Fast Facts

City Year Los Angeles is hiring a Senior External Engagement Director to lead strategic engagement with key audiences, including board members and funders, enhancing the organization's branding and messaging to raise awareness of its mission.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include managing board meetings, overseeing donor engagement and communications, and ensuring consistent branding across all platforms while collaborating on marketing materials and public relations strategies.

Skills: Candidates should possess strong communication skills, project management abilities, and experience in external communications, relationship building, and community engagement.

Qualifications: A Bachelor's degree in communications or a related field is preferred, along with 6-8 years of leadership experience in public relations or similar roles, and familiarity with the Los Angeles community and educational organizations.

Location: The position is based in Los Angeles, CA, and is temporarily hybrid on-site/remote.

Compensation: $90000 - $100000 / Annually

Application Instructions

Click Apply to submit your online application. Please attach a resume and thoughtful cover letter on the "My Experience" page in the "Resume/CV" field.

Active City Year Staff members must login to Workday to apply internally.

Number of Positions: 1Compensation: $90,000.00 - $100,000.00 Annually Commensurate with Experience and LocationWork Location: Temporarily Hybrid On-Site/Remote

Position Overview

City Year Los Angeles is seeking a dynamic and results-driven Senior External Engagement Director, who leads the strategic engagement of City Year’s key external audiences, including but not limited to board members, funders, community members, and media. Reporting to the Managing Director of Development, the Senior External Engagement Director is a strategic content producer who proactively creates and elevates our messaging and communication strategy to raise awareness of our mission, expand our media presence and raise awareness among key stakeholders. The Senior External Engagement Director will oversee and support the implementation of CYLA’s branding strategy to ensure consistent coherent representation of CYLA’s impact across all departments and communication outlets, including CYLA’s social media platforms. They will manage the Sr. Marketing & Communications Manager and a Sr. Donor Relations Manager.

The ideal candidate cares deeply about addressing systemic inequities in education and can represent CYLA powerfully in community spaces. This individual should be able to operate at a high level, able to think about the big picture and the best way to communicate and engage the community at large.

City Year values and continuously works to build an equitable and inclusive culture where people with diverse lived experiences feel they belong.

Job Description

Responsibilities

Board Management

• Collaborate with the Executive Director, Managing Director of Development and the Board Co-Chair to set annual meeting dates, goals, and direction for CYLA Board including producing an annual board survey at the beginning of each fiscal year,
• Support Senior Leadership Team members with planning and execution of quarterly board meetings and board committee meetings. 
• Set internal monthly board engagement meetings and direct goal setting for individual Board Members and ensure consistent engagement to best leverage their expertise and support
• In collaboration with the Executive Director and Managing Director of Development, manage the board Governance Committee to help recruit new members with an emphasis on building a more diverse board.

Donor Engagement

• Oversee the creation of annual impact reports tailored for individual donors, foundations, program sponsors, and team sponsors to ensure meaningful stewardship and donor recognition.
• Support development and core messaging for all major fundraising initiatives, including the annual Spring Break Gala, ensuring alignment across all communications, collateral, and event deliverables.
• Collaborate on language for donor proposals and work with the grants consultant to develop and annually renew a compelling, cohesive case for support.
• Oversee the Senior Donor Relations Manager in regularly monitoring gift progress and follow up to ensure timely collection
• Provide strategic guidance to the Senior Donor Relations Manager in support of ongoing cultivation and stewardship as outlined in the stewardship matrix and identifying new growth opportunities in donor engagement strategy.
• Ensure all volunteers and donors, both existing and new, are added to mailing lists and campaigns for consistent communication.

 Marketing & Communication 

• Oversee the development of clear and consistent CY branding and messaging for external stakeholders
• Develop clear communication cascade and strategy for disseminating communications to external audiences (e.g., communication medium, audience, etc.)
• In collaboration with the Sr. Marketing and Communications Manager and a contracted designer, oversee all marketing and branding materials to be used regularly at CYLA events, recruiting efforts, and external communications.
• Oversee creation of all communications collateral, including multi-media, videos, website, media materials, and other items as needed.
• Support content development for City Year Los Angeles’ Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts, blog, E-newsletter, eBlasts, and publication of all other electronic communications.
• Support the development of a multi-tiered email drip campaign for new donors, top-of-funnel volunteers, and general stakeholders, guiding them through a tailored engagement journey with clear communications and desired outcomes based on audience segmentation.
• Contribute to the strategy, messaging, and design of all gala communications, including invitations, sponsorship decks, event programs, donor-facing videos, and stage remarks.
• Work with the Sr. Marketing and Communications Manager and Sr. Donor Relations Manager to ensure messaging across development and communications is cohesive and aligned with stewardship goals.
• Ensure consistency of messaging within CYLA by sharing expectations, tone, and content with other departments
• Oversee the training and development of corps members to effectively share their story through leadership roles such as Communication Corps, Red Jacket Society Ambassadors, and CE Ambassadors

Media Relations

• In partnership with Actum, support overall public relations strategy for the organization, as well as for specific strategic campaigns and initiatives.
• Oversee Sr. Manager of Communications in the development of media strategies for City Year Los Angeles’ marquee events, including Spring Break, Opening Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, and other Service Days as needed throughout the year.
• Develop and oversee messaging calendar to commensurate with City Year benchmarks and milestones throughout the year, including national events, media pitches, and external partnerships.

Additional Site and Team Support

• Work closely with Senior Leadership Team members to understand priorities and business goals and develop strategies to meet the organization’s needs.
• Serve as a CYLA representative at local events and community functions.
• Partner with CYLA departments and staff through event and service day participation and cross-departmental committees as needed to ensure site-wide goals are met.

Key Competencies:

To succeed in this role, an applicant must have the following competencies:

• Strategic Thinking & Learning: Ability to conceptualize and analyze external engagement strategies, recognizing when to seek guidance and identify information gaps. Willingness to learn and actively seek out new prospects and opportunities for growth. Demonstrated track record of developing and improving systems.
• Relationship Building: Effectively build and leverage interpersonal interactions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes and support interpersonal interactions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes and support City Year’s mission. Demonstrate cultural/diversity competence and build trust with key stakeholders both internal and external to City Year.
• Communication: Craft articulate and persuasive proposals, donor communications, and engagement materials. Inspire and connect with diverse audiences through both written and verbal communication. Listen carefully and respond thoughtfully to feedback.
• Project Management: Outstanding planning skills and strong attention to detail, with the capacity to imagine, plan and implement. Set realistic, achievable goals and milestones and break them into actionable steps. Adapt to obstacles and provide leadership to others in achieving success, taking initiative, and working collaboratively. Provide mentorship that empowers team members to own high-visibility projects and develop new leadership skills.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making: Apply experience, creativity, and critical thinking to overcome challenges. Use sound judgment to make informed, ethical decisions that align with City Year’s values and mission. Able to meet deadlines, plan-ahead, and balance multiple high-profile partner priorities simultaneously.

Qualifications:

We listed what we have seen as skills key to achieving the results of this role. You don’t have to satisfy every requirement or qualification listed. If you have transferable skills and are excited about this role, please apply!

• Bachelor's degree in communications or similar highly preferred
• An accomplished leader with minimum 6-8 years of experience
• Experience in externally facing communications roles (e.g., public relations, advocacy, marketing).
• Minimum of 1-3 years of community relations experience including community service, education, or youth development.
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• A builder of authentic relationships with community partners, policymakers, funders, and other supporters; able to engage with a variety of individuals and speak in a clear and compelling manner about the organization’s goals and priorities; persuasive in their written and oral communication skills
• Experienced leading Board members and staff to support and engage in organizational strategy;
• Able to demonstrate excellence in data informed decision making and articulate track record in using data to inform practice.
• Experience in data presentation and ability to present data and results for a variety of audiences.
• Knowledge of the Los Angeles community & educational organizations.
• Flexible and willing to work outside standard established business hours to meet sudden and unpredictable partnership needs;
• MS Excel experience, and MS Word and PowerPoint proficiency is required.

Benefits

Full-time employees will be eligible for all benefits including vacation, sick days and organization holidays. You may participate in all benefit programs that City Year establishes and makes available to eligible employees, under (and subject to all provisions of) the plan documents that govern those programs. Currently, City Year offers medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death and dismemberment and disability coverage, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), and other benefits including 401(k) plan(s) pursuant to the terms and conditions of company policy and the 401(k) plan document. For more information, click here.

Employment at City Year is at-will. 

City Year does not sponsor work authorization visas.