Interim Communications Director

ProPublica is hiring an interim director of communications to amplify the reach and impact of its journalism from April 2021 through October 2021. The person in this role will be responsible for reaching out to media organizations to highlight ProPublica’s award-winning journalism, coordinating editorial events, responding to media requests, and supporting speaking engagements, staff media appearances and other day-to-day communications needs. Our ideal candidate is someone with proven PR and marketing experience who is passionate about journalism that serves the public interest.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute PR campaigns for major projects/series, including crafting story angles and pitches targeted to diverse national, local and industry-specific media outlets in support of ProPublica’s impact goals.
• Pitch online, TV, radio and print publications; strengthen and grow new and existing media relationships across various mediums and channels.
• Assist in the planning and execution of ProPublica’s digital events program.
• Partner with audience and development teams to ensure cohesive messaging and maximum exposure for ProPublica’s work.
• Develop talking points, press releases, press lists and other materials as needed.
• Support newsroom in identifying potential collaboration opportunities or publishing partners.
• Work with editorial leaders to communicate publication goals, strategy and culture to press.
• Pitch trade press stories that highlight important innovations, milestones, initiatives and product launches.
• Respond to inbound media requests on behalf of the organization.
• Oversee creation and dissemination of coverage reports that are circulated to executives, board, fundraising and newsroom staff.
• Support external partners with questions about ProPublica’s collaboration model, including Creative Commons or publishing partnerships.
• Provide additional communications support as needed, such as helping arrange strategic external speaking opportunities for staff; coordinating awards applications with external vendors; and updating online information about ProPublica’s staff, programs and partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in public relations or marketing roles, including at least some for a news organization
• Superb written and verbal communication skills
• Impeccable news judgment and experience vetting/verifying information on deadline
• Demonstrated ability to plan events, with strategic approaches for target audiences and objectives
• Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and environment
• Strong team player with a desire to collaborate with others
• Strong organizational and time management skills

Ideally, you also have experience working with some of the tools we use, including our media monitoring tools (Meltwater), content management system (Craft), email marketing system (Sailthru), events management and webinar software (Eventbrite, Zoom) and streaming video (YouTube Live).

We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

If all of this sounds exciting to you, you can apply using this form. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2021, at 10 a.m. ET

This job is a full-time, temporary position and includes benefits. Under normal circumstances, this position would be based in our New York office, but we’re open to remote working due to the ongoing pandemic. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

Questions? Send them to celeste.lecompte@propublica.org. No phone calls, please.