Director of Communications and Marketing

Use your superior communications and leadership skills to drive key initiatives that put a spotlight on Bellwether’s services and impact.

Bellwether has an immediate opening for a Director of Communications & Marketing who will manage the promotion and distribution of all public-facing work, implement strategies that shine a spotlight on our services and impact, and develop and maintain internal systems to support our communications and marketing work. We are a remote-first team and our work is national in scope, so our flexible working style allows our professionals to work where they have built their lives, which means Bellwether can hire the best person for each role, regardless of geography. This role can be based anywhere in the United States. Up to approximately 10% travel may be required.

About Bellwether

We are a national nonprofit that exists to transform education to ensure that systemically marginalized young people achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities. We work hand-in-hand with a diverse range of education organizations to accelerate their impact, inform and influence policy and program design, and share what we learn along the way.

Our External Relations (XR) team leads Bellwether’s communications, marketing, editorial, and development work, ensuring that the organization’s work reaches and resonates with key audiences and creating new opportunities for potential funders and clients to partner with us.

Responsibilities

The Director of Communications & Marketing is a senior-level position on the XR team, reporting to Senior Director of External Relations and XR Team Leader Andy Jacob.

The Director of Communications & Marketing will work collaboratively across the organization with our Policy and Evaluation and Strategic Advising practices to ensure the successful distribution and promotion of public-facing work, and to identify and execute opportunities to highlight Bellwether’s services and impact — embedding themselves into project workstreams as necessary to ensure the communications plan for each project is aligned to organizational strategy. The Director of Communications & Marketing is also a key member of the XR Leadership team. In this position, you should expect to:

Drive high-impact communications and marketing.

• Develop and implement release strategies for Bellwether’s expert-developed publications, resources, and commentary pieces — including coordinating outreach efforts to target audiences including media, policymakers, funders, current and prospective clients, and other stakeholders.
• Develop and implement marketing strategies that highlight Bellwether’s services and impact and strengthen the organization’s brand with key audiences, including managing Bellwether’s presence at conferences and other external events.
• Build and maintain relationships with key education journalists.
• Draft media advisories, press releases, and talking points about Bellwether’s work.
• Serve as a development lead and supervisor to the Senior Digital Marketing Associate.

Shape Bellwether’s communications and marketing strategy.

• Provide critical input into shaping and articulating Bellwether’s competitive advantage and brand.
• Actively identify opportunities to build and diversify Bellwether’s audiences.
• Help us build awareness of new and unfamiliar areas of communications and marketing and recommend ways we can integrate new approaches into our external relations work.

Build and maintain XR team systems.

• Define and refine metrics to track and manage to help us evaluate the impact of our work.
• Refine and, where necessary, build new systems to codify best practices across our communications and marketing work and ensure consistent execution of key projects.

Contribute to leadership of the XR team.

• Help set and drive team-wide strategies to build and sustain a best-in-class external relations operation that advances Bellwether’s mission and impact.

Qualifications

Excited? We are, too. You should apply if you have:

• A passion for and commitment to transforming education to ensure systemically marginalized young people achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities in the United States.
• A commitment to Bellwether’s core values, including diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as viewpoint diversity.
• At least five to seven years of demonstrated professional experience in strategic communications and marketing.
• A demonstrated track record of implementing high-impact communications and marketing strategies in the public, private, and/or nonprofit sectors.
• A track record as a people manager and demonstrated success in managing and supporting the development of team members in a direct reporting relationship.
• Strong skills in written communication, editing, and interpersonal communication.
• Fluency with social media platforms and blogs.
• Ability to think creatively and innovatively about opportunities to expand the reach of our work.
• Entrepreneurial work style and willingness to proactively identify needs and take on projects.
• A demonstrated appreciation for diverse backgrounds and perspectives and the value that various kinds of diversity bring to communications work.
• Ability to manage multiple projects to timely and effective execution.
• Ability to give and get feedback; to manage up and laterally, as needed; and to execute projects successfully without constant supervision.
• A well-rounded interpersonal skill set and the capacity to work well both independently and in a team environment.
• A high attention to detail and a commitment to producing the highest-quality work.

The following traits/skills are preferred but not required:

• A strong personal network of media connections in policy, education, trade, and/or mainstream press.
• Experience with web-based content management systems (including Drupal and WordPress) and CRMs (including Salesforce).
• Email marketing and list-building experience.
• Basic knowledge of HTML and CSS.

Bellwether is committed to building a team that reflects the varied backgrounds and experiences of the students we seek to serve. It is important to us that you use your application materials to clearly highlight ways in which your background and experiences align with Bellwether’s core values, including our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Bellwether is committed to providing equal opportunities. It is our policy to ensure that all individuals with whom we are in contact are not discriminated against on the basis of age, race, ethnicity, color, disability, gender identity, gender expression, political viewpoint, marital status, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Further, as described above, Bellwether is committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourages individuals from all backgrounds to apply.