual conference and meetings that engage Hope’s diverse audiences
- Grow all media contacts and steward the organization’s collaboration with these contacts
- Put mechanisms in place to test the effectiveness and momentum gained by communications activities
Education and Experience
Bachelor’s degree in communications or related field preferred, and at least six (6) years of experience as a Director of Communications at another organization. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
Required Skills and Abilities
- The ability to take knowledge and transform it into exciting and powerful messages and disseminate it to the right audiences through the best distribution channels is critical.
- Highly collaborative style; experience developing and implementing communications strategies
- Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills
- Relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to “manage by influence”
- Ability to serve as a unifying force and to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels
- Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Exceptionally detail-oriented, organized, and deadline-driven
- Proven track record of thriving and meeting goals in a fast-paced, intense environment on a national stage
- Exhibits strong problem solving, project management, sound judgment, initiative, flexibility, detail-oriented skills
- Ability to prioritize multiple assignments and projects, mobilize efforts toward completion, and deliver with a high degree of quality on a consistent basis
- Must be able to handle all situations with tact, persuasiveness, and diplomacy
- Strong network of diverse media connections relevant to the Hope Center’s work
- Ability to research, defend, and explain complex issues and positions to the media
- Strong interpersonal skills to work collaboratively within Hope as well as externally
- Proven ability to think creatively, initiate and manage projects, and follow through on plans
- Must be self-directed and innovative, able to assess current operations in an effort to improve the future goals of the Center
- Exceptional capacity for managing and leading people; a team builder
- Evidence of the ability to consistently make good decisions through a combination of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment
Preferred
- Experience working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities
- Experience working in a university-based research center