Head of Strategic Communications

Clearpath; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Recoding America Fund seeks a Head of Strategic Communications to shape how the field talks about state capacity reform. You will craft shared language, develop field narratives, and build storytelling pipelines that influence public opinion and attract support from funders.

You will work with the CEO, board chair, and policy teams to create compelling written products and to guide RAF’s communications strategy across media, events, and digital channels.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in communications or related fields.
• Experience shaping organizational messaging across diverse audiences.
• Ability to work across political and policy contexts.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a field-level narrative strategy to tell stories of how government reform affects Americans.
• Create messaging toolkits, talking points, and narrative frameworks across the field.
• Lead partnerships with ecosystem partners and journalists to amplify stories.
• Collaborate with CEO, board, and teams to align RAF’s brand and messaging.
• Manage external creative and communications partners and oversee their work.

Skills

Strategic communications

Storytelling

Media relations

Brand messaging

Job description

Location: Washington, D.C. strongly preferred; will consider remote for exceptional candidates with periodic D.C. travel (including for any events we plan) and ability for substantial overlap with East Coast hours

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Status: Full-time; individual contributor role (no direct reports at this time, though this may evolve as the organization grows)

Compensation: $140,000-180,000, depending on experience and other factors, plus competitive benefits

About the Recoding America Fund

The Recoding America Fund (RAF) is a new bipartisan hybrid 501(c)(3)/501(c)(4) initiative to strengthen America by building the federal and state governments we need to compete globally and serve citizens effectively. RAF aims to restore the core capabilities of government and move to a new operating model—the right people, doing the right work, with purpose-fit systems and test-and-learn frameworks—so it can reliably deliver on its goals. The Fund seeks to help accelerate the growth and development of an ideologically diverse field of state capacity organizations, connect them to each other, fill in the gaps, and help them set ambitious common goals to drive transformational change across all levels of government in this time of unprecedented disruption. Change is coming to public institutions, and now is the time to shape that change in the public interest. That ambitious task cannot be the work of just one party or faction.

The Opportunity: Narrative as a Lever for Systems Change

RAF is hiring a Head of Strategic Communications to build an engine of storytelling and case-making for state capacity reform. This role will shape how RAF communicates, but more importantly, will develop shared language, story pipelines, and field-level narratives that serve the broader state capacity ecosystem. When successful, this work will shift public opinion, build political will, and attract philanthropic investment to an underresourced field. This is not a traditional communications role.

the field-building literature positions strategic communications as a core intervention for systems change: creating shared language that unifies diverse actors into a common effort, shifting beliefs about what's possible, and building the communications capabilities of the field.

As with all roles at RAF, this one has a significant ecosystem development dimension because a compelling narrative is essential to building a strong field. Narrative is what mobilizes resources, wins the support of elected officials, shifts the mental models that hold broken systems in place, and moves public opinion toward understanding why structural reform in the unglamorous plumbing of government matters. Narrative and community-building in the field reinforce each other: the stories a field tells about itself shape who feels included, the relationships between organizations shape what stories get told, and shared language is what allows diverse actors who may not see eye to eye on everything to see themselves as part of a common effort. This role helps build that collective strength, not because RAF has all the answers, but because a central node can provide narrative infrastructure and support that individual organizations shouldn't have to build alone.

You’ll know you're succeeding in this role when stories about structural government reform — told by ecosystem partners, journalists, and newer voices — are reaching audiences who weren't paying attention before and helping those audiences connect the dots between state capacity and everything else. You’ll also know it's working when the compelling language and framing you've helped develop starts showing up elsewhere.

You’ll work closely with many colleagues at RAF, including the CEO on brand, messaging, and organizational voice; the board chair and senior advisor, Jen Pahlka, on storytelling; federal and state teams on narrative-shaping opportunities that can drive structural change at federal and state levels; and our COO and operations team to ensure we have the systems in place to support you, the organization, and the ecosystem in communicating exceptionally well. You’ll manage external creative and communications partners to ensure RAF has the right expertise on call. You’ll report directly to the CEO.

Key Responsibilities

Narrative & Storytelling Programmatic Work

This is a core lever in RAF's theory of change. Weak government capacity has real consequences for Americans, and bold reform efforts are producing real results, but those stories are rarely told in ways that build political will or inspire action. This role contributes to changing that.

• In collaboration with ecosystem partners, develop and execute a field-level narrative strategy that tells the stories of how weak government capacity affects Americans, how change agents are improving how government works, and why this work matters now — across audiences that span the ideological spectrum
• Build and maintain a pipeline of untold stories worth telling: work across RAF's policy teams, grantees, and ecosystem partners to identify the most compelling stories of government reform. Develop criteria for prioritizing which stories to pursue and enlist storytellers (from Jen Pahlka to journalists to newsletter writers and content creators) to tell them.
• Experiment with approaches to reaching broader audiences with state capacity stories — for example, supporting journalists or content creators pursuing untold stories; partnering with newsrooms or journalism training organizations to fund dedicated coverage; or engaging independent writers and "news influencers" whose audiences may be small but highly influential among policymakers and reform leaders.
• Work with RAF's state and federal teams to develop compelling written products (white papers, case studies, briefs) that combine rigorous policy substance with narrative craft that makes people care.
• Prioritize elevating the stories and visibility of ecosystem partners, grantees, and government change agents over building RAF's own brand. When the choice is between RAF or a partner getting the spotlight, choose the partner.
• Where RAF's narrative work surfaces opportunities to direct resources toward ecosystem organizations' own storytelling efforts — through grantmaking, partnerships, or joint programmatic work — advocate for those investments internally.
• Track and assess the impact of narrative efforts, developing metrics and learning loops that inform what's working and what's not

Ecosystem Engagement & Field Communications

This role strengthens how the field communicates — not just what RAF says, but how the entire ecosystem tells its story.

• Develop powerful shared language and framing that helps the diverse organizations in the state capacity ecosystem identify as part of a common effort
• Create messaging toolkits, talking points, and narrative frameworks — developed in collaboration with ecosystem partners — that organizations across the field can adapt as their own. Where organizations already have strong communications capacity, learn from them. Where coaching or support on storytelling would be helpful, provide it.
• Convene communications staff from ecosystem organizations to foster peer learning, share what's working, identify shared needs, and develop collaborative approaches to strengthening how the field communicates as a whole
• Design and execute convenings and gatherings that create opportunities for people who wouldn't otherwise connect to build genuine relationships across organizational, ideological, and subject matter lines
• Help steward shared community infrastructure ensuring it fosters discussion, connection, and shared identity across the ecosystem

Organizational Communications & Media

This is the most traditional "communications" part of this role, but at RAF, even organizational comms serves the field, not just the organization.

• Work closely with the CEO to develop and steward RAF's brand, voice, and core messaging, ensuring the organization's public-facing presence reflects its strategy, values, and bipartisan commitment
• Develop and execute RAF's media strategy: build relationships with journalists and outlets covering government, technology, and policy reform, in both traditional media and newer channels (Substacks, podcasts, and other platforms where policymakers increasingly get their information). Pitch stories, manage press inquiries, and position RAF leaders and ecosystem partners as go-to voices on state capacity issues.
• Support advocacy and lobbying work (through both RAF and its sister c4, Recoding America Action) with communications strategy, messaging, and materials
• Own RAF's website as a strategic asset — ensuring it tells the story of the state capacity field effectively, serves as a resource for ecosystem partners, journalists, and funders, and evolves as the work develops. Work with the CEO and external web partners on strategy, design, and content.
• Develop and maintain core communications collateral (e.g., one-pagers, talking points, presentation templates, and other materials) that enable the CEO, board members, and team to represent RAF effectively. Ensure all public-facing content is consistently high-quality and on-brand.
• Manage relationships with external service providers (e.g., design firms, web developers, messaging consultants, and other creative partners) and oversee their work to ensure quality, consistency, and strategic alignment.

We are a small, nimble team and expect the person who fills this role to handle anything else that needs to get done and provide flex capacity where it's needed.

Who You Are and What You Bring

• You bring 6+ years of relevant experience spanning communications, narrative strategy, media relations, or related fields, ideally with meaningful experience in at least two of the role's core functions and at the intersection of government reform and strategic communications. We’re not dogmatic about the number of years of relevant experience, so if you don’t have 6 and think you’re a strong fit, you should apply.
• You elevate the field, not just the organization.
• You understand that the most important communications work is about shaping how people understand a problem, not promoting an organization. You’ve strengthened how other organizations communicate through toolkits, coaching, frameworks, or convenings, because you know that building the field’s capacity to tell its own stories has more lasting impact than being the sole storyteller.
• You build relationships and community.
• You're a builder and experimenter.
• You're a builder and experimenter.
• You're AI-forward.
• You work across ideological lines.

We anticipate strong candidates may come from non-traditional backgrounds for a role like this, including journalism, speechwriting, or content creation, and we welcome those applicants.

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at [e-mail] with the email subject "Accommodation Needed." We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.

Equal Opportunity

Recoding America Fund is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.