Communications Manager

Latino Outdoors; Washington (District of Columbia); Remote; USD 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Pet insurance

Sick leave

Vacation leave

Sabbatical

Retirement plan

Job summary

The Wilderness Society seeks a Communications Manager to lead advocacy communications, story development, and earned media strategies across national and western state campaigns. You will prepare spokespeople, craft compelling narratives, and collaborate with program, policy, and digital teams to advance conservation priorities.

You will help ensure inclusive, values-based outreach, foster reporter relationships, and coordinate with partners to expand public engagement.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in communications, external affairs, public relations, or marketing.
• Experience working with diverse teams representing various backgrounds and perspectives.
• Strong media relations with local and national outlets.
• Excellent writing and verbal communication for digital audiences.
• Knowledge of the state and federal legislative process.
• Ability to evaluate legislation for organizational alignment with values.
• Ability to translate complex policies into clear public messaging.
• Proven ability to develop advocacy strategies and campaigns.
• Experience with values-based audience targeting and messaging.
• Familiarity with Indigenous communities and sovereign nations is advantageous.
• Commitment to ethical storytelling and equity in policy-making.

Responsibilities

• Develop long-term proactive communications strategies to reach priority audiences.
• Coordinate work and monitor progress toward metrics and outcomes.
• Lead narratives and messaging for place-based campaigns in Western states.
• Prepare spokespeople and develop speeches, talking points, and materials.
• Collaborate with digital colleagues to create audience-focused content.
• Execute national and local media relations, events, and press materials.
• Cultivate reporter relationships and share contacts with communicators.
• Coordinate external communications across teams for aligned messaging.
• Support coalition efforts with partners on campaign priorities.
• Collaborate on creative initiatives like film launches, webinars, and reports.

Skills

Communications strategy

Media relations

Public relations

Written communication

Policy analysis

Advocacy strategy

Coalitions

Storytelling

Digital content

Equity & inclusion

Job description

ABOUT THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY

The Wilderness Society is a national conservation organization dedicated to protecting America’s wild places since 1935. Our mission is to unite people to protect America’s wild places. Through science, advocacy and partnerships with communitiesand policymakers, we champion the protection of wilderness, national parks, forests, and other public lands that provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and the freedom to connect with nature. For more information, visit www.wilderness.org.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Communications Manager develops and executes advocacy communications strategies that advance the organization’s priorities, strengthen its public narrative, and increase the impact and reach of its work. Working closely with program, policy, legal, government relations, digital, and other teams, this person leads communications planning, message development, and earned media strategy, while helping plan and guide digital content development for place-based campaigns in states where TWS works on the ground. The role also includes preparing spokespeople, developing compelling stories and communications materials, and collaborating with internal teams and external partners to engage priority audiences and advance advocacy goals.

This position plays a critical role in fostering an organizational culture where people feel respected, included, and accountable to shared goals and outcomes. TWS has made it a priority to ensure that our public lands work reflects fairness, representation, and accessibility. This role will carry those commitments into our External Affairs work—expanding partnerships, strengthening community connections, and ensuring our work is responsive to a broad range of perspectives and needs. Across our team, we aspire to be campaign-oriented, collaborative, innovative, transparent, and supportive of staff – our greatest asset.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop long-term, proactive communications strategies and plans to reach priority audiences and achieve intended impact across paid, owned, and earned media.
• Coordinate work and monitor progress towards TWS metrics, milestones, and outcomes. Ensure content lives in one central location that can be accessed by the full team.
• Review and offer strategic input and counsel on broader narratives, priorities, and plans, including leading the development of communications outreach for initiatives focused on Western states and other priority areas as needed.
• Lead narrative creation and messaging oversight for place-based campaigns in Western states. This includes creating overarching narratives, press statements, talking points, memos, reports, and other communications resources.
• Work closely with digital colleagues to support the development of compelling, audience-focused content for websites, email, membership communications, social media, and other digital platforms, ensuring alignment with campaign narratives, messaging strategies, and organizational goals.
• Execute both national and local media relations related to portfolio of work including hosting media events, pitching stories, drafting releases, and shaping of narrative with journalists.
• Cultivate new reporter relationships that reach and influence target audiences. Shares contacts with other communicators as appropriate.
• Prepare and train TWS and partner spokespeople for interviews, events, and testimony, and develop speeches, talking points, written testimony, and other materials that advance campaign priorities.
• Coordinate media relations and external communications with relevant TWS teams to ensure alignment on messaging, priorities, and opportunities.
• Participate in coalition efforts, providing communications expertise and support to partners as needed. Build and maintain relationships with partners who can help tell compelling stories about the importance and impact of TWS’s work.
• Collaborate on larger creative initiatives, including film launches, webinars, reports, story maps, and other storytelling opportunities, ensuring content aligns with organizational narratives and campaign priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience, Competencies, and Education

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in communications, content creation, external affairs, public relations, and/or marketing.
• Track record working successfully in teams representing a rich mix of talent, backgrounds, and perspectives.
• Strong experience working with members of the press and a solid understanding of the media landscape, both local and national media.
• Strong understanding of social media and writing, and producing content for digital audiences.
• Strong understanding of the legislative process at the state and federal level.
• Proven ability to evaluate and analyze legislation and/or other policy solutions for understanding and alignment with organizational positions and values.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, including the ability to translate complex policies succinctly and clearly for a public audience and decision makers.
• Proven ability to develop strategies and tactics to achieve an advocacy goal.
• Strong understanding of holistic, behavior-change communications and the ability to strategically design communication plans that are comprehensive and impactful to targeted audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills and careful attention to detail.Solution-orientation mindset.
• A good understanding of or experience in crafting strategies that include values-based audience targeting and tailoring messaging accordingly.
• Familiarity, sensitivity to and/or experience working with Indigenous communities and/or sovereign tribal nations.
• Commitment to and experience with ethical storytelling.
• Understanding and commitment to advancing equity and justice in the policy-making process. Experience working with coalitions focused on environmental and/or social justice issues preferred.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of this position and it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of experience, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.

This position could be performed remotely (or from a TWS office where applicable) in the following states only: CA, WA, MT, ID, WY, CO, NV, UT, or DC. The salary range for this position is $80,000-$95,000 depending on location and experience.

The Wilderness Society offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, and pet insurance; sick and vacation leave; a sabbatical program; and a retirement plan with employer contribution subject to certain limits and requirements. TWS is an equal opportunity employer and actively works to ensure fair treatment of our employees and constituents across culture, socioeconomic status, race, marital or family situation, gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical ability, veteran status or sexual orientation.

As an organization, we aspire to being inclusive in the work that we do, and in the kind of organization we are. Internally, this means working as a team that listens to different points of view, recognizes the contributions of every employee and empowers each employee to bring their whole selves to work every day. Externally, this means ensuring that public lands are inclusive and welcoming, so that our shared wildlands can help people and nature to thrive. We are committed to equity throughout our work, which we define as our commitment to realizing the promise of our public lands and ensuring that all can share in their universal benefits.

To learn more about our commitment, please see http://wilderness.org/our-commitment-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-wilderness-society

Pursuant to applicable fair chance laws, TWS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

TWS complies with federal and state disability laws and is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities.