Senior Communications Associate
Location: New York, NY (remote during COVID-19)
Work Authorization: Candidates must already be authorized to work in the U.S.
Best Consideration Date: August 19, 2020 (role will remain open until filled)
The Role
ideas42 is seeking a communications professional with a track record of success in managing comprehensive, long-term campaigns to join its communications team. Reporting to the Director of Communications and working closely with ideas42 project teams focused on financial health and economic justice, the successful candidate will support all aspects of the communications and public relations work for the organization. Responsibilities include working with the Director to develop thoughtful communications strategies for multiple ideas42 focus areas, articulating priorities and processes that support them, and proactively executing them.
This position will play a key role in helping us achieve our strategic objectives by communicating about our work applying behavioral insights to social problems and helping us to have impact at scale, with an initial focus on more equitable financial health and changing narratives around poverty in the United States.
The successful candidate will join a small, hardworking team of communications professionals and enable us to grow our public profile among our target audiences by identifying creative opportunities to proactively communicate our work through multiple channels such as events, digital campaigns, timely opinion pieces, press releases, issue briefs, and social media.
Responsibilities
- Produce original and edit others' high-quality written material to publicize our work through a range of channels (e.g. email blasts, blogs, project briefs, web landing pages, press releases).
- Assist with the day-to-day execution of ideas42's overarching communications strategy, and support senior communications staff in crafting and delivering communications strategies for specific projects across multiple content areas, with a focus on financial health and economic justice.
- Assist with management of our relationships with stakeholders and external contractors on a day-to-day basis, including writers, copy-editors, graphic design, and web developers.
- Create and manage work plans for communications output with multiple workstreams
- Assist with fielding media inquiries, generating proactive media pitches and building relationships with specialist media outlets in financial health, technology, and economic justice.
- Maintain editorial calendar for multiple content areas and help keep others at all levels accountable for deadlines for all external-facing pieces
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum of a Bachelor's degree
- At least 5 years working in an agency or in-house communications position
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor communications to different audiences across different countries, industries, and for different purposes (inform, report, persuade).
- The ability to proactively establish good working relationships with people at all levels and from diverse professional backgrounds.
- Interest in and willingness to learn more about applied behavioral science
- Commitment to our mission
- Self-starter who can identify opportunities for tying our work into existing media landscape
- Knowledge of social media and online platforms and how they can be used as part of a broader communications plan to help meet strategic goals.
- Experience supporting media relations across digital, print, and broadcast media
- Experience managing multiple contractors
- An ownership mentality and growth mindset.
- An understanding of CRM systems including WordPress.
- Attention to detail, accuracy and reliability.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in journalism or marketing
- A network of existing media contacts in the financial services and/or policy industries
- 5+ years working in a communications position focusing on financial health, economic justice or anti-poverty initiatives
- Demonstrable track record of media placements for stories and/or op-eds
- Experience managing multiple communications campaigns across divergent fields simultaneously
- Experience with rapid-response communications
- Knowledge of applied behavioral science
About ideas42
We're a non-profit looking for deep insights into human behavior-into why people do what they do-and using that knowledge in ways that help improve lives, build better systems, and drive social change. Working globally, we reinvent the practices of institutions, and create better products and policies that can be scaled for maximum impact.
We also teach others, ultimately striving to generate lasting social impact and create a future where the universal application of behavioral science powers a world with optimal health, equitable wealth, and environments and systems that are sustainable and just for all.
For more than a decade, we've been at the forefront of applying behavioral science in the real world. And as we've developed our expertise, we've helped to define an entire field. Our efforts have so far extended to 40 countries as we've partnered with governments, foundations, NGOs, private enterprises, and a wide array of public institutions.
We value diversity and inclusion and are dedicated to growing our teams with people who have diverse experiences, backgrounds, and skills. We are committed to fair and unbiased hiring practices that support equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, ethnicity, gender, national origin, age, abilities, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
Working with Us
We are a culture-first organization where rules or processes do not take precedence - people and their ability to make well-reasoned decisions do. You'll find that our team members are deeply caring, wicked smart, and both tenacious and rigorous in their work.
Our core values are at the heart of everything at ideas42:
- We live and breathe what we do. We look at everything through a Behavioral Lens.
- We take Ownership. We don't just work at ideas42, we take shared responsibility for it.
- We Do Good. We use our expertise to improve millions of lives and create a better world for all.
- We have fun. We let Playfulness inform the way we work and our approach to the world, helping to drive our creativity and improve our solutions.
- We live with a Spirit of Generosity. We approach our colleagues, partners and people whose lives we seek to improve with an attitude of selflessness and cooperation.
- We are Tenacious. We never take the easy route, but push to stretch the limits of what's possible.
- We are Rigorous in how we think and how we tackle problems.
Benefits and Compensation
We hope that you are excited by the opportunity to work with us. We are proud to offer a comprehensive and behaviorally designed benefits package and other perks to support our team and allow us to focus on our work of solving tough social problems.
- Insurance: We offer fully-covered medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance coverage for you and your families.
- 401(k) Match: We contribute 3%, even if you don't contribute at all.
- Generous Vacation and Paid Time Off: We've built infrastructure to encourage our team to rest and recharge throughout the year.
- Paid Parental Leave
- Fitness benefit
- Compensation: Our compensation is competitive within the non-profit industry.
- Loan Forgiveness: Based on our 501(c)3 status, you are able to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.