Senior Marketing Communications Manager

About the Foundation & the Role

The Isaacson Foundation (Empower Ministry) is a faith-based nonprofit on a mission to develop quality people to equip Christian leaders to live out their God-given potential to advance the Kingdom.

As the CMPO's primary hands-on marketing leader, this role will help build Empower Ministry's brand, marketing, and communications function from the ground up: shaping campaigns and creative direction, executing digital marketing, owning the editorial calendar, and running operations (budget, vendors, and martech). You'll represent the CMPO's voice, make sound calls independently, and grow into direct reports as the function scales.

It's ideal for a seasoned marketing and communications leader who wants to build a national ministry brand from scratch and is equally comfortable setting strategy, managing creative workstreams, leading agile projects, driving operations, and rolling up their sleeves.

Primary Responsibilities

Marketing Strategy & Creative Direction

• Partner with the CMPO to shape brand and marketing strategy, campaign concepts, and creative direction, bringing an independent point of view, not just execution.

• Lead visual concepts, messaging, and campaign materials, directing designers, vendors, and freelancers on the CMPO's behalf.

• Translate the CMPO's vision into clear, execution-ready briefs for internal and external contributors.

• Drive deliverables for flagship initiatives, including the Church Brand Development and Benefits of Faith campaigns, and prepare strategy materials and recaps for leadership, the board, and partners.

Digital Marketing, Advertising, and Multimedia Execution

• Execute digital marketing across all channels (website, email/newsletter, digital advertising, SEO, and SEM), carrying out the CMPO's digital strategy.

• Manage video and podcast production with contributors and vendors, on schedule and aligned with the CMPO's editorial direction.

• Coordinate advertising campaigns, including the national Benefits of Faith campaign, and track spend and performance; the CMPO owns the ad fund and ROI.

• Analyze marketing performance data across channels and prepare clear reporting for the CMPO to share with leadership and the board.

Marketing Operations, Budget, and Systems

• Track and reconcile the marketing budget against plan, monitoring spend across campaigns, channels, and vendors, coordinating invoices and purchase orders, and flagging variances to the CMPO, who holds budget authority and ROI accountability.

• Administer vendor and subscription relationships, tracking renewals and terms with the CMPO and COO (without creating or negotiating contracts).

• Administer the marketing technology stack (email, social scheduler, analytics, UTM governance, and lead-capture forms), coordinating integrations with the CTO's team, which owns the underlying infrastructure.

Project Management

• Own end-to-end planning for major initiatives, including Church Brand Development and Benefits of Faith, defining scope, milestones, dependencies, and owners, and driving on-time execution.

• Track all active projects, surfacing risks early and bringing well-formed options to the CMPO for executive decisions.

• Establish and maintain project infrastructure (trackers, shared calendars, creative briefs, intakes, and reporting cadences) that brings structure and repeatability to the work.

• Coordinate cross-functional and vendor dependencies, manage risk, and lead retrospectives to improve delivery.

Communications Management

• Own internal communications, including recurring updates to staff, the board, and the EML Network, ensuring each is clear and on-brand.

• Own external communications, the organization's public voice across its channels and the Resource Center, drafting messaging on the CMPO's behalf.

• Execute press, public relations, and media relations, drafting press releases and media materials and managing media inquiries per the CMPO's direction.

• Serve as copy chief for external-facing materials, reviewing all content for grammar, clarity, tone, and accuracy before it goes live.

• Manage content rights and photo, video, and testimonial releases (with particular care for congregants, ministry leaders, and minors at events), third-party licensing, and attribution, and ensure consent and opt-out compliance.

• Draft and coordinate donor, Priority Impact Partner, and other communications on the CMPO's behalf.

• Support crisis communications, preparing holding statements and coordinating timely responses to sensitive or reputational matters; public statements are authorized by the CEO per the Media and Public Statements policy.

• Ensure content meets accessibility standards (structure, alt text, color contrast, and email formatting); design- and product-level accessibility belongs to the Product and Brand Experience Designer.

Social Media & Editorial Content Calendar

• Own the social media and editorial calendar end to end (planning, cadence, and scheduling across all channels), setting priorities with the CMPO around key initiatives, events, and campaigns.

• Write, edit, and direct social and digital content, sourcing assets and securing approvals ahead of publishing.

• Monitor performance and engagement and use insights to refine content strategy with the CMPO.

• Manage community engagement across social channels, responding to comments and messages, moderating discussion, and escalating sensitive matters to the CMPO.

Resource Center Content Ownership (Marketing, Brand, Communications, and Digital)

• Own and curate all marketing, brand, communications, and digital content on the Resource Center, organizing the strongest resources, filling gaps, and keeping it current and on-brand.

• Lead development of marketing toolkits for local churches, such as the Church Brand Development toolkit, with the Ministry Resources team.

• Maintain a curated list of marketing vendors on the Resource Center (without creating or negotiating vendor contracts).

• Partner with the CMPO, who owns the Resource Center product vision and user experience, to keep marketing content aligned and refreshed.

CMPO Partnership & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as the CMPO's primary operator across marketing, brand, and communications, exercising independent judgment and tracking deliverables and deadlines so the CMPO can focus on the highest-leverage decisions.

• Lead logistics, messaging, and the participant experience for major meetings, retreats, and EML Network events, shaping the attendee journey, not just the run-of-show.

• Represent the CMPO in select meetings and cross-functional conversations, and take on additional scope and direct reports as the function grows.

• Stay current on marketing, digital, and AI trends and lead brand and template enablement, training staff and answering brand questions.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, or a related field; a master's degree is a plus.

Certifications (Preferred)

• PMI (PMP or CAPM) or Agile (CSM, PMI-ACP, or SAFe Agilist) certification strongly preferred.

• Marketing or platform certifications (e.g., HubSpot, Google Ads/Analytics) are a plus.

Experience & Skills

• 10+ years of progressive marketing, brand, or communications experience, including significant autonomy or a senior individual-contributor role.

• Strong digital marketing background, including CMS/website and resource-library platforms and owning an organizational social media and editorial calendar.

• Proven project management expertise delivering multiple concurrent initiatives on time and on budget across teams and vendors.

• Experience managing marketing budgets, vendor relationships, and a marketing technology stack.

• Working familiarity with AI tools for content creation, research, or workflow support is expected.

• Experience with nonprofit, faith-based, or mission-driven organizations is a plus.

• Experience partnering closely with an executive (e.g., CMO, VP of Marketing, or founder) strongly preferred, translating vision into execution with minimal oversight.

• Strong research and analytical skills to independently evaluate vendors, tools, and resources and bring recommendations to leadership.

• Fluency with brand guidelines and visual identity systems and sound creative judgment; hands-on graphic design skills are a major plus.

• Experience directing designers, freelancers, or agency partners, and building teams.

• Sound judgment and discretion to represent the CMPO's voice and standards independently.

Faith Alignment

• Agreement with the foundation's Christian mission, vision, purpose, core values, and beliefs.

• Demonstrated personal walk with Christ, and active local church involvement.

• Passion for advancing the Kingdom of God and supporting ministry leaders.

Reporting & Collaboration Structure

This role reports to the CMPO and is a core member of the Marketing & AI Product team, collaborating closely with:

• The CMPO: Strategy, direction, prioritization

• Product & Brand Experience Designer: Peer on campaigns, brand assets, and templates

• The AI Specialist: Peer on Resource Center content and church-facing AI resources

• The CTO's team: Martech, website, and publishing support for the Resource Center and other platforms

Note on Scope: Empower Ministry is in an early, formative season, and this function is still being built. This description is not exhaustive; responsibilities, reporting relationships, and scope will evolve as the Foundation grows, and duties may be adjusted consistent with the role and mission.

Full-time | Gallatin, Tennessee (primarily on-site; quarterly event travel) | Reports to the Chief Marketing & AI Product Officer (CMPO) | Immediate start