Senior Vice President, Communications & Campaigns

We strongly encourage people of color, transgender and non-binary people to apply. HRC is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone, including non-LGBTQ+ people, to join our team. Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that people from marginalized communities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At HRC, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Position Overview:

The Senior Vice President, Communications & Campaigns will play a critical leadership role in advancing the Human Rights Campaign's mission to achieve full equality for LGBTQ+ people. This dynamic, high-level executive will manage the integration of communications and campaign strategies, leading both HRC’s political and issue-based campaigns as well as its public-facing media, brand, and messaging efforts.

With a proven track record of impact in advocacy and electoral strategy, the ideal candidate will also bring significant expertise working with the media and driving communication efforts. They will be tasked with building and driving multi-faceted, data-driven c3 and c4 campaigns that amplify HRC’s impact at the federal, state, and local levels, while also ensuring HRC’s communications and brand efforts are strategic, impactful, and aligned with our mission.

The Senior Vice President will oversee a staff of campaign, communications and brand professionals, ensuring the organization’s narrative is front and center in national media, advocacy debates, and legislative conversations. They will effectively work with other senior vice presidents to ensure campaigns and communications can be leveraged fully across the organization and to ensure compliance with internal policies and procedures.

Please submit a cover letter detailing your experience and qualifications. In your cover letter, please describe your experience leading both campaigns and communications strategies, especially in the context of electoral, legislative, and issue advocacy efforts. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience, starting at $250,000.00 annually.

Position Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Campaign Execution

• Lead Integrated Campaigns that drive Wins: Develop and oversee multi-layered campaigns that advance HRC’s goals through a combination of electoral advocacy, policy change, issue campaigns, and programmatic priorities. With an emphasis on data-driven approaches that result in real, measurable change in people’s lives. This role requires an impact driven leader able to build campaigns across disciplines.
• Seize Rapid Response Opportunities: strategically drive teams to maximize impact of rapid response moments. At a time when attacks and opportunities are coming rapidly, we seek a strategist that is ready to drive rapid response, tell the story, and launch impactful campaign efforts that win the news days and inspire supporters.
• Drive High-Impact Communications and Advocacy Campaigns: Manage the intersection between HRC’s electoral, advocacy, and communications strategies. Ensure alignment between internal and external communications, public messaging, and the organization’s overall campaign goals.
• Ensure C3 and C4 Coordination: Oversee the strategic direction for both c3 (educational) and c4 (political) campaigns, ensuring each leverages its strengths while maintaining legal compliance and ethical integrity. Direct strategies across independent expenditures, PACs, and coalitions in coordination with HRC’s advocacy and legislative work.
• Mobilize Grassroots and Coalition Support: Drive broad-based advocacy efforts and build coalitions that support and amplify HRC’s campaign priorities. Ensure HRC’s work is embedded in coalition and intersectional efforts that can drive wins

Communications Leadership & Strategy

• Chief Communications Strategist: Serve as a key strategist for HRC’s communications efforts to develop and execute messaging strategies for federal and state legislative campaigns, electoral campaigns and issue campaigns.
• Message Development & Planning: Lead the development of long-term communications plans and editorial calendars that support HRC’s priorities. Ensure messaging is integrated across HRC’s communications channels—including earned media, digital, social media and magazine.
• Media Engagement & Rapid Response: Work closely with the other Communications leadership to craft strategic earned and digital media outreach plans and ensure HRC’s presence in national and political media. Lead rapid response efforts to react swiftly to breaking news or political developments affecting LGBTQ+ rights.
• Brand Management: Lead organizational brand strategy to drive the voice, look and attitude of the HRC brand and ensure brand integrity.
• Building Media Relationships: Foster strong, trusting relationships with national reporters, editors, and producers. Use these relationships to secure earned media coverage and elevate the conversation around LGBTQ+ rights.

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead Campaign, Communication & Brand Teams: Supervise and mentor a team of professionals to ensure alignment across HRC’s messaging, campaigns, and branding. Provide strategic direction, feedback, and coaching to team leaders, helping them grow and succeed in their roles.
• Ensure Effective Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with other Senior Leadership to ensure campaigns and messaging goals align with other organizational priorities and provide clear calls to action for core stakeholders.
• Foster an Inclusive Team Culture: Create a collaborative, inclusive, and performance-driven culture within the communications, brand and campaigns team and with other teams in the organization. Ensure team members are empowered to innovate, take initiative, and lead high-impact work.

External Engagement & Public Representation

• Serve as Public Spokesperson: Represent HRC in the media, at key public events, and in strategic external conversations to ensure that HRC’s messaging resonates with diverse audiences, including the general public, policymakers, activists, and donors.
• Advocate for Political Priorities: Amplify the HRC brand and elevate its mission through earned media, speeches, and other external engagements. Act as a spokesperson for HRC’s political and legislative priorities, driving the public conversation around LGBTQ+ rights.
• External Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with key external partners, including allies in the LGBTQ+ community, political organizations, and media, to amplify HRC’s work and achieve shared policy goals.
• Serve as a Senior Organizational representative with Key Stakeholders: Including but not limited to Elected Officials, Corporate Leaders, Donors, Grasstops, and Grassroots.

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Measure Campaign Success: Ensure teams track, evaluate, and report on the effectiveness of communications and campaign efforts, adjusting strategies as needed to maximize impact and results.
• Adapt Communications Based on Feedback: Use data analytics, polling, and social listening tools to inform communications strategies and decision-making. Ensure that messages help shape public sentiment as political landscapes shift and new opportunities emerge.

Position Qualifications:

• Extensive Experience in Campaign & Communications Leadership: 15+ years of experience in communications, political campaigns, and/or advocacy work, with a focus on driving national, state, and local campaigns that change policy, public opinion, and political outcomes.
• C3 and C4 Campaign Expertise: Demonstrated experience managing both c3 and c4 campaigns, with a strong understanding of compliance, strategy, and execution across these campaign types.
• Electoral and Advocacy Expertise: Proven ability to design and lead electoral campaigns, including PACs, independent expenditures, and policy advocacy efforts. Experience integrating campaigns with media, communications, and grassroots efforts.
• Communications Excellence: Deep expertise in strategic communications—including earned media, digital media, rapid response, crisis communications, messaging development, and media relations.
• Leadership and Team Management: Significant experience managing senior communications and campaign teams, with a focus on mentoring, professional development, and driving cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong Political and Advocacy Knowledge: Expertise in the progressive political and advocacy world, with an understanding of issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community.
• Data-Informed Decision Making: Ability to leverage data analytics and polling to drive campaign and communications and brand strategies.
• Commitment to Justice & Equity: A strong commitment to advancing racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ justice, with an emphasis on ensuring diversity and inclusion in both campaign strategies and organizational leadership.
• Excellent Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to speak to a variety of stakeholders, including the media, policymakers, donors, and grassroots activists.
• Flexibility & Travel: Ability to travel frequently and manage a flexible, fast-paced schedule, with occasional evening and weekend work.

All positions at the Human Rights Campaign and/or the Human Rights Campaign Foundation may require travel on a regular basis or periodically.? Where the need arises for business travel, appropriate compensation as outlined by the Fair Labor Standards Act will apply.

Employer is the Human Rights Campaign, Inc., an I.R.C. 501(c)(4) non-profit entity.

No phone calls or emails, please. Due to the volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to queries about application status.