Communications Director
ioby, United States

ioby seeks a Communications Director to join our small and growing national team. Reporting to the CEO, the Communications Director will be responsible for developing, owning and disseminating ioby’s thought leadership, messaging and narratives; creating a wide variety of public-facing content for multiple key audiences; managing social media, press and media relations; and collecting community stories to integrate into organizational communications and marketing.

ioby’s ideal candidate must be committed to racial justice and asset-based ethical storytelling, comfortable and experienced in reprioritization, excited to collaborate closely with ioby’s product, marketing, and support teams, and be the expert in communications and storytelling for our team with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

ioby (In Our Backyards), founded in 2008, is a civic tech nonprofit that mobilizes neighbors who have good ideas to become powerful civic leaders who plan, fund, and make positive change in their own neighborhoods. ioby was recognized by the Obama Foundation for contributions to civic innovation, and was awarded the Jane Jacobs Medal by the Rockefeller Foundation and an American Civic Collaboration Award for increasing civic participation.

The Communications Director will be responsible for the following:

• Owning and developing ioby’s voice and narrative as it relates to multiple audiences
• Owning and maintaining ioby’s written and visual style guide
• Owning internal and external processes to understand and evolve ioby’s brand, in collaboration with the product team, other ioby staff, and external stakeholders
• Creating a press strategy to elevate ioby's brand recognition, working in partnership with CEO to pitch ioby to national press
• Managing the scopes and workflows of two regular, part-time consultants in marketing and communications
• Fielding incoming press inquiries, and supporting senior staff in drafting and placing op-eds and thought leadership products
• Developing and periodically training staff on talking points and messaging
• Owning all graphic design, print collateral, publications and visual identity, and managing periodic contractors including graphic designers, photographers and videographers
• Maintaining and managing content for ioby’s user-facing website, social media channels, and other digital assets
• Owning and managing the production of communications assets such as video and photography, including budgeting, and maintaining image, graphics and video library
• Being the editor and approver of all public facing content
• Project managing the production of publications such as toolkits and annual reports
• Producing and delivering regular email newsletters, in collaboration with other staff
• Owning crisis communications; training and leading staff in response as needed
• In collaboration with fundraising staff, strategizing and executing on email fundraising campaigns
• Supporting the team's storytelling practice with best practices

Requirements

Qualified candidates must have the following characteristics:

• Experience with organizational communications: producing newsletters, graphics, social media, site content, and print collateral
• Excellent writer with experience writing copy in a variety of voices and for multiple platforms
• Experience hiring and managing freelance contractors in graphic design, copywriting and other aspects of communications
• Experience in press and PR: responding to press inquiries; developing and pitching stories; building relationships with reporters; and producing press releases, statements, media advisories, talking points, columns, and remarks
• Experience collecting user or customer stories and integrating storytelling into organizational communications
• Experience owning brand voice, developing key organizational narratives, and turning them into talking points and other communications
• Experience managing social media channels; growing and building trust with audience
• Flawless copy editing skills with a sharp eye for detail and consistency, makes nearly zero errors in written copy
• Comfortable managing crisis communications
• Committed to working equitably across lines of reporting
• Committed to asset-based, equitable storytelling
• Enjoys training teammates on talking points and running media trainings and interview preparation conversations
• Thoughtful, tactful, and considerate of a variety of audience backgrounds
• Nimble, flexible, strong in reprioritization; thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic work setting

Extraordinary candidates may have the following nice-to-have characteristics:

• 2+ years experience managing staff or consu

Job Rewards and Benefits