SENIOR MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS

JOB DESCRIPTION: SENIOR MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS

ABOUT EARN
EARN is a nonprofit that gives low‐income working families the power to create prosperity for generations. As the nation’s leading microsavings provider, EARN gives families the tools to build wealth and achieve life‐changing goals such as saving for college, buying a first home, or starting a small business. Since
2001, we have helped tens of thousands of low‐wage families through innovative financial products including matched savings accounts, checking accounts for the unbanked, and financial coaching. The EARN Research Institute evaluates the impact of EARN’s work and publishes original data, sharing lessons learned and best practices. We use this unique grounding in rigorous applied research and direct
service experience to transform the financial services landscape and to champion effective public policies. EARN's ultimate vision is that millions of well‐informed, low‐wage American families will achieve financial success through proven strategies, fair public policy, and their own hard work. Connect with EARN at www.earn.org, twitter.com/earn and facebook.com/earnorg.

POSITION OVERVIEW + DEFINING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
Reporting to the CEO, the Senior Manager ‐ Communications is responsible for planning and executing EARN’s five core communications functions: marketing, online media, content creation, branding, and public relations. The Senior Manager manages a full‐time Senior Associate and a part‐time contract Fellow. This is a newly created full‐time salaried position with generous benefits. EARN takes a unique approach to changing the lives of low‐income families across the Bay Area, California, and the nation. We work directly with thousands of low‐wage workers, and we leverage our
on‐the‐ground experience to publish our applied research, build grassroots constituencies, and educate policy leaders. One of our major 2012 initiatives is an expansion of our direct service work to new geographic markets with a newly rebranded financial product. In 2012‐13, we expect to test and launch
an innovative online product which will drive rapid growth to serve tens of thousands of low‐wage families across California and beyond. EARN’s communications function plays a crucial role in advancing all of these strategic initiatives.
EARN’s four core values of prosperity, dignity, innovation, and scale are fundamental to how everyone in the organization operates on a daily basis. The Senior Manager must bring creativity and innovation to continue to distinguish EARN in a crowded field of worthy causes. The Senior Manager should build a strong day‐to‐day communications function while taking calculated risks to advance EARN’s brand.

The Senior Manager will be a seasoned professional with a successful 7+ year track record across a full range of marketing and public relations activities. The successful candidate will be experienced in datadriven marketing, and will demonstrate a deep familiarity with and commitment to issues of economic
mobility for low‐income families and to EARN’s core values. Building on this combination of experience, passion, and commitment to EARN’s values, the Senior Manager will enhance EARN’s ability to reach and influence growing audiences of potential clients, policy champions, traditional/new media leaders,
and funders.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Marketing & Outreach
-Formulate and manage targeted, analytically‐driven marketing campaigns for major EARN initiatives.
-Supervise the Senior Associate to staff these marketing plans in collaboration with other EARN teams for successful execution.
-Develop and implement strategies to promote key communications products to targeted
audiences (e.g. dashboard to donors, papers to policymakers).
-Set and implement strategies for ongoing audience research and for specific research as needed(e.g. surveys, focus groups, social media monitoring).
Online media
-Serve as editor‐in‐chief and manager of EARN’s website, including the development of new content areas and functionality driven by changing organizational needs and industry trends.
-Provide oversight and management of EARN’s overall online presence (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Wikipedia, and emerging channels).
-Oversee the Senior Associate and the Fellow to maintain fresh and engaging content across EARN’s online presence.
-Guide the Fellow in fostering relationships with key stakeholders through social media.
-With the Senior Associate, occasionally organize offline events/campaigns to build relationships and galvanize support among online & other stakeholders.
Content creation
-Develop and maintain an editorial calendar of all EARN communications to maximize impact.
-Creatively leverage news “hooks” to promote EARN’s presence in major media.
-Manage the identification, selection, and development of stories about the experiences of EARN clients for communications initiatives.
- Directly create compelling content and manage others (including the Senior Associate and vendors) to create compelling content, such as photos/videos/written stories about EARN client families, newsletter and blog pieces, quarterly report, collateral, online education content, etc.
-Work with other EARN teams to automate and expand the capture of narrative information about EARN client families’ backgrounds and outcomes (which EARN calls “Saver stories”) on an ongoing basis in our client database, and for specific marketing purposes as needed.
-Consult on the conceptualization and development of EARN research papers, case studies, etc., including distribution/promotion strategies; serve as editor on these publications; manage their distribution and promotion.
Branding
-Review, edit, approve, and unify all EARN communications for major audiences.
-Define the EARN brand; establish and implement a brand management protocol; serve as the overall guardian of EARN’s brand.
-Continually hone EARN’s overall messaging; oversee the Senior Associate’s delivery of regular and effective messaging training to EARN staff and stakeholders.
-Develop and deploy new messaging as needed for new initiatives and to opportunistically connect EARN’s work to prominent and emerging themes in new/traditional media.

Public Relations
- Create and implement strategies to generate and respond to media opportunities, including managing a pipeline of potential media opportunities, pitching stories, etc.
-Manage relationships with key media targets.
-Serve as one of EARN’s key media spokespeople.
-Supervise and provide professional development for the Senior Associate to play an increasingly responsible role in media relations.
-Update and continually maintain EARN’s Crisis Communications Plan.
-Seek and manage opportunities for EARN to be showcased at major conferences in the fields offinance, economic mobility, and related issues.

Management & Metrics
-Manage the Senior Associate (full‐time staff) and the Communications Fellow (part‐time contractor); plan and provide professional development and cross‐training.
-Lead the selection process for communications consultants and vendors; supervise the Senior Associate who serves as day‐to‐day liaison on vendor/consultant projects.
-Working with other EARN teams, lead the development and implementation of a CRM system for communications audiences.
-Define metrics for all communications initiatives; oversee the Senior Associate and the Fellow to track and report on metrics; analyze metrics for continual improvement and experimentation.
-With the Development & Communications Director, establish annual and quarterly team goals to support the achievement of EARN’s organization‐wide strategic goals.
-With the Development & Communications Director, prepare annual budget requests and
monitor ongoing expenditures.
-Research and propose communications strategies and initiatives that advance EARN’s
organization‐wide goals.
-Serve as communications consultant to other EARN teams on events, campaigns, etc.
-Seek and draw on expert advisors as volunteers.

QUALIFICATIONS
-Minimum 7 years of professional experience in marketing and public relations for a nonprofit, public service, or issue‐oriented organization, preferably on behalf of low‐income people.
-Gold‐standard writing and editing skills with absolute accuracy and attention to detail.
-Outstanding verbal communication skills.
-Significant experience managing data‐driven marketing/PR campaigns, preferably related to economic issues and/or products.
-Track record of proactive media pitching and story placement.
-Existing relationships with members of the media.
-High level of expertise with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and graphic design applications (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator).
-Experience managing social media on behalf of an organization.
-Experience managing websites, including familiarity with Content Management Systems and basic HTML.
-Very high level of comfort with learning and using technology; video editing skills a plus.
-Ability to work independently on multiple simultaneous projects in a fast‐paced environment.
-B.A./B.S. degree or above from an accredited college or university

235 MONTGOMERY STREET, SUITE 470, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104 I T: 415.217.3668 I WWW.EARN.ORG
POSITION
This is a full‐time exempt position with excellent compensation and benefits package.
NEXT STEPS
Applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and relevant writing sample to: jobs@earn.org. EARN is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religious affiliation, physical or mental disability, age, medical condition or sexual orientation.
Please visit www.earn.org to learn more about us.