Director of Communications

WORLD LEADER IN CONSERVATION:

The Catalina Island Conservancy is a non-profit organization whose mission is to be an exemplary steward of island resources through a balance of conservation, education, and recreation. We preserve and restore the environment on Catalina, promoting and modeling ecologically sustainable communities to create a healthier future for this island and our Earth.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Chief of External Affairs, the Director of Communications is responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Communications program at Catalina Island Conservancy. The position will be working in partnership with the Chief of External Affairs and the Leadership Team, and managing a Senior Manager of Communications, Senior Manager of Marketing, and a Digital Branding assistant. The position ensures that the Catalina Island Conservancy editorial strategies, messaging, and branding are understood and adhered to in all work produced by the organization.  The successful candidate will possess excellent persuasive writing and communication skills, superior project management acumen, and be a proactive builder of relationships.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE:

This position must have a superb ability to develop and implement consistent content and editorial strategies that meet and exceed goals across the organization, and has a passion for the mission of conservation, education, and recreation.  The Director regularly reports on progress toward set goals, along with analysis and results of projects based in the program. The Director must be a brilliant strategist and creative communications professional with at least 7-10 years of experience in internal and external communications. Believing that brand is embedded in people and the work they do together and the organizations that advance missions, the Director will be a results-oriented, change maker, integrated marketing, public relations, and communications leader, internal brand messaging, including executive messaging, and an agile problem solver. A successful candidate will possess experience with Crisis Communications, experience with environmental, conservation, climate, outdoor and recreation, travel journalism, and/or experiential learning. Preference for candidates with national and international experience in pitching stories and developing content. Experience in coaching and prepping staff for media interviews and on-camera appearances. Experience overseeing social media strategy and content creation is preferred.

This position partners closely with the Chief of External Affairs and the President & CEO of the organization. The successful candidate will be a proven manager of broad based and personalized communications in multiple platforms, including print, digital, and video. In managing the Communications and Marketing team, this role will lead and inspire the team to develop, execute, and measure successful communications program plans.  The role also includes the management, hiring and training of one senior manager (with possible future managers as well). Working closely with the Chief of External Affairs, the Communications Director monitors budgets, implements systems, procedures, and practices for the communications department. The Director of Communications supports fundraising success by crafting persuasive and accurate communications, especially formatting of proposals and sponsorship materials to individual and corporate donors, along with case statements for support and other donor collateral materials.  The role provides leadership for the team and the organization overall, with communications aimed at a broad external audience base.  

The Director of Communications also supports and executes the vision of the President & CEO by supporting the articulation of thought and position papers, speeches, and articles, along with executing against branding, marketing, and media platform objectives.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and implement a strategic communication plan.
• Develop, implement, and ensure adherence to vision for organization wide communications.
• Serve as a project manager (traffic control) responsible for coordinating and managing the development of all communications pieces in print or digital.
• Develop custom gift proposals, templates, and suite of collateral materials for major gift and campaign program.
• Maintain close effective relationships with all departments, working across program, conservation, education, recreation and operational staff, to ensure that the Conservancy’s mission is clearly articulated.
• Assist in and help to oversee all content for website and assist in the design, development and dissemination of print and web materials.
• Work with Communications and Development teams to develop donor impact stories for reports, publications, website and videos.
• Provide a rigorous, systematic review of and analysis of all communications activities to find ways to do things more efficiently and effectively.
• Oversee all brand development and management; marketing and media, and copywriting, editing, content creation.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

·      Strategic communications

·      Brand development

·      Internal and executive communications 

·      Public communications

·      Public relations and positioning

·      Brand management and awareness

·      Crisis communications

·      Marketing

·      Copywriting

·      Content creation

·      Publications and collateral development

·      Audience research

·      Website

·      Campaign development

DEMANDS:

·      This role is considered hybrid remote; based out of the Long Beach office, with two days expected in office weekly and frequent travel to Catalina Island.

·      The work locations have moderate noise levels and is a non-smoking environment.

·      The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job: the authority of the job duties are performed in an office environment; the employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Catalina Island Conservancy