Associate Director, Communications; Marketing and Business Development

Arabella Advisors; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work options

Paid time off (starting 3 weeks)

Health benefits

Professional development funds

Fitness benefit

Cell phone assistance

Job summary

Arabella Advisors seeks an Associate Director of Communications to oversee day-to-day communications efforts for the firm and its clients. The role requires strong project management, media relations, and messaging skills to advance social change work.

The candidate will report to the Head of Marketing and Communications and collaborate across offices and executives to drive strategy, content, and donor engagement. A passion for social impact and excellent writing are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 5+ years of communications experience in business or nonprofit with social change mission
• Proactive, well-organized and able to lead multiple efforts
• Strong upward management skills to drive process and compliance
• Experience managing projects from start to finish with impact analysis
• Ability to strategize and execute communications plans
• Experience with media outreach and analysis tools (Talkwalker, Cision, Meltwater)
• Ability to build relationships across offices, teams and executives
• Excellent writing, editing and speaking skills
• Passion to support growing social change organizations

Responsibilities

• Assist Head of Marketing and Communications and other leaders with media relations and messaging
• Track media clips and publish monthly e-newsletters
• Foster relationships with external agencies for crisis communications
• Develop content for nonprofits Arabella supports
• Create and manage donor communications channels
• Develop and track metrics to evaluate impact of communications

Skills

Project management

Media relations

Copy editing

Stakeholder management

Excellent writing

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Talkwalker

Cision

Meltwater

Job description

Associate Director, Communications; Marketing and Business Development

Posted on January 06, 2020

You are mission-driven and action-oriented. You love to get involved and work as part of a team to accomplish something great. Any job is your job if it helps the team succeed, and you thrive on variety. Today, you’re looking for a role where you can use those traits to make a real difference in the world by advancing the most important social issues facing humanity today.

The Associate Director, Communications oversees day-to-day coordination and execution of a wide range of internal and external communications efforts, supporting both the firm’s communications strategy and the communications efforts of its clients. The ideal candidate excels at complex stakeholder and project management, message creation, media relations, and digital content development. This position reports directly to the Head of Marketing and Communications, requires effective cross-functional collaboration, excellent oral and written communication, strong copy editing skills, and a drive for successful outcomes in advancing social change work.

• Assist the Head of Marketing and Communications and other firm leaders with a variety of media relations efforts, including: tracking news media; logging media inquiries and coordinating multi-stakeholder response; drafting messaging for use by senior leaders, and identifying and pursuing potential media placement opportunities.
• Track daily media clips and assist with the publication of multiple monthly e-newsletters.
• Foster relationships with a variety of external agencies who provide crisis communications and other support
• Develop content and communications on behalf of a range of nonprofit organizations that Arabella Advisors supports
• Create and manage communications vehicles enabling regular contact with donors to nonprofit organizations and projects
• Develop and track metrics to evaluate the success and impact of communications by the nonprofit organizations Arabella supports

Additional Responsibilities

• Write a variety of communications in conjunction with Arabella teammates for publication as articles, blogs, social media, etc.
• Assist the Head of Marketing and Communications with other projects as necessary.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in related field
• At least five years’ experience with steadily increasing responsibility in communications for a business or nonprofit organization with a social change mission
• Proactive, well-organized and able to lead multiple efforts simultaneously.
• Strong upward management skills to drive process and compliance
• Demonstrated ability to manage projects and processes from start to finish, including ongoing analysis of impact and results.
• Ability to strategize as well as execute communications plans
• Experience with media outreach and analysis tools such as Talkwalker, Cision, or Meltwater
• Ability to develop relationships across offices, teams, and all levels, including executives and external partners
• Excellent writing, editing, and speaking skills
• Passion to support growing social change organizations

Our Core Competencies:

• The ability to provide excellent service, including being able to address complex service matters, implement and communicate service changes to everyone involved, and to coach teammates on how to apply the firm’s service standards
• The ability to manage large-scale and cross-firm projects, including delegating and managing all resources, identifying and implementing improved processes, monitoring consistency across project teams, and providing direction and support to teammates
• The ability to facilitate and negotiate among stakeholders with conflicting needs and to generate consensus among decision makers
• The ability to help effectively communicate difficult messages; to adapt style, tone, and content to meet various needs; and to coach teammates on crafting content.
• The ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals, including encouraging and facilitating effective compromise, drawing on the capabilities of all team members, and leading team-level knowledge sharing
• The ability to use available resources and feedback to continually develop mastery in your role and facilitate team and project-level learning, including coaching others
• The ability to solve complex challenges by identifying innovative solutions and facilitating coordination with others

Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands‑on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation.

Working with Us

We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers website to learn more.

To encourage work/life balance we offer flexible work options. Our office is an open space with cubicles and informal work areas. Our salaries are closer to the range of a nonprofit and our benefits are excellent. You’ll start with three weeks of vacation, 80 hours of personal time, and 20 hours of paid time to volunteer at an organization of your choice. In addition to seven federal holidays, you get to pick four more from a list of inclusive religious holidays and your birthday.

We have a competitive health package that includes medical, vision, dental, and prescription insurance. We also provide funds for professional development, a fitness benefit, and cover part of your personal cell phone plan.