At the nexus of national and regional integrated strategy, you are a lead strategist and partner to senior leaders across the organization at the regional and national level. Working in partnership with a portfolio of 8-9 regions, you develop proactive cross-channel strategy that defines and promotes the impact of TFA locally and to our network. As part of this work, you also surface compelling stories for consideration on national earned and owned platforms. You execute on earned media, provide rapid response capabilities that maximize opportunities and mitigate risk, and support regional staff to be brand and culture ambassadors within and beyond a digital experience. You are well positioned to identify trends in marketing and communications needs, opportunities, and best practices. Leveraging this perspective, you provide insight and counsel to the executive directors you work with as well as the regional field executives who have direct management of the executive directors in your portfolio. You also provide counsel to your colleagues on the Marketing and Communications Team (MCT) who are guiding and developing centralized audience-specific content, tools and templates, and training to ensure scalable and meaningful support to regions.
The Managing Director, Regional Communications and Public Affairs will be responsible for:
Integrated, cross-channel strategy at the regional level
- Work with the executive director and regional staff members doing channel-specific work to develop an annual cross-channel communications plan for each region in your portfolio that:
- Leverages audience and channel insights to ensure the region is well-positioned to deliver user-first content across earned and owned platforms
- Dovetails with national content strategy and digital strategy and includes amplification plans for earned and owned content
- Includes key messages that are aligned with national narrative and customized to local context
- Supports the region’s overarching vision and operational objectives
- Positions Teach For America’s relevance and impact in a local context
- Mitigates risk
Counsel and execution on earned media and public affairs
- Develop and advise on public affairs strategy for high-stakes, high-profile efforts such as state funding, contract renewal, and new district partnerships
- Serve as on the record spokesperson and prep regional leaders, surrogates, and corps members and alumni for media engagement
- Develop or oversee the development of written content intended for publication or use with the media (i.e. op-eds, letters to the editor, talking points, high stakes internal communications and digital content)
- Develop and maintain relationships with local reporters and editorial boards
- Serve as an informal conduit of information and guidance between public partnerships teams, legal counsel, and regions
- Provide cross-regional guidance and perspective to regional field executives, regional executive directors, public partnerships, and MCT colleagues
- Liaise with other Teach For America teams including our social media, marketing, public partnerships, government affairs, policy, and legal teams to integrate a broad scope of public engagement work
Build a robust regional communications infrastructure
- Provide counsel and MCT developed training and resources to regional staff executing components of the communications strategy (media engagement, social media, website, constituent communications)
- Run bi-weekly check-ins with executive directors or other regional communications points of contact
- Establish a process for handling crisis communications
- Ensure that corps members and staff understand TFA’s media protocol
- Ensure regions understand and act in alignment with national digital governance
- Establish a bench of prepared spokespeople including corps members, alumni, regional supporters and community champions, etc.
- Cultivate relationships with district communications contacts and other key communications partners
- Partner with regional staff to develop a review process to ensure digital and internal communications are aligned with regional strategy and on message
- Track media contacts and engagement in TFACT, our constituent relationship management database
Contribute to a dynamic, supportive, and effective team
- Consistently share observed trends and successful practices in marketing, communications, and public affairs across regional and team structures to facilitate learning and continuously improve regional and national ability to maximize opportunities and minimize risk
- Share compelling stories with the content editorial team for consideration for national owned and earned platforms
- Actively build a positive team culture through frequent, thoughtful engagement in team dialogue and activities
- Celebrate accomplishments and important milestones
- Offer constructive feedback and welcome the perspective of others
- Participate in MCT L&D opportunities to strengthen knowledge of team resources, strategy, and channel-specific tactics
- Contribute to a positive and supportive team culture aligned to our core values
Prior Experience
- 5-10 years of related work experience (e.g., formal communications, journalism, political or education roles) required
- Experience setting integrated marketing and communications strategy required
- Experience managing crisis communication required
- Deep familiarity with the education sector strongly preferred
Skills
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
- Strong knowledge and understanding of current trends in digital media/social media
- Ability to understand, interpret, and leverage digital analytics to inform strategy
- Motivated by simultaneously managing multiple projects while maintaining a meticulous grasp of individual project details
- Knack for influencing others toward outcomes through sophisticated relationship management
- Ability to think big, generate ideas and implement solutions to complex problems in fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
- Ability to make timely decisions and demonstrate good judgment
Work Demands
- Some evening and weekend work required
- Ability to travel to in-person meetings in various U.S. cities approximately once per month
We as an organization value the longevity of our employees and offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits plan. The salary for this position is also competitive and depends on your prior work experience. Please be advised, you will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.