Executive Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing

About Us:

Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) connects the military community-service members, military spouses, and veterans-with American businesses to create economic opportunity and a strong and diversified workforce. HOH is a workforce development initiative of the 501(c)(3) arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation harnesses the power of business to create solutions for the good of America and the world. We anticipate, develop, and deploy solutions to challenges facing communities-today and tomorrow.

Specifically, our team members-

• Explore frontier issues, test new ideas, and suggest novel approaches to address big-picture challenges that will impact the future.
• Work with businesses to provide practical solutions for wider adoption, participation, and engagement.
• Convene and coordinate with businesses and public leaders to take immediate action in moments of unanticipated crisis.

We are driven by the pursuit of innovation and partnership and hold ourselves to the highest standards. We are committed to our employees, and as part of our team we will support your long-term career development while delivering relevant learning opportunities. We will empower you to lead, develop deep expertise, and find new approaches to solving the toughest challenges.

Position Overview:

The Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing is a senior leader responsible for driving the organization's brand, narrative, and marketing presence to advance mission impact, growth, and influence.

This role blends strategic communications leadership with a marketing-oriented mindset. The Executive Director sets direction and leads execution across campaigns, content, media, and visual storytelling, with a clear focus on audience growth, engagement, and conversion - whether that audience is employers, funders, partners, or the broader military community.

Serving as the architect of integrated, audience-first campaigns, this leader translates organizational priorities into compelling, action-oriented strategies across owned, earned, and partnership channels. Working closely with senior leadership, development, programs, and external partners, this role positions Hiring Our Heroes as a national leader and convener, expands reach to new and younger audiences, and strengthens demand for HOH programs and partnerships.


This is a builder role for a highly energetic, persuasive leader who thrives at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and results.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Communications Leadership

• Set and drive a bold communications and marketing strategy that increases brand awareness, relevance, and influence across priority audiences.
• Shape and continuously evolve the organization's external narrative to reinforce its leadership, credibility, and value proposition.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on messaging, positioning, and brand alignment.

Campaign, Marketing and Growth Strategy

• Lead the design and execution of integrated, audience-first campaigns that drive awareness, engagement, and action across digital, content, events, partnerships, and earned media.
• Apply a marketing mindset to communications-ensuring campaigns clearly articulate value, motivate participation, and support organizational growth goals.
• Define campaign objectives, success metrics, and KPIs; partner with analytics teams to assess performance, optimize approaches, and scale what works.
• Ensure campaigns are tightly aligned with program, development, and partnership priorities.

Audience Strategy and Marketing Expansion

• Identify, prioritize, and refine core and emerging audience segments, including employers, funders, partners, and members of the military community.
• Leverage data, insights, and program expertise to sharpen targeting, messaging, and channel strategy.
• Lead efforts to expand reach with new and younger audiences while deepening engagement with core stakeholders.

Content, Storytelling and Media

• Oversee the creation of compelling, high-impact content that drives campaigns, thought leadership, and engagement across owned and shared channels.
• Guide earned media strategy and external storytelling to elevate visibility, credibility, and narrative leadership.
• Ensure consistency, clarity, and effectiveness of messaging across platforms and spokespeople.

Visual and Creative Direction

• Set strategic direction for visual storytelling and creative execution, ensuring a modern, cohesive brand that resonates emotionally and drives action.
• Partner closely with internal designers and external producers to develop strong creative briefs and deliver high-quality design, graphic, and video assets.

Leadership and Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing communications and marketing team.
• Foster strong collaboration with program, development, design, and external partners.
• Represent the communications and marketing function with senior internal and external stakeholders as appropriate.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations, or a related field.
• Minimum of 15 years of relevant experience in strategic communications, brand, or integrated marketing, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Minimum of 8 years of management experience, with the proven ability to mentor and coach teams toward success.
• Preference for experience managing geographically dispersed teams.
• Demonstrated success leading audience-first, multi-channel campaigns that advance brand awareness, thought leadership, and engagement across owned, earned, and partnership channels.
• Proven experience managing high-performing teams and cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong storytelling skills, including writing, editing, and the ability to guide cohesive visual and creative storytelling, with a portfolio or examples demonstrating impact.
• Familiarity with communications and marketing technology platforms, analytics tools, and media monitoring systems, with the ability to define KPIs and evaluate impact in partnership with analytics teams.
• Exceptional interpersonal, organizational, and project management skills, with the ability to operate effectively at all levels of a fast-paced, mission-driven organization.
• Experience working with or on behalf of the military community is strongly preferred.

The salary range for this position is $134,475.00 to $200,000.00. The actual salary paid for this position will vary based on market data, an applicant's qualifications, relevant degrees, certifications, and other factors. Our full-time employees are eligible for benefits, including health care, vision, dental, retirement, and paid leave.

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