Full-time • Competitive Pay • Excellent Benefits • Work from Anywhere in the Contiguous U.S.
Starts December 1, 2020
MoveOn is a diverse and vibrant community of millions of people working together to create progressive change in America. We are an innovative political campaigning organization that supports people throughout the country to take action to influence the behavior of people and institutions, shape the outcomes of elections, and expand the realities of what’s possible. We organize to challenge entrenched power, while pursuing economic, racial, and social justice and a vision of a country in which everyone can thrive.
MoveOn has had a particularly important role to play as a pillar of Resistance in the Trump era. We are working to defeat Donald Trump and the GOP in 2020 by mobilizing a powerful, multiracial, and economic populistmovement and by focusing on what people can vote for, not just against. We also continue working in support of and in solidarity with communities that are on the front lines of Trump and GOP attacks and ongoing systemic injustice in our society, including immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and women.
As the Chief Communications Officer, your job will be to lead MoveOn’s communications work and help shepherd our organization’s influential voice as millions of MoveOn members campaign and organize for progress after the election. This is a senior management role in the organization. You will be responsible for overall brand and communications strategy, for managing the staff carrying out the organization’s media relations, social media, creative, and culture work, for helping the organization establish clear messaging for a wide variety of efforts and scenarios, and for helping to chart broader political and organizational strategy.
Responsibilities include:
Develop and implement the organization’s communications strategy, narrative framework, and messaging to advance MoveOn’s advocacy, organizing and electoral campaigns to build political power on issues including racial justice, clean energy jobs, health care, democracy reform, tax fairness, civil rights, corporate influence on our government and more. Work across the organization and partner closely with teams to create, implement and support the use of effective narratives to meet organizational needs and ensure the organization speaks with a coherent, impactful voice.
Manage, support and develop a growing team, budget and portfolio encompassing traditional communications, cultural, creative, social media, content strategy and creation and more—for the benefit of the entirety of the organization and its programmatic priorities. Ensure all team members have clear, achievable goals and our communications across channels are effective and carry consistent messages that help win campaigns and build our brand. Currently the CCO leads a team of about a dozen staff plus several consultants and vendors. Direct reports include the Chief Public Affairs Officer, Creative Lab Director, Cultural Director, Director of Media Relations and Communications Management, and the Director of Social Media.
Manage, execute and refine MoveOn's brand strategy -- making sure MoveOn stands for democracy, people-powered politics, and a multiracial community of millions of members all over the country working together to bring about progress.
Partner closely with MoveOn’s Chief of Program, Chief of Member Experience and other senior staff to ensure the communications team and work meets the needs of the campaigning and elections work. Own prioritization of org-wide communications needs through strong relationship building and a clear prioritization framework.
Manage organizational risks in the communications realm -- including, but is not limited to, hiring crisis comms vendors, training staff on media interactions and social media expectations, developing and implementing approval processes for any products to be publicly released, and weighing in on organizational decisions that may impact MoveOn’s brand.
Elevate the voices of MoveOn members whenever possible to demonstrate what grassroots action looks like and show our collective people power at work.
Stay current on the state of our politics, regularly monitoring the news and political developments and identifying rapid-response opportunities and other interventions that can have impact.
Manage MoveOn’s public presence -- including the website, logo, conference presence and more, in partnership with other teams.
Represent MoveOn and build and leverage relationships in high-level settings as needed -- in the media, with allies and partners, with elected officials, policymakers, candidates, and funders.
Offer input and engage in cross-organizational and campaign strategy setting in leadership formations and elsewhere.
Be available for evening and weekend work and occasional travel as the need arises.
A successful candidate will ...
Be an effective leader and collaborator who also is able and willing to make hard decisions: You know how to build and manage cohesive and successful teams, including establishing a clear vision and goals, aligning team members, being consultative and incorporating input and feedback, making or delegating clear decisions, and evaluating progress to goals and reporting back on impact. You also are skilled at project management, building relationships, and collaborating with those you don’t supervise, within MoveOn and in coalitions and the broader movement.
Be a powerful storyteller: You know how to create compelling narratives, metaphors, and content that connect with and move audiences on an emotional level.
Comfort and experience in organizational change management: able to identify strengths and challenges in organizational structure, relationships and culture and propose ways to strengthen and/or remove roadblocks towards achieving our collective goals.
Have substantial communications expertise: You know how ideas flow in society, which communications channels reach which audiences, how media and information environments are structured and evolving, and how to make messages carry in ways that matter. You have impressive practical skills and abilities in one or more of the areas of social media, media relations, creative content production, brand management, and/or cultural organizing.
Be committed to a communications approach that prioritizes honesty, accuracy, and maintaining trust with MoveOn members and other audiences: You are prepared to implement review and approval systems to ensure our organization’s communications are a credible and reliable source of information, ensuring any claims MoveOn makes are substantiated, ensuring communications are consistent with our values, undertaking cost/benefit analysis when releasing content, and prioritizing maintaining the organization’s brand and reputation.
Demonstrate competence communicating about identity and equity: You should have a sophisticated understanding of the structures through which race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and other axes of identity function to unjustly distribute power and oppress some in our society, be up to date on the demands and tactics of movements seeking to remedy such injustices, be committed to lifting up the voices and leadership of those on the front lines, and practice ongoing learning and development of your knowledge and perspective in this area.
Value equity, kindness and respect in your interactions with colleagues, and demonstrate a commitment to social justice and scoring progressive victories in order to make a difference in real people’s lives.
Have a broad and nuanced understanding of U.S. politics, the progressive movement, and how power relations flow and can be altered.
Exhibit superb strategic judgment: You will be skilled at anticipating the various impacts a potential intervention may have on different audiences and actors, including assessing which tactics are likely to advance our goals and are worth the cost and time needed to implement them.
Move quickly and be opportunistic: You regularly scan the news and political environments, and you are skilled at identifying opportunities to intervene in them to advance your goals. You are creative in coming up with outside-the-box ideas that can draw attention and carry a message.
Have an established track record of impact: Your work will have already played a significant role in affecting movement building, public discourse, winning advocacy or electoral efforts, and/or bringing about progress.
Be aligned with MoveOn’s vision of a country and world where everyone can thrive, and with our digital-first approach that includes rapid-response campaigning and organizing and empowering grassroots activists to make change.
Required skills and experience
At least 5 years of experience in political, advocacy, campaign, or progressive movement roles.
At least 5 years of experience doing communications work or in the fields of media relations, earned media, social media, and content development.
At least 5 years of management experience, ideally including supervision of entire teams.
Strong knowledge of the current digital landscape and emerging platforms (including but not limited to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch) with in-depth understanding of the dynamics at play to be able to lead our communications team in making maximum impact, developing our audiences and meeting the needs of the organization.
Excellent communications skills, at the individual and organizational level: You are a compelling writer, editor, and oral communicator in various mediums and formats -- quick with a quip, fast with a draft, with an intuitive sense of the content that will travel and resonate. You have demonstrated the ability to develop messaging that connects at an emotional as well as logical level with target audiences and to leverage an organization’s available resources to deliver that messaging so it reaches and moves those audiences in ways that lead to the accomplishment of campaign, advocacy, or other objectives.
Excellent leadership and management skills: You are able to build and lead a diverse, high-performing team and to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to set and align around goals and vision and drive excellent communications work that advances them. You have experience setting and managing budgets and vendors.
Excellent political strategic judgment: You can assess the dynamics at play in a particular question or debate, anticipate the perspectives various stakeholders will have, and determine the campaigning and communications interventions most likely to leverage our power to have impact on those dynamics to advance our goals.
Reports to: Executive Director
Location: Position may be based anywhere in the contiguous United States. May require occasional travel.
Classification, Salary, and Benefits: Full-time, competitive salary including benefits such as 100%-employer-paid premiums for medical, dental, and vision insurance for all staff and their children;401(k) plan with employer contribution;employer-paid premiums for life insurance;four weeks accrued paid vacation time per year, prorated for the period that you work;18 weeks of paid parental leave (birth, adoption, foster care placement of a child), 10 days accrued paid sick time, and paid family medical leave;staff holidays, professional development budget of $1,000, monthly cell phone and internet reimbursement of $175 per month, home office subsidy, and everything needed for a home office.
MoveOn.org Civic Action and MoveOn.org Political Action provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.