Senior Marketing and Communications Manager

Senior Marketing and Communications Manager

Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC), a national nonprofit organization based in Chicago, is seeking a Senior Marketing and Communications Manager to help further its mission of making schools healthier places for all children. HSC focuses on issues affecting students of color and those from under-invested communities, and strives to make equity part of the public dialogue about education and health. HSC advocates for policies and practices that support health and learning, including comprehensive health services, nutritious school food, physical activity, green schoolyards and clean air at school. HSC has a staff of 16 and an annual budget of $2.6 million.

Position Description
The Senior Marketing and Communications Manager is a newly envisioned role, with a deeper focus on marketing and brand building, that will be an integral part of HSC’s communications and program teams. This position will help develop and implement HSC’s communications plan with the goal of raising HSC’s profile; develop and implement effective marketing campaigns; write in an engaging way about HSC’s programs and advocacy for a diverse set of audiences; and ensure that HSC’s websites and social media channels effectively communicate with and engage a diverse set of stakeholders. The Senior Marketing and Communications Manager will join the Interim Executive Director, Communications Manager, Development Writer and several long-standing communications consultants in moving HSC’s communications work forward.

The successful candidate will bring a commitment to HSC’s mission; strong experience advancing a nonprofit’s mission and goals through effective marketing and engaging writing; an established track record of generating media coverage and placement; excellent technology and writing skills; a strong understanding and background in HSC issues and priorities; and a demonstrated commitment to racial equity.

HSC’s policy work focuses on integrating equity into education, health and sustainability policy and practice, and leveraging cross-sector partnerships to support student health and school wellness. A core focus of HSC’s work is in supporting states and school districts in expanding Medicaid-funded school health services via the Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative, and advocating for those issues nationally. HSC co-leads Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, a national program to accelerate the adoption of healthy and sustainable facility management practices, and advocates nationally on issues including healthy school meals and green schoolyards.

In Chicago, HSC organizes parents and caregivers to make changes at their local schools, and leads Space to Grow, Chicago’s green schoolyard program. HSC advocates at the Chicago district level on issues including school food, green schoolyards, health services, and district transparency and accountability. HSC provides support to school districts in Illinois through the Medicaid Expansion for School Health (MESH) effort.

While the Senior Marketing and Communications Manager will work across programs, 60% of their time will focus on communicating about HSC’s multi-faceted school health services program.

This is a full-time permanent position with the option to work remotely, although a strong preference will be given to candidates in Chicago. This position reports to the Interim Executive Director (Senior Vice President).

Specific Responsibilities Include:

• In partnership with colleagues, develop and implement communications plans and coordinate a comprehensive communications strategy for multiple audiences.
• Develop and implement campaigns that drive attendance to public events, both in-person and virtual (webinars).
• Write and develop newsletters, blogs, program materials, advocacy toolkits and other organization communications, and oversee the development and implementation of marketing campaigns for this content.
• Direct media relations by maintaining media lists, writing press releases, pitching stories, and preparing HSC staff and stakeholders to act as spokespeople.
• Work collaboratively to develop and implement social media plans, and write and edit social media content for diverse audiences across channels.
• Ensure that the Healthy Schools Campaign, Healthy Students, Promising Futures and Space to Grow websites serve as effective marketing and communications platforms; work with consultants to oversee the development of the next generation of HSC websites as needed.
• Monitor and help interpret key metrics for evaluating the success and reach of communications strategies.
• Develop and successfully meet project goals and deliverables, including scope of work, project work plans and budgets.
• Develop and actively maintain an in-depth understanding of HSC’s program and policy work, and the advocacy strategies the organization employs.
• Ensure HSC’s mission, values and commitment to racial equity are reflected in the organization’s content and communications strategies.

While this position currently does not have direct supervision responsibilities, the hope is to hire a Senior Manager who is able to quickly grow into a supervisory role.

Qualifications

• A commitment to HSC’s mission, vision, values and equity priorities, and a strong understanding of the issues HSC addresses as well as a good understanding of the policymaking process required.
• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s degree with an emphasis on writing and communication preferred.
• 5+ years of post-college experience in communications role required; experience with nonprofit organization(s) required; experience working with in-house or outside graphic designers required; experience supervising staff members and consultants a plus.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing successful marketing campaigns required.
• Very strong writing skills, and experience writing in multiple formats for a diverse set of audiences across a variety of communications channels required; fluency in AP Style required
• Analytical, team-oriented person who understands HSC’s mission, goals, programs and structure, has very strong project management skills, and can deploy internal and external resources with sensitivity to organizational capacity and competing priorities.
• Fluency with CMS platforms (preference is WordPress) required; Experience with Google Workspace and social media planning tools required; experience using Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator), Canva and Trello a plus.
• Demonstrated experience using communications as part of an advocacy agenda to create compelling messages, and build audiences and support from key decision makers, partners and funders preferred.
• Experience writing press releases/advisories, pitching stories and developing media relationships required; ability to respond to news events via op-eds and other communications preferred.

Other Requirements

• Candidates must have a functioning home office space for virtual work.
• While candidates are not required to live in Chicago, living in the U.S. is required.
• Candidates must be willing to submit to background checks, including criminal and driving record reviews.

Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this position is $65,000 to $80,000 depending on experience. Generous benefits package includes employer-paid medical, dental and disability insurance; 6% employer matching contribution to a retirement plan after one year of employment; and paid holidays, vacation and sick leave.

Working at Healthy Schools Campaign
In addition to the competitive salary, benefits, and the opportunity to work with a collaborative and dedicated team, there are a few more things that make HSC a wonderful place to work:

• A flexible schedule that allows team members to be productive at work and focus on other priorities as well. This includes supporting and providing flexibility for new parents/caregivers.
• Individual health insurance is paid for from day one. Contribution to family coverage begins in year two. Multiple plans are offered to meet individual needs and preferences.
• A home office stipend.
• Option to work from home or the Chicago office when there are no required events or in-person meetings scheduled.
• Additional days off when the office closes at the end of the year.
• A commitment to team building and organizational culture.
• A focus on equity and anti-racist work, both internally and externally.

About the Hiring Process
The hiring process will include a 45-minute screening meeting, a 60-minute first-round interview, a writing assignment and request for original writing and marketing samples, and two additional interviews with team members. If the candidate is Chicago-based, at least one interview will be in person. An offer will be contingent on reference reviews and a criminal background check.