Communications and Digital Media Manager

Aspen Institute; Washington (District of Columbia); Remote; USD 88,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

The Aspen Institute is seeking a Communications and Digital Media Manager to lead cross‑pillar storytelling, campaigns, and audience engagement. You will write, edit, design, and ship content across channels, while coordinating with creative services and Fellows teams to build visibility, trust, and impact.

In this remote role with a preference for candidates in Los Angeles, you will manage newsletters, the website, social channels, and multimedia production, ensuring consistent branding and

Qualifications

• Hands-on, cross-cutting communications partner to pillar leads.
• Experience writing, editing, and producing content for multiple channels.
• Ability to design and coordinate multimedia content and campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Manage owned channels and editorial calendar across email, website, social, and other platforms.
• Write, edit, and produce the monthly Fellows newsletter and partner toolkits.
• Coordinate with creative services for graphics, video, and design projects.
• Produce multimedia content (short-form video, audio, photography) as needed.
• Track performance and deliver monthly reporting with insights.

Skills

Content strategy

Editing

Graphic design

Video editing

Project management

Communications planning

Stakeholder collaboration

Job description

Communications and Digital Media Manager

ABOUT US
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners.

ASPEN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK
The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) builds, stewards, and connects the leadership Fellowships and a growing, worldwide community of 4,200+ values-based leaders across 62 countries. AGLN is entering a period of significant evolution: a new organizational structure built around three pillars - incubating new Fellowships, stewarding a global community of Fellowship practice, sustaining a lifelong Fellows community - alongside fresh thinking about how we tell our story.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

AGLN is in a moment of significant growth and reinvention. The program is restructuring into three core operational pillars and rethinking how it shows up in the world, while growing through new partnerships and new programs built from within.

Communications must now do more, with greater clarity and consistency: call the right leaders into Fellowship, help Fellows across the network learn from one another, keep Fellows connected and inspired across a lifetime, and make the case to the funders and partners who sustain this work. The Communications and Media Manager will play a key role in this evolution as a hands‑on, cross‑cutting partner to every pillar.

This is a builder-and-doer role: the Manager writes, edits, designs, and ships content directly, and knows when to bring in AGLN's bench of creative services specialists for complex graphics, video editing, or surge capacity. The ideal candidate is agile in a moment of change and comfortable moving between a Fellowship launch, a 300-person convening, a Board report, and a monthly newsletter in the same week.

This position has a salary range of $88,000 - $98,000. This is a remote role with high preference for candidates based out of Los Angeles, California.

Goals and Objectives

The Communications and Media Manager will ensure that every part of AGLN has consistent, high-quality communications support. Working alongside the Director, Communications and Engagement, they will serve as a connector and partner to pillar leads, turning each pillar's priorities into clear communications plans, achievable timelines, and excellent deliverables.

In this role, the Manager will develop campaigns, systems, and stories that: a) bring examples of moral courage and bold, transformational leadership to the public sphere, b) help Fellows and Fellowships across the network feel part of one community and c) build visibility and trust with prospective Fellows, funders, and partners.

Goals for this position are to:

• Create and execute integrated communications campaigns that drive nominations, registrations, and participation across programs and stakeholders.
• Steward a clear, consistent brand across every channel, program, and touchpoint as the AGLN evolves.
• Elevate grounded, values-based stories of Fellows and Fellowships that show effective, humanistic leadership in practice to key audiences.
• Build templates, playbooks, and workflows that let a small team, support a growing portfolio.
• Use data and audience insight to sharpen how AGLN reaches Fellows, funders, and the broader leadership field.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Cross-Pillar Communications Partnership
Serve as the primary communications executor and day-to-day partner to pillar leads, supporting each pillar's priorities with clear communications plans, achievable timelines, and excellent deliverables:

• Fellowship Studio: Develop and execute program launch, nomination, and recruitment campaigns for a growing portfolio of incubated Fellowships (e.g., Technology Leaders Initiative, Eisner Arts & Culture, Middle East Leadership Initiative, China Fellowship, Finance Leaders Fellowship, and more), including key message and asset development, cohort announcements, recruitment materials, Fellow onboarding communications, and impact storytelling.
• Learning & Innovation Network: Support communications for the annual Fellowship Retreat, quarterly virtual deep dives, and Innovation Fund calls for proposals and award announcements; support design and publication of practical toolkits, case studies, and onboarding materials for Fellowships joining the network.
• Fellows Community: Manage storytelling, registration, and engagement campaigns for signature convenings (Resnick Aspen Action Forum, Global Action Forums, Global Impact Forum) and post‑Fellowship programs (e.g., Act III, Leadership in Conflict, In the Arena); promote Aspen Passport opportunities and grants to Fellows.
• Anchor & Mature Fellowships: As needed, support communications in coordination with Fellowships’ teams, including class announcements and alumni storytelling.
• Fundraising and governance: Manage the production of donor, Board, and campaign materials in partnership with the Director, including the Annual Highlights Report, pitch decks, and one‑pagers.
• Build repeatable templates and processes (campaign playbooks, intake forms, timelines) so pillars can request support consistently and the team can scale without adding headcount.

AGLN Owned Channels and Content Production
In close partnership with the Director, Communications and Engagement, manage the day-to-day execution of AGLN's owned channels and content:

• Manage the AGLN editorial calendar across email, website, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other owned channels, aligning content with pillar priorities and convening cycles.
• Write, edit, and produce the monthly Fellows newsletter, custom e-blasts, social content, and partner toolkits.
• Manage the AGLN website (aspeninstitute.org/agln), creating and updating pages, ensuring accuracy, and improving navigation as the structure evolves.
• Source, interview, and produce impact stories of Fellows and Fellowships, aligned to AGLN’s key narrative pillars.
• Manage AGLN story‑bank, coordinating closely with colleagues across the AGLN team to source and place content.
• Produce multimedia content (short-form video, audio, photography) as strategy dictates, including on-site capture at convenings.

Brand Stewardship

• Lead day-to-day execution of brand updates across print and digital, including assets, templates, web, signage, and collateral, in step with plans set by the Director.
• Maintain the brand library (logos, style guides, templates, boilerplate) and serve as first point of contact for brand questions from AGLN and Fellowship teams.
• Uphold nomenclature and credit‑line consistency across all materials, treating announcements, toolkits, boilerplate, and web copy as one system.
• Create easy‑to‑use communications templates and guidance for Fellowship teams across the network.

Creative Services, Vendor, and Media Support

• Brief, schedule, and quality‑check AGLN's creative services specialists for complex graphics, video editing, design, and surge support; manage timelines, scopes, and budgets for that work.
• Coordinate freelance and vendor partners (photographers, production companies) on assigned projects, and process related expenses and invoices.
• Support the Director's earned media and thought leadership strategy: brainstorm media lists, draft press materials and pitches, and track coverage.
• Collaborate with the Aspen Institute's central editorial team and other AGLN Fellowships on asset requests, blog content, and cross‑promotion.

Analytics, Systems, and Operations

• Track performance across email, social, web, and campaigns; deliver monthly reporting with clear insights and recommendations.
• Monitor AGLN listservs and email health (deliverability, unsubscribe and bounce rates) and lead list hygiene and audience segmentation, at least