Community Engagement Manager

The Community Engagement Manager is the “front door” to everything MuckRock does. They are responsible for the strategy and execution that connects our editorial content, products, tools and training programs to the people who need them and the audiences who support them. They make sure the content, tools and trainings reach and resonate with the right audiences. This role reports to the Chief Editorial and Programs Officer and is critical to MuckRock’s growth, contributing to all of the organization’s strategic goals.

MuckRock is a fully distributed team and this is a remote position – you can work from anywhere in the United States. Our executive team is based in California, Colorado, New Jersey and Philadelphia. You must be legally authorized to work in the United States to apply for this role.

What You’ll Do

Develop and maintain a forward-looking community engagement strategy with clear goals, metrics and quarterly milestones that account for all of MuckRock’s audiences, including newsrooms, individual journalists, transparency advocates, data volunteers, donors and the broader public. Anticipate engagement opportunities around moments like partnership launches, product releases, dataset drops and events, and have plans ready before they arrive. Work with the Editor, Director of Training and Enablement, Head of Product, and Director of Development to ensure the strategy serves the full organization.

Own newsletters, including For the Record and Sunlight Insights, driving editorial voice, subscriber growth, audience development and engagement optimization. Ensure that newsletters serve as effective distribution and engagement channels not just for editorial content but for product updates, training opportunities and fundraising appeals. Work with the Director of Development to ensure the audience is primed and engaged before major campaigns.

Own social media strategy and execution, driving meaningful interaction. You’ll amplify editorial output, partner success stories, product launches, training opportunities, and Data Liberation Project releases, working with the Editor and the Service Design and Brand Strategist to maintain a consistent voice.

Build active Slack communities across the full MuckRock ecosystem, including the Sunlight Members channel, FOIA community, and the Data Liberation Project volunteer community. You’ll make these spaces where member newsrooms have regular conversations with us and each other, where DLP volunteers are engaged and contributing, and where the broader community is interacting with our team and our work.

Drive traffic to MuckRock’s news content, tools and events by owning the relationship between content distribution and site engagement across all products and services. You’ll track and report on traffic patterns and work with the Editor, Head of Product, and Service Design and Brand Strategist to optimize how content reaches its audiences.

What Success Looks Like

At 3 months: A documented community engagement strategy with baselines, targets and milestones reviewed and endorsed by leadership. This should include baseline metrics across newsletter subscribers and engagement, social media followers and interaction rates, Slack activity, website traffic and event attendance. An active engagement plan for the 2026 midterm election cycle. A regular coordination cadence with the Editor, Director of Training and Enablement, Head of Product and Director of Development.

At 9 months: Meaningful, measurable growth in authentic engagement across the channels this role owns. Slack communities show regular conversation in the Sunlight Members channel — members talking with us and each other, not just reading announcements — with growing DLP volunteer participation and broader community interaction. Social media interaction rates trending up (comments, shares, click-throughs), not just follower growth. Newsletter engagement climbing across open rates, click-through rates and forward/share rates. Event attendance is growing, with signs of repeat attendance. DLP volunteer community reactivated with regular participation around dataset releases. Documented awareness and adoption plans for major product launches. Website traffic tracked and reported, with a clear, evidence-based plan for growing referral traffic from the owned channels above.

At 15 months: Vibrant, self-sustaining engagement across platforms. Daily conversation in the Sunlight Members channel, an active DLP volunteer base and organic community interaction. Social media interaction at least doubled from baseline, people genuinely engaging with and sharing our work. Newsletters are serving as an effective channel for fundraising appeals, with measurable growth in campaign response rates. A clear, demonstrable relationship between community engagement and both membership inquiries and fundraising campaign performance. Growth in website referral traffic from all of our channels, contributing to overall traffic gains, with strategies in place to sustain the momentum.

What We’re Looking For

A strategic thinker: You can look at MuckRock’s full portfolio and develop an engagement strategy that serves editorial, product, training and development.

A track record: You’ve built engaged communities, ideally at a nonprofit, media or mission-driven organization. You’ve grown audiences and driven authentic participation, not just managed social media accounts.

An effective collaborator: You can work with editorial, product, tech and development, leading through relationships, shared goals and real outputs.

Both strategic and hands-on: You can set the vision and execute the work to implement it. This role does not currently have direct reports, but the right person sees that as an opportunity to build something.

About You

You’re a strategic, creative thinker with experience building vibrant communities around mission-driven organizations. Someone who understands how to create momentum and drive audience attention to work that matters. You’re excited about driving civic participation and nerding out with other public records and transparency nerds.

Proactive and ambitious — sees the opportunities and makes a plan. Earns trust through results — builds relationships by delivering results. Challenges through expertise — tells us when something won’t work and comes up with a better plan. Imagination — MuckRock has incredible engagement potential; reimagine how we reach it. Genuine curiosity — a real desire to understand MuckRock’s audience and learn how to reach them in ways that resonate and drive them to action.

Experience

Minimum of 5 years, with 2-3 years of owning strategy.

• We take three weeks of paid vacation annually, plus all US postal holidays, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day off.
• Health insurance with full premium paid for employees and 75% of the premium for dependents.
• Professional development, including covering costs for conference and event attendance.
• Board meetings are open to all staff and include meaningful engagement.
• Company dental, vision, and health flexible spending account plans.
• Paid parental leave
• 401K with 4% match
• Life and Disability Insurance
• Flexible equipment budget for a new laptop that you pick out or other home office purchases.
• Distributed team with flexible scheduling.