Director of Marketing & Communications

About Lead For America

Lead For America (LFA)  is dedicated to providing place-based service opportunities to local individuals to help mission-driven organizations advance solutions that are informed by place and responsive to community. The American Connection Corps (ACC), launched by LFA, is the nation's largest AmeriCorps initiative focused on closing the digital divide in rural and digitally disconnected communities. Supported by a broad coalition of partners including AmeriCorps and major corporations, ACC has members serving in 30 states across the country. 

Department Context:

The Marketing and Communications Department is the voice of Lead for America (LFA) and the American Connection Corps (ACC), dedicated to advancing the organization’s mission through strategic storytelling and robust engagement strategies. This department plays a pivotal role in shaping public perception and driving community engagement by effectively communicating our impact and initiatives across multiple platforms.

Role Expectations:

The Director of Marketing & Communications is the senior leader responsible for shaping and sharing the story of Lead for America (LFA) and the American Connection Corps (ACC). This role brings strategic vision, creative leadership, and operational excellence to all marketing and communications efforts — ensuring our voice is clear, consistent, and compelling across every platform.

This leader will oversee traditional communications functions — including media relations, digital strategy, and brand management — while advancing storytelling as a core strategic lever to drive narrative change, inform perceptions of national service, and deepen engagement with key audiences. They will explore new and unconventional formats (e.g., creator/influencer collaborations, local storytelling, multimedia content) that amplify real voices and the human component of our mission.

Managing both internal teams and external partners, the Director will play a critical role in strengthening LFA’s visibility, credibility, and impact. Success in this role is measured by reach, resonance, recruitment impact, and revenue — all powered by compelling and values-driven storytelling.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of a unified marketing and communications strategy, ensuring consistency across brand, media, digital, and internal messaging.
• Elevate storytelling as a strategic function, identifying, shaping, and amplifying stories that shift national narratives around service, civic leadership, and belonging.
• Manage internal staff and external partners to execute integrated campaigns and content across channels — with a focus on innovation, equity, and measurable impact.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with media, stakeholders, and community voices, enhancing public awareness, trust, and engagement.
• Contribute to senior leadership decisions, bringing a strategic communications lens to cross-functional initiatives and organizational growth.

What You’ll Do:
Strategic Brand, Communication, and Storytelling Leadership (25%):

• Build an integrated marketing and communications strategy aligned with organizational goals.
• Elevate storytelling as a central function — shaping and sharing stories that inspire action and shift national narratives around service and civic leadership.
• Ensure brand clarity, consistency, and resonance across all platforms, materials, and stakeholder touchpoints.

Team and Partnership Management  (25%):

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing internal team and manage external agencies or creative partners.
• Establish clear roles, workflows, and accountability structures across communications and marketing functions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to identify storytelling opportunities and ensure message alignment across departments.

Audience Growth, Engagement and Influence (25%):

• Drive strategies to grow reach, deepen audience engagement, and increase national awareness of LFA and ACC.
• Oversee content strategy, media relations, digital campaigns, and narrative amplification across channels.

• Explore and implement new storytelling formats — such as influencer partnerships, multimedia content, and community storytelling — to engage diverse and emerging audiences.

Management (10%):

• Serve as the direct manager to:
• Provide support, thought partnership and prioritization to the (Role) as they navigate the wins and challenges of their role
• Meet 1:1 at least weekly with the (Role) to promote open communication, professional development, and strategic planning
• Support in drafting, reviewing and maintenance of annual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), while also conducting performance reviews for the (Role)
• Approve expenses and time off requests through LFA’s HRIS platform
• New Hire onboarding to your department

Input and maintain data in CRM and relevant tracking systems (5%):

• Understand how to use (CRM) and other systems effectively
• Ensure data integrity and accurate, up-to-date records for relationship management activities, company interaction, and leads including entering and updating information to have real time accurate data in (CRM)
• Utilize tracking systems for your work streams that allows for regular analysis of owned workstreams

Organizational Requirements (10%): 

In addition to the responsibilities unique to the Role described above, all Team members devote a portion of their time to supporting strategic and operational efforts across our teams that advance the organization:

• Compliance for org-wide administration - expense reporting, benefits, KPI tracking
• Taking part in additional organizational initiatives, priorities, and responsibilities, as needed.

Qualifications:

• 7–10 years of progressive experience in strategic communications, marketing, or storytelling — ideally at the intersection of media, advocacy, social impact, or creative strategy. You're ready to lead at the organizational level.
• Proven team leadership and management experience — you’ve led people and projects with clarity, empathy, and accountability, and you know how to coach talent, delegate effectively, and drive toward results.
• Strategic and creative agility — you can zoom out to shape national narrative strategy and zoom in to write a newsletter, fine-tune messaging, or manage a media moment with precision.
• Deep cultural and civic awareness — you understand the current social and political landscape in the U.S. and believe in the power of storytelling to build trust, shift narratives, and move people toward action.
• Execution mindset — you know when to experiment, when to refine, and how to keep momentum on high-stakes, fast-moving initiatives without losing sight of the details.
• Strong writing and editing skills — you’re a natural communicator who can write with clarity, heart, and purpose across formats, from social copy to talking points to op-eds.
• Strong design skills — you have a strong sense of quality visual, graphic design to creatively and effectively project storytelling from a variety of mediums. 
• Collaborative and cross-functional by nature — you work well across teams, align quickly with partners, and can bring a communications perspective into broader organizational conversations.
• Mission alignment and values fit — you believe deeply in LFA’s mission of national service, civic leadership, and belonging — and want to help others believe in it, too.

Salary Range: $100,000 - $120,000

This position includes access to health insurance, vision and dental insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan, unlimited PTO, 12 weeks of parental leave (including the first 4 weeks paid), a work laptop, and a $750 annual professional development allowance.