Call for Applications: Communications Manager

Communications Manager

C4AA is seeking a Communications Manager with a minimum of 2-4 years of experience leading communications campaigns, with a proven track record in communications strategy development and implementation, content creation and brand management. This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the U.S. at 30 – 40 hours per week, working remotely on a flexible schedule. We prefer candidates in the NY metro or upstate area but candidates from throughout the U.S. may apply.

The Communications Manager will report to the Executive Director and be responsible for developing and executing comprehensive communication strategies to enhance our presence and reputation across various platforms. The Communications Manager will need both technical and creative skills, as well as an entrepreneurial and collaborative working style. Working with an incredible team of facilitators, researchers, artists, advocates and ally organizations, the Communications Manager will shape the messaging and communications strategy for our international work.  In keeping with our strategic goals, this role is not only about informing new audiences about our work but also about engaging our existing network of thousands of people around the world with high-quality content and information. We want to move people up a ladder of engagement so that more people are engaged in our programs, raving about our work, sharing our tools, wanting to partner with us, reading and watching our content. We want someone who will analyze our contact database and see the potential for moving thousands of people into deeper levels of engagement with our work, and come up with creative strategies to do that. We’re open to new strategies and unusual tactics to be successful. 

We love great storytelling, and we need someone who can talk about programs and projects in a way that is really compelling but also is capturing the essence of what we do and why it’s valuable. We love humor, weirdness, irreverence, and surprise as ways to not just attract attention to our work, but as built in to the DNA of our philosophy and methodologies around creative advocacy.

Essential duties include:

• Co-develop and implement C4AA’s Communications Strategy. Come up with new ways to build and maintain relationships with our communities, and then test and implement those strategies. Move people up the ladder of engagement: build stronger relationships with our alumni, partners, collaborators and followers.
• Create and manage original communications campaigns. Craft compelling stories about the work of C4AA and our alumni and partners. Write, design, develop and get input on creative, exciting content for multiple platforms that fits C4AA’s style and tone of funny, smart and surprising. Dig into our archive of videos, projects, alumni stories, articles, workshops and more to find raw material and shape it into concise and wonderful stories to inspire and excite our audiences.
• Coordinate our team for the development and implementation of communications strategies organization-wide and work closely with programs staff to develop communications outreach, including online events, digital materials and other ways to connect audiences with our content and programs.
• Oversee the stewardship of C4AA’s brand identity, ensuring consistency across all materials and platforms – uphold C4AA Design Guidelines and make sure others do the same. Design, based on templates and C4AA Design Guidelines, graphics for web, print materials, and outreach material.
• Manage C4AA’s CRM including making adjustments and updates, and outreach strategies, and work with fundraising and program staff to ensure our technical systems meet our needs for engaging our communities.
• Social media: Prepare, develop, and implement social media
  posts. Interact with partners and other stakeholders via C4aa’s social
  media accounts. Recommend and implement strategies and campaigns for how to use social media to support communications goals.
• Newsletters: Assist content creation, create graphics, and work with
  others to produce weekly newsletters.
• Website: Manage WordPress web design updates, make newsletter
  content into web posts, and manage and update website content.
• Other Platforms: Help to envision and carry out communications on other platforms that may include print, mobile apps, etc. Collaborate with and manage external contractors for larger design, technical and production projects.

Qualifications

We are a virtual organization with a small staff that is highly motivated. This position may experience high level work demands and independent decision-making under tight timelines. The ideal candidate has a degree in communications, marketing, or a related field and has led communications in the non-profit sector.

• A minimum of 2-4 years of experience in leading communications efforts.
• Excellent strategy development, storytelling, writing, editing, and research skills.
• Interest in and/or experience with creative activism and advocacy.
• Proactive, self-motivated team member who needs little oversight to initiate and follow through on projects. Strong project management skills, organizational skills, time management skills, and the ability to work independently. Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent member-oriented ethic and ability to interact positively and effectively with a variety of audiences (including internal and external stakeholders) using written, verbal, and graphical communications. Ability to interact effectively with staff, membership, the public, the
  board of directors and volunteers.
• Ability to work accurately and efficiently under pressure and with multiple deadlines and Capacity to adapt to new situations as they emerge.
• Strict attention to detail.
• Fluency or ability to develop fluency with workflow process tools used by the staff, including Microsoft Office, Slack, Bloomerang, Nextcloud, and others.

The Center for Artistic Activism helps artists, activists, and organizations understand how to best use art, creativity, and culture to have real-world and sustained impact. We work to support and empower activists to effectively deploy creative activism methodologies and achieve successful campaigns. 

We are a small team working mostly remotely from different parts of the U.S. with a number of us in the NYC area. The working environment is flexible, though there are regular team meetings and some other duties that will require being available at certain times. Our work environment is fun, collaborative and creative, and we love working as a team to invent new ways of connecting with our community.To apply, please send ONE PDF file that includes a cover letter,  resume, and at least one writing sample to c4aajobs@c4aa.org before 11:59pm ET on September 9, 2024. The file must follow this naming convention: LASTNAME-FIRSTNAME-STATE.pdf. (for example, DOE-JANE-NC.pdf).

In your cover letter, please: 

• write about your interest in C4AA’s mission and content
• tell us about the experience and skills you’ll bring to this position
• provide links or images of communications materials you have developed
• show off your excellent writing style and your unique personality
• indicate the U.S. state where you reside and your desired number of hours per week
• tell us how you heard about this position

This position is for 30-40 hrs a week, and the salary is in the range of $60,000 – $85,000 depending on schedule and experience level.

C4AA sponsors a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) that provides additional health coverage benefits through reimbursements of premiums for qualified health insurance coverage and eligible medical expenses. We also provide a small allowance for professional development efforts and expandable office supplies. You can find the detailed job description on this LINK.