The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida seeks a Deputy Communications Director, Media and Press. The Deputy Communications Director, Media and Press works closely with the Communications Director to achieve the organization’s goal of protecting the liberties that define our democracy. This position can be remote or be located in one of the organization’s offices in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville or Tallahassee and includes some travel.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is an affiliate of the national ACLU, a national public interest organization devoted to the defense of the Bill of Rights. For over 100 years, the ACLU has served as the nation’s primary protector of the liberties that define our democracy. The organization implements its vital civil liberties mission in all 50 states in large part through affiliate entities such as the ACLU of Florida. Operating out of six offices—Miami (main), Tampa, Pensacola, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville—the Florida affiliate has a budget of over $8 million and 55 staff members, placing it among the larger ACLU affiliates in the nation.
The ACLU of Florida, the state’s largest civil rights and civil liberties organization, employs litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education to protect and promote a broad range of constitutional values and individual rights, such as freedom of speech, racial justice, right to privacy, religious liberty, criminal justice reform, voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, disability rights, and immigrants’ rights. The ACLU of Florida litigates a broad range of complex constitutional cases in federal and state courts through direct representation, filing amicus briefs, and submitting administrative complaints to state and federal agencies.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The ACLU of Florida’s Communications Department leads the media and digital communications for the organization. The department works to drive conversations around civil rights and civil liberties and enhance public understanding and support for our issues. We accomplish this by working with high-impact media, launching multimedia advocacy campaigns, releasing reports and research, and running the organization’s websites and digital channels.
The ACLU of Florida seeks a dynamic Deputy Communications Director, Media and Press to join its communications team. We’re looking for candidates with a keen sense of how the media works, experience creating paid, owned, earned, and shared media content, strong writing skills, and a deep understanding of social justice issues.
Under the direction of the Communications Director, the Deputy Communications Director, Media and Press provides leadership for development, execution, and administration of professional media engagement activities using traditional and digital mediums for civil rights and civil liberties projects, campaigns, and advocacy efforts and initiatives. This role leads a team of professional staff engaged in executing wide-ranging and geographically focused media strategies that manage and further development of the organization's relationships with state and national media outlets. Position serves as a spokesperson for local, state, and national media. Position also leads initiatives with special emphasis on outreach to media and press resources specific to advocacy including, but not limited to, Voting Rights, Immigrants’ Rights, and Criminal Justice Reform to advance the mission of the ACLU of Florida. Oversees, reviews, edits, and approves communications materials.
- Serves as a spokesperson to local, state, and national outreach interests, thereby expanding visibility, outreach, and engagement efforts of the ACLU of Florida in the local and broader communities
- Leads the development of a robust and high-impact earned and owned media strategy that strengthens our advocacy, programmatic, and legislative work
- Leads all aspects of media relations, including writing and disseminating press materials, responding to inquiries, and arranging interviews with subject matter experts.
- Co-leads the development of messaging and consistent usage for key issue areas and campaigns.
- Fulfills ad placements in radio, TV, newspapers, and digital according to budget.
- Manages staff and co-leads the planning and execution of press events, including live and virtual press conferences and editorial board meetings, and support media at other events including rallies and marches.
- Leads and facilitates internal and cross-departmental collaboration in development and implementation of branding, media outreach, and public education initiatives to advance ACLU of Florida priorities in both the local and broader communities
- Proactively develops relationships with reporters, editors, and influencers in key issue areas, pitching ACLU of Florida story ideas in alignment with reporters’ beats and areas of interest.
- Ensures ACLU of Florida messages are accurately and professionally delivered through reviewing, editing, and approving the release of news stories, interviews, and feature articles to local, state, and national media resources and outlets
- Co-manages a drafting and editing process for communications deliverables, including, but not limited to, press releases, statements, op-eds, blogs, and talking points.
- Manages staff and co-leads the tracking of all media activities, including creating and maintaining media lists, tracking campaign success, and building analytics reports.
- Monitors, responds to, and completes production requests as assigned by the Communications Director
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Provides support, training, coaching, and guidance to the organization’s media team including, the Communications Strategists, Media Relations Strategist, and other colleagues as needed.
- Provides day-to-day leadership and management to further the ACLU of Florida mission and core values and improve the organization’s structure, systems, staffing, and overall governance to achieve maximum effectiveness
- Works closely with senior staff, affiliates, and the broader ACLU community to ensure unified programs, common long-term objectives, and cohesion in communications initiatives
- Fosters a culture of collaboration and accountability that is consistent with the value and mission of the institution, including management of personnel and human resources tasks
- Supports the assessment of organizational needs and the design, implementation and evaluation of programs and projects that facilitate the professional development and continuous learning of team members, particularly executives and emerging leaders
- Demonstrates proven leadership in a multi-disciplinary organization with multiple offices and coalition partners in diverse communities
- Reviews and evaluates work methods and procedures and meets with management staff to identify and resolve problems
- Assesses and monitors workload; identifies opportunities for improvement and implements changes
- Selects, trains, motivates, and evaluates personnel; provides or coordinates staff training;
- Participates in the development and administration of the departmental budget; approves expenditures and implements budgetary adjustments as appropriate and necessary under the director of the Communications Director
- Develops and maintains documentation of team processes and workflows for production. Assesses and monitors workload; identifies opportunities for improvement and implements changes.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- A Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience and a minimum of five years of experience working in a related communications field, preferably for an agency, public relations firm, or comparable advocacy, nonprofit, governmental, or private sector agency
- Supervisory experience; or an equivalent combination of education, certification, training, and/or experience.
- Excellent verbal, writing, and interpersonal communication skills; strong attention to detail, ability to write and deliver work products under deadlines, and commitment to high-quality standards.
- Prior experience managing an agency, non-profit or organization’s media relations, marketing, public relations, or another related field
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Unwavering commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU of Florida, including a demonstrated commitment to equity and racial justice
- Fluency in Spanish or Haitian Creole preferred, but not required
- Strong news judgement and a demonstrated ability in securing media coverage and cultivating relationships with journalists
- Prior experience serving as an organization’s spokesperson
- Proficiency using a media monitoring platform, such as Cision, Meltwater, Press Hook
- An understanding of digital communications tools, including social media
- Prior writing and editing experience translating complex legal material into accurate, accessible, and compelling messaging
- Ability to work effectively across multiple issue areas
- The ability to thrive under deadline pressures
- Experience with media planning and buying
- Creative thinker who is passionate about finding innovative ways to engage the media in the ACLU of Florida’s work
- Skill in the use of Microsoft Office products is preferred
- Skill in using Asana or another product management software is preferred
- Skill in adapting to a changing work environment, competing demands and ability to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events
- Skill in developing, managing, and interpreting budgets, contracts, and fiscal and financial reports
- Understanding of trends and best practices for communicating via email
- Experience working with and interpreting web, social, and email analytics preferred.
- A strong desire to test and learn, this includes a comfort with failure and a desire to learn from failures in order to improve
- Excellent collaboration qualities, ability to work in a dynamic environment with a fast-paced and passionate team
This job description provides a general but not comprehensive list of the essential responsibilities and qualifications required. It does not represent a contract of employment. The ACLU of Florida reserves the right to change the job description and/or posting at any time without advance notice. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.
Compensation will be commensurate with experience, within the range of $82,000 - $100,000. The ACLU of Florida provides excellent benefits, including health and dental insurance with generous vacation, holiday and sick leave policies, as well as a Defined Contribution 401K Retirement Plan. Base vacation leave is five weeks per year (and six weeks per year after five years).
Please send a cover letter, resume, by email to [email protected]. You may include samples of past work. All inquiries should include Deputy Communications Director, Media and Press in the subject line and all attachments should be in Microsoft Word or PDF format.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Please indicate where you learned of this job posting. No phone calls, please.
This job description provides a general but not comprehensive list of the essential responsibilities and qualifications required. It does not represent a contract of employment. The ACLU of Florida reserves the right to change the job description and/or posting at any time without advance notice.
The ACLU of Florida is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. The ACLU of Florida encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status, record of arrest or conviction and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If selected for an interview, please inquire if financial assistance is needed in order to attend.
The ACLU of Florida makes every effort to assure that its recruitment and employment efforts provide persons with disabilities with full opportunities for employment in all positions.
The ACLU of Florida is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please e-mail [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process. Fluency in Spanish or Kreyol is preferred but not required.