Free Press and Free Press Action work to amplify the voices of people and communities in the crucial decisions that shape our media. We believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what’s actually happening in their communities. We work at the intersection of media and technology to strengthen our democracy, while creating the way to a just and abundant media future.

The Senior Director of Marketing and Communications will lead the development, strategic planning, design, and successful implementation of Free Press’ narrative, marketing, public relations and communications strategies that advance the organization’s mission and vision. This role is responsible for the integration of effective marketing and communications strategies, both internally and externally, across Free Press. This position is a member of Free Press' senior leadership team and helps set and shape organization-wide strategic priorities.

The Senior Director of Marketing and Communications is focused on realizing the vision and mission of Free Press and Free Press Action through a compelling narrative strategy, using our digital assets, grounded in data analysis and savvy communications. The Senior Director of Marketing and Communications will lead the marketing and communications department, working closely with the program, policy, and development departments to develop and execute winning campaigns. They ensure that we’re maximizing engagement, fundraising, support and growth opportunities across all platforms. 

This position will provide leadership, coaching and strategic planning needed for the organization to deliver narratives, media and press coverage and cultural activations geared toward the transformation of media infrastructure and policy change. They will collaborate daily to guide marketing and communication strategies, while serving as a thought leader and public spokesperson, and securing internal and external resources to advance the work. The Director nimbly shifts and addresses multiple audiences, working to reach, persuade and mobilize organizers, policy makers, scholars, activists, allies, media-makers, funders, thought leaders and the Free Press team behind new ideas, creative campaigns, and opportunities to make lasting cultural-shifts and policy change on the pressing media and technology issues of our time. 

The Senior Director of Marketing and Communications reports to the Managing Director. This job requires flexibility in work schedule, generally aligning to U.S. East Coast hours. The position requires availability on evenings and weekends on a regular basis to triage emergent situations. Frequent domestic and occasional international travel, including multi-day trips, is expected.

Free Press is composed of two separate organizations, Free Press and Free Press Action Fund. Both entities share the same overall mission and employees will have time assigned to one or both entities. This job description refers collectively to the two organizations under the name “Free Press.”

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead overall marketing and communications strategy: Collaboratively develop and implement powerful narratives and messaging that supports our policy, advocacy and cultural change campaigns. Design narrative strategies and marketing campaigns that advance advocacy efforts aimed at influencing Congress, federal agencies, the Presidential administration, state and local decision makers as needed. Inform media and press strategy and coverage of our issues. Ensure cohesive and engaging marketing and communication strategies across various issue areas and platforms, while “holding the whole'' of our programmatic, marketing and communications work. Implement and adapt a compelling branding strategy that supports Free Press' strategic goals and objectives. Ensure that brand identity, messaging and marketing and communications strategy are infused in all organizational efforts. Execute multiple campaigns across all our channels (website, email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc.)
• Be the chief narrative strategist for Free Press: The Senior Director plays a key role at Free Press in shaping communications around key components of a future media ecosystem that supports a multiracial democracy. This requires deep grounding in narrative strategy, media justice, Black liberation, intersectional racial justice, media advocacy, plus a mix of long-range strategic thinking, tactical flexibility and impactful rapid response skills. May serve as a spokesperson for the organization.
• Lead the Marketing and Communications department: Provide infrastructure, mentorship and support for marketing and communications staff. Develop annual and quarterly goals and support the team in structuring their work to meet objectives. Be a creative and collaborative problem solver. Lead and inspire the team through message development and testing across different audiences to achieve acquired impacts. 
• Grow our base of supporters and increase engagement. Ensure the team meets annual growth and engagement benchmarks for membership, online fundraising and actions. Ensure growth/churn on our email and SMS list and across social media platforms. Increase engagement among members, donors and the general public through impactful and meaningful narrative campaigns.
• Fundraising and resource generation: Meet our annual online fundraising goal. Work in close partnership with the campaign and development teams, and outside consultants to stay on track to meet fundraising goals. Lead the digital components of cultivating relationships with online donors, assist in providing updates and information to the development team as needed. 
• Monitor and implement changes to strategy based on evolving marketing and communications best practices : Stay on top of latest research and trends in marketing and communications while remaining grounded in best practices. Know what’s new, exciting and ethical in the world of online organizing platforms and services. Implement new strategies, technologies and best practices. Ensure the team conducts regular evaluations, shares lessons learned and informs strategic choices on how we spend our time and resources. 
• Oversee analytics and testing: Oversee regular testing to analyze content and messaging effectiveness. Actively engage with real time data and learnings about what boosts engagement and growth, and consistently apply that knowledge to our marketing and communications campaigns. Ensure all team members are responsible for overseeing data analytics and reporting on how that shapes future efforts. 
• Oversee online-ad and acquisition budget: Work with consulting partners on the execution and implementation of our online-ad strategy. Lead acquisition efforts and onboarding of new members. Manage annual ad and acquisition budget to ensure it meets digital, programmatic and fundraising goals.
• Cross-team collaboration: Encourage cross-team collaboration between Marketing and Communications Department and other programmatic, policy and development teams. Contribute to problem solving and help triage competing priorities across the organization. Ensure digital assets and resources are deployed where needed across the organization. Work with the Executive Team to align digital goals with organizational objectives. Secure internal resources to advance strategic priorities, identify staff capacity and work with leadership to deploy organizational resources as needed. 
• Advance intersectional race equity: Clearly and consistently articulate an understanding of racial equity and structural racism and the centrality of this analysis to the work Free Press does and how we operate. Integrate that knowledge into work projects and interactions by addressing structural implications and disproportionate impacts of policies, activities and decisions on race, class, gender and other group identities within the context of job responsibilities and projects. Advise Co-CEOs on advancing racial equity through our communications work and serve as an internal and external champion of this work, demonstrating and implementing expertise in this area to further our organizational values and goals.

You will thrive at Free Press if you bring:

• Dedication to Free Press’ mission to change the media system to transform democracy and realize a just society, in addition to the overall success of the organization 
• Commitment to racial equity and experienced working with Black, Indigenous and/or other communities of color
• Value and respect for differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability and socioeconomic circumstance
• Creative self-starter energy and you thrive at working independently and with limited oversight to accomplish agreed upon objectives and evaluate results
• You’re also a team player with a low-ego approach to developing and maintaining collaborative relationships with both internal and external colleagues
• The ability to work under tight deadlines, navigate competing priorities, and effectively adjust work plans to respond to emergent challenges or opportunities
• Creativity, strategic thinking, and a commitment to excellence in your work while managing multiple projects and understanding that long hours are occasionally required to meet deadlines
• You’re a problem solver that remains positive, tactful and composed under pressure
• You have a strong commitment to team building and culture 
• You have excellent interpersonal communication skills
• You thrive in a predominately remote office environment, including working with an off-site manager, and you actively foster connection and community with colleagues located throughout the U.S.
• You adopt and maintain strong digital security practices
• And finally, you have great attention to detail

Experience and qualifications required to succeed in this position:

• No minimum education is required
• 8-10 years of directly relevant experience in a leadership role developing, leading and executing successful narrative strategy, marketing and communications campaigns for social and racial justice
• Proficiency with setting strategy, marshaling resources, delegation, decision making, management and evaluation
• Issue area expert on marketing, communications and narrative strategy, along with experience in advocacy efforts in support of political and cultural change
• Familiar with trends in journalism, press freedom, media and tech, policy advocacy and cultural organizing 
• Experience in building, mentoring, and coaching a team of marketing and communications specialists
• Capable of serving as “back up” for essential staff functions below and above this position
• Demonstrated skills, knowledge and experience in the design and execution of digital marketing campaigns that grow, organize and activate online constituencies via email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc.
• Familiarity with platforms like ActionKit, EveryAction, WordPress, ActBlue, Mobilize, and basic HTML/CSS skills
• Experience with SEO, email acquisition and digital ads
• Experience overseeing the design and production of print materials and publications, and website content management
• Strong writer and communicator able to synthesize complex concepts and represent Free Press and Free Press Action to a diverse range of audiences
• Effectively work with highly sensitive personnel, financial, operational and political information

Compensation:

Free Press is committed to offering competitive pay and generous benefits, including

• Annual paid time off is a total of ten weeks, including vacation, health-care leave, holidays, and two organization-wide week-long closures.
• Group medical, dental and vision insurance
• Short- and long-term disability insurance
• Employer contribution to retirement plans (no matching required)
• Flexible health, commuter and dependent care spending accounts
• Paid family leave
• After 7 years of employment with Free Press, staff are eligible to apply for a paid two-month sabbatical
• Stipends for business use of personal phones and for home office locations 
• All employees receive computers and equipment necessary for the job
• A flexible, supportive work culture

This position is categorized as a “career level 4 - senior director” position, in the context of five classifications at Free Press, ranging from coordinator to executive. 

The starting salary at Free Press for Senior Director of Marketing and Communications who meets the above qualifications is $125,000 - $135,000. Starting salary is based on the selected candidate’s qualifications and experience. To counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, we use a nonnegotiable starting salary system, while benchmarking our pay to competitive markets in the nonprofit sector.

Covid - 19 Safety:

All Free Press employees must be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus or have an approved medical or religious/ethical/moral accommodation.

Free Press is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

We value excellence and diversity in our workforce. People of color, women, people with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, gender-nonconforming and formerly incarcerated individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or to reach out for more information. We know groups subjected to systemic oppression– including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other communities who are marginalized.

How to apply:

Complete our online application. Fully answering the application questions is an important part of the application process; 4-5 sentences in response to each question will help us understand your thinking.

Our hiring process includes an initial 20-30 minute interview with one staff person, one or two hour-long interviews with 3-4 staff members, and reference checks after the final interview.

We provide reasonable accommodations for the application, interview, or any other aspect of the employee selection process to applicants with disabilities. Please email amartyn@freepress.net to request an accommodation.

Key dates:

Applications submitted by June 7, 2024 will be reviewed with priority; applications submitted after that date will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This search will remain open until the position is filled. The ideal candidate will be available to begin work in July 2024.