The National Communication and Public Affairs team seeks a CEO Speechwriter to serve as principal writer for the CEO and play a key role in executing the communications strategy for Teach For America’s chief executive.
The National Communications and Public Affairs team has the responsibility to lead a strategic communications effort that advances the mission and goals of Teach For America. An essential element of that effort is creating and executing a high impact and strategic CEO communications plan and elevate the voice of our dynamic CEO, a national thought leader in the effort to achieve excellence and equity in education. These external events and speaking commitments, including thought-leadership opportunities to promote the CEO’s unique experience and point of view, are an important part of our national communications effort. As part of the national communications team, the person in this role will also contribute to the development of overall message strategy and communication efforts and will be an adviser to the CEO on both proactive and reactive communications opportunities.
This position will report to the Vice President of National Communications and Public Affairs, and will work closely with the CEO and her office and well as with the Senior Managing Director of CEO Communications, who is responsible for developing and executing the CEO’s communication plan and overseeing preparation for these opportunities.
The CEO Speechwriter will be a talented writer with a commitment to excellence and equity in education. In this role you will develop speeches, op-eds, talking points and other materials for a variety of presentation formats and audiences. You will research, develop and write speeches, opinion pieces and other persuasive communication writing focused on educational excellence and equity and Teach For America’s work in communities across the country. Writing will also include highlighting the CEO’s thought leadership in education and leadership, and elevating her voice as TFA’s first Latina CEO and the leadership role she plays in many diverse communities.
- Serve as principal writer of the CEO’s written work, which includes speeches, opinion pieces, blogs, video scripts, talking points, announcements, and presentations
- Support CEO communications in a variety of ways, including the CEO’s briefing materials, correspondence, and special projects
- In partnership with colleagues on the Marketing and Communications team, contribute to the development and execution of a social media strategy for the CEO that elevates her as a major thought leader via various digital platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Work with multiple offices and staff on both the national and regional teams collaboratively to ensure that written materials have input from key internal stakeholders
- Keep a pulse on what is happening in the national conversation on educational excellence and equity as well as across the organization to be able to both proactively and reactively recommend communication opportunities the CEO should engage in.
- Political and/or Executive communications and speechwriting experience required
- Minimum of 3-5 years of exceptional performance in complex and lateral project management
- Familiarity with issues in educational excellence and equity in general and Teach For America in particular
- Some experience and familiarity with leadership development and strategy or consulting preferred
Work Demands
- Ability to travel on occasion, approximately 1-2 times per quarter
Skills:
- Strong written and verbal communication; synthesizing thoughts into clear and concise communications
- Ability to write well and quickly on deadline, while managing multiple assignments at once
- Ability to work collaboratively in complex organizational environments, influence others in and across management lines, and develop strong internal and external relationships
- Ability to exercise sound judgment related to organizational and interpersonal dynamics, and adjust communications accordingly
- Interest and ability to engage with diverse stakeholders on a range of topics including cultural competence, diversity and equity issues, board-related matters, and priorities affecting our students and families
- Comfortable operating flexibly in environments of change, ambiguity and uncertainty
- Ability to manage workload effectively and following through on execution