Director of Communications & Public Relations

Role Overview

As our Director of Communications & Public Relations, you’ll be the driving force behind Project Equity’s national media strategy, original content engine, and executive voice. Reporting to the VP of Marketing, your job is to translate our complex employee ownership (EO) work into sharp, compelling stories, publications, and media pushes that land in top-tier press, build our national presence, and position our leadership as go-to experts.

This isn't a generalist marketing or lead-gen role. We’re looking for a seasoned Communications & PR strategist who is an exceptional writer, knows how to navigate newsrooms, place big stories, build real relationships with journalists, and author original publication assets that elevate our authority nationally.

What You'll Do

1. National PR, Media Relations & Media Strategy

• Media Outreach: Run our national PR efforts, pitching and securing steady, high-impact coverage across business, economic, and trade outlets.
• PR Agency Management: Direct our external PR agency, media partners, and freelance writers to keep pitching sharp and deliverables on schedule.
• Journalist Relationships & Newsroom Response: Cultivate genuine, ongoing relationships with key reporters, editors, and podcasters while capitalizing on timely news cycles.
• Messaging Consistency: Establish and maintain clear, standardized terminology for how we talk about employee ownership externally.
• Investor Relations Communications: Oversee investor-facing communications in partnership with our Employee Ownership Catalyst Fund team, including the drafting and distribution of quarterly investor letters, annual investor reports, and performance updates.
• Organizational Media Training: Lead internal media training and spokesperson preparation to ensure staff and leadership deliver confident, on-message press interviews.
• Partner & Funder Media Relations: Serve as the direct communications liaison to funder and strategic partners, co-designing media campaigns and joint press strategies that elevate shared impact.

2. Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility

• Story Mining: Work directly with internal teams and executive leadership to uncover strong angles and turn our data into powerful op-eds, original commentary, and public assets.
• Executive Writing & Placement: Ghostwrite op-eds, articles, speeches, and statements for senior leadership and secure placements in reputable publications.
• Keynote & Speaker Prep: Spot high-profile speaking opportunities for our leaders, secure those slots, and make sure our team is fully prepped before stepping on stage or doing press interviews.

3. Strategic Content, Major Publications & Brand Reputation

• Original Content Creation & Major Reports: Author and produce high-impact flagship assets, including our Annual Report, impact reports, messaging frameworks, and opinion pieces, designed to build brand equity, scale our national reach, and normalize employee ownership across EOEquals.org and Project-Equity.org.
• SEO/AEO Strategy: Craft and structure original digital content to ensure maximum organic search visibility across standard search engines (SEO) and generative AI answer engines (AEO).
• Partner Co-Publishing: Work with internal colleagues and external partners to turn insights into co-authored white papers, national reports, and resources published on EOEquals.org and Project-Equity.org.
• Event PR Support: Plan and execute PR pushes that build national awareness and drive registrations for the EO Equals Summit.
• Brand Alignment: Keep an eye on high-level copy across EOEquals.org and key landing pages to make sure our public messaging stays clear, consistent, and authoritative.

4. Team & Operations

• People Management: Manage and mentor our communications staff (including the Social Media Manager and our In-House Graphic Designer).
• Budget & Comms Tools: Handle the PR budget, agency contracts, and our media intelligence stack (like Meltwater).
• Cross-Functional Synergy: Partner with Advancement, Economic Development, Biz Dev, Client Services, and Learning Programs to turn major PR wins and publications into funder interest, partner leads, and program opportunities.

What You Bring

• 8+ years in PR/Comms, with at least 3 years directly managing team members or agency partners (nonprofit or social enterprise experience is a plus).
• A real press & portfolio: Proven success landing feature stories in national business/news outlets, producing major original publications (like Annual Reports), and managing external PR agencies.
• Strong executive ghostwriting & long-form writing: Experience writing directly for C-suite leaders and turning complex data into clean, punchy prose.
• Modern Search & Comms Tech: Solid understanding of writing for SEO/AEO, along with hands-on experience using Meltwater (or similar platforms), media databases, and team tools like Asana and Salesforce.
• Degree in PR, Journalism, Comms, or Marketing (or equivalent real-world experience).

How We Measure Success

• Media Coverage: Steady growth in top-tier press mentions, feature profiles, and industry coverage.
• Share of Voice: Noticeable increase in Project Equity’s media presence compared to peers in the space.
• Executive & Op-Ed Placements: Successful placement of original commentary, guest op-eds, expert quotes, and strategic conference keynotes.
• Publication & Content Impact: Timely delivery and high national engagement on major original assets (e.g., Annual Report, white papers, and thought leadership pieces).
• Brand Equity & Search Visibility: High engagement, organic reach, and top placement across search engines and AI answer engines (SEO/AEO) for original messaging assets built to normalize employee ownership.
• Editorial & Partner Reach: Solid readership, organic web traffic, and download numbers for original and co-published resources on EOEquals.org and Project-Equity.org.

(The following benefits package is subject to revision)

• Medical (PPO, HSA, or HMO options where available), dental and vision coverage: employer covers 100% of employee premium and 30% for dependents.
• Dependent Care FSA
• Basic Term Life, additional voluntary life for employees, spouse, and dependent children available.
• Short- and long-term disability
• Voluntary Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
• Retirement 401(k): A dollar-for-dollar employer match of the employee's contribution, up to 3% of gross wages and 50 cents on the dollar match for the next 1% (3.5% total match).
• Remote work stipend for home office connectivity.
• Employee Assistance Program
• Generous holiday, vacation and sick leave
  • Holidays: 15 days annually, which includes 2 floating holidays
  • Vacation: 15 days (years 1 - 4) & 20 days (year 5+)
  • Sick: 10 days annually