Director of Communications

Our team is currently seeking a Director of Communications to steward CU's voice and brand, circulate our ideas and learnings, and help more people discover and participate in what we offer.

Who we are

At Citizen University, we are working to fortify habits and skills of powerful, responsible citizenship in communities around the country. We believe that the health of civic life in America - from our neighborhoods to the whole of our nation - is shaped by how we practice citizenship every day with the people around us. We’re working to make that more possible, through relational programs, innovative projects, and civic network-building. Explore our website to learn more about what we do.

About the role

The Director of Communications will be responsible for telling the story of Citizen University’s work, putting our tools into circulation, and inviting people into the practice of powerful, responsible citizenship. They will develop and lead CU’s communications strategy, shaping how our ideas, programs, and impact reach core audiences and communities. A central focus of this role is recognizing what is most distinctive and useful about what CU is creating and learning, and translating that into clear, compelling communications that people can understand, use, share and act upon. They will help position CU as an innovative leader in the civic renewal field while overseeing the marketing strategies that connect people to our program and network.

The Director serves as a steward of CU's voice and brand, maintaining a high standard for how we communicate externally and ensuring that our communications feel as human, spirited, thoughtful, and inviting as the experiences we create.

As part of CU's senior leadership team, the Director will partner closely with other department heads to align communications strategy to organizational goals. They supervise a Communications & Marketing Manager focused on program marketing, content production and calendar, and communications systems.

What You'll Do: Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Communications Leadership (30%):
  • Set the vision, priorities, and strategy for CU's communications department, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
  • Shape and continually sharpen CU’s organizational narrative and audience strategy: what we are trying to say, to whom and why it matters.
  • Steward CU's voice, brand, and visual identity, providing creative direction and maintaining a high bar for quality, fidelity and vibrancy across communications.
  • Translate big ideas about citizenship and civic renewal into communications that are clear, accessible, memorable, and distinct.
• Circulating Our Work & Ideas (30%):
  • Develop strategies for putting CU's ideas, methodologies, learning, and impact into wider circulation.
  • Collaborate with Program teams to turn emerging ideas, practices, and learning into useful and compelling content, stories, resources, and toolkits.
  • Build and drive CU’s approach to thought leadership and public positioning, drawing on the voices and expertise of staff, participants, partners.
  • Cultivate media, partnerships, speaking opportunities, and other avenues for extending CU's reach and influence.
  • Stay attuned to the broader civic and cultural conversation, identifying places where CU has something distinctive and useful to contribute.
• Audience Engagement and Program Marketing (15%)
  • Steward CU's content and channel strategy
  • Provide strategic direction and guidance to the Communications and Marketing Manager on program marketing and outreach
  • Oversee and approve content production and channel execution.
  • Support major fundraising and organizational communications in partnership with Development and executive leadership.
  • Use communications metrics and audience insights to learn, adapt, and sharpen strategy.
• Organizational Leadership & Supervisory Management (25%):
  • Serve on our Directors Team, contributing to organizational strategy, goal-setting, culture, and cross-team initiatives.
  • Hire and supervise Communications department staff and support their professional development through work planning, coaching, and mentoring
  • Lead Communications staff, contractors, and creative partners toward excellent work while maintaining clear priorities and healthy workloads.
  • Lead departmental planning, budgeting, and resource allocation
  • Strengthen communications capacity across CU while maintaining coherence, quality, and a distinctly CU spirit.

Who You Are: What You'll Bring

Your Skills & Experience:

• You have demonstrated expertise leading communications & marketing strategy, preferably in a civic, community, or non-profit context.
• You bring experience leading long-term strategic initiatives and campaigns that invite others into participation.
• You have exceptional writing and editing skills. You can make complex ideas clear and compelling without flattening their meaning.
• You have strong editorial judgment and creative instincts. You value spirited and thoughtful design and tone, and can provide effective creative direction to others.
• You have experience stewarding an organizational brand and shaping content and audience strategies
• You bring a track record of effectively supervising and developing staff. You can set direction, develop others, make decisions, and work generously with colleagues whose expertise differs from your own.

Your Relational Strengths:

• You have a deep commitment to Citizen University’s mission, values, and ideas around powerful, responsible citizenship, pluralistic democracy, and healthy civic culture.
• You lead with respect, generosity, and genuine interest across political, cultural, ideological, and geographic differences.
• You can balance high standards with a desire to experiment, learn, and adapt.
• You bring emotional intelligence, humanity, and playfulness to your work.
• You’re comfortable staying nimble and curious throughout the development of projects
• You value investing in the growth of others through sincere feedback, trust, and meaningful responsibility.
• You model a growth mindset, embracing feedback with a sense of humility and a desire to always continue learning

Working with us

At Citizen University, we place high value on an innovative spirit, deep commitment to our mission, and a can-do attitude. Even if you don't check every item above, if you know your background and experiences would make you a good fit for this role, we encourage you to apply.

This is a regular, full-time, exempt remote position with occasional travel for program support and staff meetings (approximately 5-8% of the time, or 14-20 days per year). We prioritize the safety and comfort of our employees and will make reasonable accommodations to create the least restrictive work conditions possible.