Senior Director, Communications & Marketing

Job Title: Senior Director, Communications & Marketing 

Team: External Affairs 

Location: Hybrid in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL) strongly preferred, Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC) 

Employment Type: Full-time 

FLSA Classification: Exempt 

Start date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

About the Role 

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Senior Director of Communications & Marketing who will play a pivotal role in leading organizational efforts to be the premier thought leader in the college-to-career space. We’re looking for someone who is an extraordinary and groundbreaking storyteller across channels, from press to digital and from video to speeches. This individual will lead a communications and marketing team responsible for shaping and stewarding a brand grounded in excellence.

Individually, you will create the annual communications and marketing strategy, lead major external projects–from strategically pushing out new site announcements to impact reports to insights papers–and work with partners to elevate the Braven brand. As a member of the External Affairs team, you will lead a 5-7 person team as well as a team of 3-5 contractors responsible for external national and regional communications and marketing (media, speaking engagements, social media, video creation, events, etc), internal and CEO communications, as well as other communication and marketing requests/needs as they arrive in alignment with Braven’s brand. 

This role is on the External Affairs team and reports directly to the Chief External Affairs Officer. 

What You’ll Do: 

Strategy (30%) 

• Set and socialize the goals and vision of Braven’s overall communications and marketing strategy (i.e., national, regional, new sites, internal, core customer, secondary customer strategies) in partnership with the Chief Executive Officer, Chief External Affairs Officer, Regional Executive Directors, and select central team leads. 
• Support the integration of communication and brand strategies, including digital storytelling, video, press, speaking, and awards, etc strategies across the enterpris.e 
• Gather, interpret, and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data to define patterns and continuously strengthen our approach to storytelling.
• Create and manage efficient and smart systems, infrastructure and tools to track and report on communications & marketing progress and media stakeholder management.
• Lead org-wide learning and development related to Braven's brand and communications for national and regional staff, including old and new members.
• Oversee the communications stream of change management efforts led by the Associate Director, Internal Communication.s

High-Stakes Stakeholder Management and Content Development (50%) 

• Bring a network of media relationships and execute media activities that secure high-profile placements across relevant national media outlets and platforms to ensure a drumbeat of high-profile national and local press placements that further understanding of the challenge Braven is working to address and Braven’s impact
• Oversee, play a heavy hand in writing/ideating, and help to place speeches, op-eds, and other statements on behalf of executive and regional leadership 
• Oversee and execute on major brand moments for the organizatio,n including the release of impact reports, new site launches, etc
• Project manage CEO's book project

People Management (20%) 

• Effectively coach 5-7 full-time communication staff members to become the strongest version of themselves, aligned to the goals of their role and their professional aspirations, as well as meet organizational brand goals. 
• This includes effectively overseeing and managing the team that runs point on: events, regional communications strategies and execution, CEO communications strategy and execution, internal communications, Fellow and Volunteer comms, Social, Video, and Google ads, SEO optimization
• Manage a team of 3-5 contractors in the areas of video, web design, graphic design, etc. 
• Coordinate with regional teams to understand opportunities and navigate varying regional markets
• Other duties as assigned 

Requirements

Minimum Requirements 

• Education: BS/BA or relevant experience 

• Work Experience: 10+ years of relevant experience 

Preferred Qualifications 

• You build inspiring visions and strategies that amplify and grow the brand and motivate others to action. 
• You bring a network of contacts in the media.
• You go after ambitious and measurable goals with joy, action orientation, and perseverance.
• You’re extremely detail-oriented and sweat the small stuff, while also not losing sight of the big picture. 
• You build strong external and internal relationships with a variety of stakeholders and have significant  experience tailoring your approach based on an understanding of the beliefs, motivations, and contexts of others. 
• You exercise discretion and independent judgment in conversations with the press and other high-stakes audiences.
• You enjoy bringing together multiple perspectives to enhance your work and decisions.
• You are a constant learner when it comes to understanding the strongest brands out there.
• You continually reflect to improve, and actively create space for the receipt of upward feedback from individual contributors and managers.
• You exemplify Braven’s core values.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply. 

Work Demands 

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC)
• Travel: Ability to travel at least 1x per month for 2-3 days at a time. 

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship.

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Benefits

Compensation and Benefits

Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking.

New hires can expect a starting salary at the lower end of the range, as Braven compensates based on the requirements and scope of the role rather than years of experience or prior salary, allowing for growth with performance and maintaining internal equity. The salary ranges, by geographic market, for this role are set forth $105,500-$131,800 in Atlanta, $111,300-$139,100 in Chicago, $122,500-$153,100 in New York and Newark, NJ. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.  

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office at least 3 days per week (on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and often work remotely 2 days per week (although certain commitments might adjust that from time to time). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.