Manager, Content & Engagement

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

In response to the pandemic's devastating impact on student learning, CityTutor DC launched in 2021 to catalyze tutoring for thousands of DC's most vulnerable public school students. By recruiting, training, and coaching partners citywide to create and expand high-impact tutoring programs and implement strategic staffing models, CityTutor DC sought to improve student well-being, accelerate academic performance, and enhance talent systems in the city's schools. As a result, today, over 16,000 students in DCPS, DC public charter schools, and 10+ community organizations are receiving high-impact tutoring from thousands of local tutors.

CityTutor DC was originally incubated by CityBridge Education, a renowned incubator for equity-driven innovation in DC's public schools which, over many years, supported and helped launch scores of successful education entrepreneurs, schools, and ventures, largely led by leaders of color. In June 2024, fueled by its success and continued demand, CityTutor DC (CTDC) launched as an independent nonprofit. Armed with CityBridge Education's institutional knowledge, research, relationships, and infrastructure, as well as sustained champions among the city’s education leadership and funders, CTDC is working to make DC a public education system co-designed to serve and empower all students.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Manager, Content & Engagement is the owner of CTDC’s content and public-facing brand. He/she/they lead the strategy and development of the stories, learning, and information that elevate our programming and impact. As our content keeper, the Manager is responsible for identifying, writing, and advising senior leadership on the right content to put out into the world to amplify our work. The Manager is the primary author for organizational collateral—collaborating with staff and an outside comms vendor when needed to create annual reports, newsletters, etc.—and also writes and publishes a regular, thoughtful cadence of research-based and reflective writing including white papers and op-eds. Always striving to broadcast our work, our learnings, and our stories, the Manager seeks out opportunities to increase brand awareness, to earn media, and to affirm CTDC as a thought leader in the local and national ed space.

A key member of our ten-person team, the Manager, Content & Engagement is a full-time, at-will position and reports to the Chief Strategy & Operating Officer. We operate in a hybrid working environment with in-person attendance at our DC office required one day/week; this role may also require infrequent travel to non-local convenings. Preferred start date is January 2025.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Brand Management & Engagement Strategy (30%): You serve as the "keeper" of the CityTutor DC brand. You are responsible for building and executing a strategy that ensures CTDC’s strong external positioning and visual identity with critical stakeholders (e.g., schools, funders, government), ultimately helping us maximize our impact. As an expert storyteller, you author—and then equip our team to tell—the stories that best amplify our work. Rooted in your experience and metrics you devise to assess our reach, you advise senior leadership on the activities, site visits, audiences, and resources that will strengthen our brand. As needed, you lead any future CTDC rebranding efforts as we expand our reach and portfolio.
2. Research, Writing & Publication (40%): Drawing on research, data collection, and data analysis that is largely led by other CTDC colleagues, you serve as the organization’s primary author and editor of thought pieces (e.g., white papers, op-eds, etc.). You conduct your own research analysis, as well, including creating a summary and analysis of programming related to tutoring, talent pipeline/strategic staffing, or truancy reduction initiatives. You create research-driven external collateral that clearly communicates CTDC’s many lessons learned, best practices, and promising findings, making our work 3D for outside audiences and ultimately contributing knowledge to the ed field. You determine the strategy for leveraging and placing this reflective and/or research-based content, planting op-eds, writing press releases, etc., with a goal of earning media exposure and increasing advocacy and engagement locally and nationally.
3. Content Planning, Design & Review (20%): As the brand keeper, you ensure that all external collateral—white papers, op-eds, social media posts, newsletters, website content, one-pagers, etc.—maintains consistent voice and design and ultimately supports the organization’s broader strategy. You own our organizational content calendar and project-manage high-stakes communications deliverables such as our annual report, semi-annual newsletter, and network-wide emails. You identify content gaps and develop new collateral to close those gaps and support our strategy. You also review and edit external-facing content created by other staff and external communications contractors. (Note: This is not a social media generator role. The Manager will identify content for our communications vendor/other staff to manage on our social media channels.)
4. Learning, Innovation & Organizational Health (10%): Centering our organizational values of Possibility, Impact, and Partnership, we strive to protect the time and space for every team member to learn (to get expert in their field, to grow professionally, to progress on their equity journey); to innovate (ideating and stretching to try out new strategies, approaches, responsibilities); and to actively contribute to the internal and organization-wide work that supports each other, our culture, our systems, and our success.

QUALIFYING COMPETENCIES, EXPERIENCE & MINDSETS

• 4-5 years of aligned professional experience, required
• Demonstrated experience in both creating the “big picture” strategy and translating strategy into actionable tactics that build awareness, knowledge, engagement, and advocacy
• Superb narrative and technical writing skills; meticulous editing and proofreading skills
• Storytelling experience—ability to quickly understand programmatic information/updates and translate it compellingly to various audiences and through multiple mediums
• Understanding of the public education space, required—preferably in DC
• Expertise in developing, implementing, and measuring the success of multichannel communications strategies tied to the organizational strategic plan
• Experience with media relations, including securing content placement and interviews (contacts among DC media are a plus)
• Track record of successful project management, particularly when collaborating across teams and juggling multiple priorities
• Keen sense of appealing aesthetics and design
• Commitment to creating a sense of belonging by overcoming practices that exclude and diminish people based on their identity, particularly their racial identity
• Growth mindset, self-awareness, and capacity for responding effectively to feedback
• Comfort with ambiguity and change; desire to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment

APPLICATION PROCESS

After submission of a written application via the portal link provided, the hiring process will include an initial Zoom interview; brief at-home performance task; final Zoom interviews with a cross-section of the CityTutor DC team; reference checks; and a criminal background check.

A NOTE TO CANDIDATES

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they check all boxes in a job description. We are most interested in finding the best person for the job and our team. If you think you’re a good fit, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't perfectly meet every qualification.