Communication Manager

OUR PURPOSE

SunCommon believes business should create positive change and help solve the world’s biggest problems. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to solar power in our communities because ensuring a habitable planet is the most important work of our lifetimes.

ABOUT THE BUSINESS

SunCommon is a market leading renewable energy company operating in Vermont and New York’s Hudson Valley and Capital District. We use an innovative approach to marketing, via high-touch, personal interactions with home and business owners who want clean electricity and more energy security. We’ve done all the legwork to put together a total package that’s easy for the customer. We picked the best equipment manufacturers, arranged attractive financing that saves our customers real money and hired up the finest installers. There’s over 8,000 happy SunCommon residential and commercial customers so far - and lots more to come. Organized as a Benefit Corporation and certified as a BCorp, we’re committed to the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit. Our goal is to become the largest publicly traded, BCorp in the country producing renewable energy.

ABOUT THIS POSITION

The Communications Manager develops and coordinates the production and delivery of high-quality external communications and content at SunCommon. The Communications Manager will be directly responsible for marketing emails, print and digital publication copy, articles, blog posts, web page copy, as well as consulting on digital sales tools, ads, social media copy, press releases, and any other items as needed. Much of the Communications Manager’s work will involve close collaboration with many team members, both on the marketing team and outside of it, to ensure that all external messaging is appropriate, coordinated, and aligned across channels. Along with the Brand Director and external Marketing partners, the Communications Manager determines the content and tonality of external facing materials, providing particular guidance on audience, accuracy, grammar, tone, voice, and style. The Communications Manager oversees the communications calendar and executes delivery on all outbound communication channels.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Reporting to the Brand Director, the Communication Manager will:

• Hands-on production of email campaigns to prospects and existing customers, inclusive of writing, building, testing, launching, and reporting on performance.
• Email list maintenance and informed segmentation.
• Developing and executing on the communications calendar for email and organic social media.
• Partnering with teammates in the marketing department to deliver and edit written material for print and digital publications, press releases, articles, blog posts, landing pages, and digital sales tools.
• Understanding the needs and communication preferences for all SunCommon audiences, including existing and new prospective customers, re-engage prospects, partners, external collaborators, and our local community.
• Establish an “audience guide” that clearly defines all SunCommon audience segments and communications received by each group.
• Maintaining an established brand voice while helping our leadership team develop new ways of articulating our purpose as the business continues to evolve.
• Nurturing a large existing/growing customer audience and being a point person on our customer referral program.
• Working with Operations staff to produce customer-facing materials such as equipment guides, handbooks, door hangers, and web guides.
• Reporting to the Brand Director and Marketing partners on a regular basis to discuss current and future communications needs and evolution of the communications calendar.
• Juggle the development of multiple content pieces in various stages with a commitment to deliver a finished product on a concrete timeline. This includes overseeing a pipeline of story content spanning multiple regions while collaborating with outside contracted support.
• Possess a strong understanding of SunCommon’s purpose and brand voice so that all content is consistent with our legacy and informed by our aspirations as a values led solar provider.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate for this position will have:

• Have a four-year college degree or five years related business experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated high performance and leadership in the marketing field. Five or more years experience.
• Ability to inspire others to action through compelling, creative, and differentiated marketing programs.
• Analytical and strategic thinker and doer, who can leverage data to anticipate opportunities and drive innovation through the marketing programs.
• Foundational experience leading marketplace analysis, brand positioning and consumer insights projects.
• Strong communicator who can present ideas to the executive level in writing and in person.
• Experience identifying new marketplaces and launching/expanding into them.
• Entrepreneurial thinker and doer who sees opportunity in ambiguity and is energized by the prospect of joining the SunCommon “solar coaster”.
• Excellent self-organization and time management skills. Ability to work independently.
• Have experience in the solar industry, or willingness to learn basics of solar.
• Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to identify and use the most effective communication tool for the situation.
• Demonstrate professional maturity and accountability for achieving goals.
• Revel in developing relationships with customers.
• Be extremely skilled in juggling several tasks at once while remaining focused.
• Actively work to make it easy for our customers to go solar.
• Be proficient in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace and Customer Relationship Management software.
• Demonstrate an eagerness to learn and grow and be proactive about one’s growth.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic business environment and shift gears as needed.
• Thrives in a collaborative, team atmosphere – giving and taking feedback to improve your personal performance as well as that of your team and the entire business.
• Be committed to social and environmental change.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

SunCommon provides our employees a competitive salary and strong package of benefits, including:

For the employee and their family, fully paid medical premiums as well as a significant contribution toward medical deductible expenses.

For the employee and family - fully paid dental premiums.

3 weeks paid personal leave (combined vacation and sick) for year 1; 4 weeks for year 2 and beyond.

10 paid holidays annually

401k company match 1:1 up to 3% of salary that the employee sets aside, then a 1:2 match for 4 or 5%

Student Loan Paydown Program

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

SUNCOMMON VALUES

Achieving our mission is critical work, and how we do that work matters. One way SunCommon creates positive change is internally, by instituting and measuring ourselves against practices that do right by our employees, customers, and communities. The following core values are critical to our operations and our success: Embody Excellence, Maintain Humanity, Prioritize Inclusivity, Cultivate Joy.

We do it by celebrating creativity, cross-function collaboration, high energy, hard work, good play, deep networking and with the acknowledgement that we’ll each make mistakes and learn from them. We know success. We know fun. Come do both with us.

As a certified BCorps, we take seriously our responsibility to succeed and to honor our triple bottom line commitments to People (our employees and their families, our Customers and residents of the communities where we do business), Planet (our beloved environment and the broader globe, given climate change) and Profit (providing capital to grow, revenue to share among our employees, and a reasonable return to our investors). This is important work, and we have fun doing it. Innovation is fun stuff.

SunCommon of course is an equal opportunity employer and we don’t tolerate harassment or other discrimination based upon sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, caregiver status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, race, color, religion, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information or any other legally protected status.