PL+US: Paid Leave for the United States is hiring a Communications Director to join our fast-moving team fighting to win paid family leave for everyone in the United States.
About us
In just four short years, PL+US has won paid leave for nearly 8 million people. We’ve won change at some of the top employers in the country, including Walmart and Starbucks, and we’re taking that momentum into the fight to win national public policy. Paid leave is poised to take off as the next high-profile national issue.
Since our founding, the PL+US team has tripled in size and has cultivated a culture that is bold, curious, real, excellent, and compassionate. We are agile, collaborative problem solvers who are passionate about winning paid leave and we mean it when we say that family comes first, for those we fight alongside and for our own team.
About this opportunity
The Communications Director (CD) is a FT exempt position reporting to the VP of Marketing & Communications. The CD will play a key role in building PL+US’ brand, driving a national conversation about paid family and medical leave, and amplifying the voices of our powerful advocates in support of national paid leave policy. The CD is joining PL+US at an exciting inflection point and will play a critical, timely, and game-changing role in winning landmark legislation that will change the lives of millions of people.
You are an ideal candidate for this role if you are a skilled relationship manager and experienced communications professional with a background in political, issue advocacy, or non-profit comms. You love figuring out new angles and entry points on a story and you’re thoughtful about what motivates and incentivizes people to act. You are someone who sees exciting possibilities to take action, and can bring others along to join the fight. You are also a collaborative, low-ego leader who isn’t afraid to roll up your sleeves, and you share a deep commitment to racial and social justice.
About the role:
In this role, you’ll work to elevate our organizational spokespeople and advocates to tell their compelling paid leave stories on diverse media platforms. You’ll develop messaging and media strategies for our three main portfolios - political, legislative, and corporate campaigning - building tailored but consistent narratives across multiple verticals and audiences.
Duties will include:
- Media relations: Drive high impact organizational media relations strategy.
- Ownership over earned media approach for organizational initiatives
- Manage day-to-day media outreach with an eye towards developing the overarching PL+US narrative
- Monitor the news cycle to identify proactive opportunities for media coverage; be creative in painting a picture of paid leave in the news cycle and creating media moments for the org and issue
- Manage rapid response opportunities; identifying plan of action, message and crisis control if needed, in conjunction with the VP of Marketing and Communications
- Manage paid media opportunities in conjunction with the Digital Team
- Use Cision to build media lists, manage distributions, and provide regular reporting
- Liaison with external media partners and agencies as needed
- Spokesperson cultivation: Work with membership to develop senior leadership, advocates, and PL+US surrogates as spokespeople for media opportunities.
- Identify media opportunities for senior leadership and advocate spokespeople to build national dialogue around paid leave
- Run media training workshops, media prep, and after action media reviews for spokespeople
- Prioritize building a diverse bench of spokespeople to center the most impacted by lack of access to PFML
- Messaging: Develop organizational message and materials, and provide message input and consistency across the organization.
- Write and edit excellent materials for press: op-eds, press releases, talking points, issue statements, etc.
- Provide message guidance and highlight opportunities to Digital Team for social media, email, mobile advocacy, ads, and our website
- Provide message and media guidance for partnerships, legislative, and political initiatives
- Lead message trainings with staff
- Ensure communications consistency documents are updated
- Thought leadership: Work with the VP of Marketing and Communications to develop and implement thought leadership program at PL+US.
- Support with the development of interview serieses and media events
- Lead outreach and pitches to podcast neworks
- Provide tailored support and prep to PL+US’ Executive Director
Necessary Skills
- You’re passionate about paid leave, and want to be on the team that is going to win federal policy.
- You prioritize building strong, ongoing relationships with members of the press, and look for opportunities to leverage these relationships to move the work forward.
- You are persistent and relentless. If you need a response from someone, you have no problem picking up the phone as many times as needed.
- You can think on your feet. You’re experienced in rapid response situations, and can roll with the punches, keep your cool, and provide thoughtful guidance to your team.
- You’re a voracious media consumer. You are up to speed on all the news, all the time, and can spot opportunities to tell a compelling paid leave story in any news cycle.
- You’re a strong writer. You’re comfortable writing multiple types of content, including press releases, op-eds, and other thought leadership content.
- You’re successful in a startup environment. You’ve worked collaboratively with a team that is learning-while-doing, and are excited to work responsively with program, development, and operations staff. You can offer corrections with kindness and good humor. You’re not put off by a fast pace and frequent pivots.
- You have a deep commitment to equity and inclusion. You understand why it’s problematic that companies offer men less paid leave than women. You get why the fact that FMLA doesn’t apply to siblings and grandparents can especially hurt communities of color. When you hear “family leave for everyone in the United States,” you understand the deep community engagement and fundamental issue re-centering necessary to achieve that goal. You have a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and anti-oppression.
- You’re kind, to others and to yourself. We’re building a team that’s smart, fun, fast, supportive, passionate, and collaborative. That starts with people who are truly delighted and challenged by the work, and know how to bring their best selves to it every day.
Reports to: Chrissy Blitz, Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Supervises: n/a
Salary: $76,500-95,000 annually
Location: PL+US is a national remote team. For this role we have a location preference of Washington DC, New York, or Los Angeles, but will consider candidates in any location.
Some of the Benefits of Working for PL+US:
- Awesome team of high impact, low ego people who live by our organizational values: be bold, curious, real, excellent and compassionate.
- Flexible work schedule. If you need to leave early to pick up your kid from school or bring your mom to the doctor, that’s cool.
- Up to 6 months of paid family leave, as well as health, dental, and vision insurance (up to $850/month when you enroll in our plans).
- Generous time off. Unlimited vacation, 12 paid holidays, and we all take the week between Christmas and New Years off.
- Retirement accounts. We offer a 401(k) since we want you to retire one day.
- Commuter benefits program, medical and dependent care FSA program, and employer-paid life and disability insurance.
To Apply: Please submit your resume at Recruiterbox, and in lieu of a cover letter, please respond to the three application questions. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and interviews will begin ASAP.
- Why are you passionate about winning paid family and medical leave for everyone in the United States?
- Tell us about a time you were creative in pitching members of the press and landing a story.
- What are the top three things from your previous experience that would make you successful in the Communications Director role at PL+US?
Apply online here: https://paidleave.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0q5ha?cjb_hash=O_vDIe98&apply_...
PL+US is deeply committed to diversity. We strongly encourage people of color, first-generation Americans, people with caregiving responsibilities, people with disabilities, and members of the queer community to apply.
PL+US is an equal opportunity employer. This means that we don't discriminate against people because of their race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status, pregnancy, personal appearance, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, or political affiliation.