Communications Director

Housing California; Sacramento (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work environment

Fully paid medical, dental, and vision

Retirement plan and paid time off

Job summary

Housing California, based in Sacramento, seeks a senior Communications Director to own the organization's narrative and end-to-end communications strategy. The role leads media relations, content operations, and rapid response to public policy developments within a fast-paced legislative calendar.

The ideal candidate will bring 7+ years in strategic communications or advocacy communications, experience leading campaigns, and a track record of elevating resident voices through storytelling, with

Qualifications

• Track record running a communications calendar and media relations function end-to-end.
• Experience leading rapid response communications in a fast-moving news or political environment.
• Experience managing consultants or agency partners.
• Comfortable representing an organization externally and prepping senior leaders for public-facing moments.
• Fluency with digital communications, media monitoring, email marketing, CMS, social media, and analytics tools.
• Experience supporting a live campaign — ballot measure, legislative push, or comparable — under real time pressure.
• Strong writing and editing skills across press, digital, and public-facing formats.

Responsibilities

• Runs Housing CA's public-facing communications operation with the rigor a live legislative and electoral calendar demands.
• Leads the annual communications plan, calendar, newsletters, e-blasts, social media, and op-ed pipeline.
• Leads media relations and advocacy: writing and distributing op-eds, press releases, statements, and securing earned media opportunities.
• Leads rapid response communications and positions Housing CA credibly as news unfolds.
• Leads communications strategy for major campaigns, including the statewide affordable housing bond campaign.
• Represents Housing CA at public events, coalition spaces, and media engagements.

Skills

Media relations

Strategic communications

Narrative change

Public narrative strategy

Writing & editing

Communication planning

Rapid response

Campaign experience

Tools

CMS

Email marketing

Social media analytics

Job description

ABOUT HOUSING CALIFORNIA

Since 1988, Housing California (Housing CA) has worked to create a California with homes, health, and prosperity for all in thriving, sustainable communities. We bring together a diverse, cross-sector network to prevent and end homelessness, increase the supply of safe, stable, affordable homes, and reverse the legacy of systemic racial and economic inequities by building power among the people most impacted by housing injustice in partnership with cross-sector partners, shaping the narrative, and advocating for the passage of transformative statewide policy solutions. Learn more about long term policy agenda here and explore additional information about Housing CA’s current legislative priorities on our website at www.housingca.org.

POSITION SUMMARY

California's housing and homelessness crisis will not be solved by policy wins alone; it requires a fundamental shift in how the public understands who deserves a home and why. As Communications Director, the incoming leader owns Housing CA's narrative and communications strategy end-to-end: setting the organization's voice, translating policy and legislative work into public narrative that moves people, and running the media and content operation that gets that narrative into the world.

This is a senior leadership role. The Director manages a small communications team and consultants, and integrates communications work across legislative and regulatory affairs, power building, and organizational strategy. Externally, they lead media relations, rapid response, and public narrative strategy in service of Housing CA's "big tent" approach, building a shared voice across a broad and diverse constituency and centering the people most affected by housing instability and homelessness.

The position is based in Sacramento (hybrid), with regular statewide travel and occasional early-morning, evening, and weekend commitments. The right candidate is energized by the pace of a live legislative and campaign calendar, including a current statewide affordable housing bond campaign and brings the seniority and judgment to lead the function independently.

AREAS OF LEADERSHIP AND EXPERTISE

Strategic Communications Execution & Media Advocacy

Runs Housing CA's public-facing communications operation (media, content calendar, and campaign comms) with the rigor a live legislative and electoral calendar demands.

• Owns and executes the annual communications plan and calendar, including newsletters, e-blasts, social media, and the op-ed pipeline.
• Leads media relations and advocacy: writing, editing, and distributing op-eds, press releases, and statements, and identifying earned media opportunities.
• Leads rapid response communications, positioning Housing CA quickly and credibly as news and political developments unfold.
• Leads communications strategy for major campaigns, including the current statewide affordable housing bond campaign.
• Prioritizes competing media requests, speaking engagements, and writing opportunities, and prepares the Executive Director and other key staff for interviews and public appearances.
• Manages communications consultants, briefing them clearly and holding their work to a high standard.
• Leads communications planning for major organizational moments, including the annual conference and Advocacy Day.
• Represents Housing CA at public events, coalition spaces, and media engagements.

Key qualifications:

• Track record running a communications calendar and media relations function end-to-end.
• Experience leading rapid response communications in a fast-moving news or political environment.
• Experience managing consultants or agency partners.
• Comfortable representing an organization externally and prepping senior leaders for public-facing moments.
• Fluency with digital communications, media monitoring, email marketing, CMS, social media, and analytics tools.
• Experience supporting a live campaign — ballot measure, legislative push, or comparable — under real time pressure.
• Strong writing and editing skills across press, digital, and public-facing formats.

Narrative & Communications Strategy Leadership

Leads the development and execution of Housing CA's narrative change and communications strategy, translating policy priorities and lived experience into public narrative that shifts how people understand housing and homelessness.

• Develops and executes Housing CA's narrative change strategy, applying tested frameworks and research to shift the stories, values, and perceptions that shape public understanding.
• Owns Housing CA's strategic communications plan and style guide, maintaining a consistent, values-forward voice across every channel and audience.
• Guides the writing, editing, and production of publications, campaigns, and communications materials to a high editorial standard.
• Partners with the power-building team to elevate resident voice and develop spokespeople, keeping policy work grounded in lived experience.
• Serves as Housing CA's internal thought partner on narrative, building staff capacity to apply narrative strategy across programs and campaigns.

Key qualifications:

• 7+ years of experience in strategic communications, narrative change, or advocacy communications, ideally on behalf of low-income communities and communities of color.
• Working knowledge of narrative research and tested frameworks, and fluency applying them practically.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial, economic, and housing justice reflected in prior work.
• Skilled at translating complex policy or legislative material into accessible public narrative.

Organizational & Systems Thinking

Connects communications work to Housing CA's long-term mission, integrating narrative, legislative advocacy, and power building into a coherent systems-change approach.

• Aligns communications strategy with organizational planning, budgeting, and impact tracking.
• Collaborates with the legislative/regulatory affairs and power-building teams so communications reinforces policy and organizing strategy.
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy and sound judgment as a senior organizational leader.
• Brings fresh thinking to a fast-changing coalition and legislative environment, adapting priorities as opportunities shift.

Key qualifications:

• Experience operating in advocacy, legislative, or coalition-based environments, with a well-developed communications toolkit.
• Demonstrated ability to own and manage narrative and messaging strategy at a senior level.
• Comfort holding "inside voice / outside voice" tension across public, coalition, and legislative spaces.

Team Leadership & Development

Leads, coaches, and develops a small communications team, contributing to Housing CA's senior leadership as a whole.

• Manages direct reports, coaching for growth in craft, judgment, and career development.
• Builds a collaborative, low-ego team culture that supports growth at every level.
• Contributes to organizational leadership: shaping culture, advancing equity commitments, and participating in strategic planning.
• Proposes and monitors the communications budget and supports fundraising for the program.

Key qualifications:

• Experience managing and developing communications staff, including hands-on coaching.
• Collaborative, low-ego leadership style.
• Track record as a senior leader who integrates team output into broader organizational strategy.

Our ideal candidates may have experience that doesn’t directly match the qualifications above, and we encourage people with equivalent experience to apply.

COMPENSATION, BENEFITS, AND LOCATION

This is a full-time, exempt position that reports to the Deputy Director of Programs. The Director will provide leadership for a communications manager. The salary range $120,000 - $150,000 depending on experience.

• fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employee
• 25% paid medical, dental and vision for dependents
• paid parental leave
• long-term disability and group life insurance coverage
• commuting subsidy
• cell phone/at home internet subsidy
• 403(b) retirement plan with 3.5% employer contribution
• generous vacation (3+ weeks, depending on tenure), sick leave (8 hours per month + employees start with 8 hours of leave), 12 paid holidays
• organization-wide closure during the last week of December and a shortened workweek during the summer legislative break
• training and professional development opportunities
• and a hybrid work environment

This position is based in our office in Sacramento and requires a significant in person presence in and around our office and the state capitol in downtown Sacramento. The position will have the opportunity to work remotely from their home if their presence is not needed in the office or around the capitol.

This position will have the opportunity to participate in regular travel (mostly in California) including the following engagements: twice yearly Board of Directors meetings (sometimes held in Sacramento); annual 2-3 day staff retreat; annual 3-day Housing California conference (often in Sacramento); annual 2-3-day statewide RUN summit (sometimes in Sacramento); plus various conferences or in-person partner meetings, based on need and interest.

OUR CULTURE

Housing California is committed to creating a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive workplace that fosters a culture of belonging, ongoing learning and collaboration, and supports, stabilizes, and incentivizes people to join the Housing California team and stay for the long game.

We value having staff who come from communities that are most impacted by the issues we address. We especially encourage Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and people of color; people from families that have immigrated to the U.S.; people who have been unhoused or experienced housing instability; women; LGBTQIA+ people; system-impacted people; and people with disabilities to apply for these positions.

We aim for our work to be both effective and sustainable; we balance required travel during some parts of the year and the fast-paced legislative calendar with a commitment to our team’s mental and physical health.

If you have questions regarding your qualifications for this position, compensation/benefits, our process or internal timeline for hiring, or suggestions for how to improve this announcement or the opportunity itself, please email Jenny Welch ([e-mail]).