The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) is seeking a Chief Communications Officer (CCO) who wants to advance civil liberties and civil rights in Virginia by providing leadership and direction of our communications team to maximize our statewide impact and ability to achieve our mission, goals, and objectives. The CCO is responsible for building and boosting the public brand of the affiliate, ensuring strategic consistency, and growing public awareness of ACLU-VA as an organization, and works closely with other members of the organization’s staff under an integrated advocacy model that includes public education, litigation, lobbying, and grassroots organizing. As a member of the senior leadership team, the CCO participates in setting and supporting organizational goals and priorities, culture, and strategic planning; they also develop and manage the organization’s communications budget, and partners with development on donor engagement strategies and communications.
Who We Are
The ACLU-VA strives to be Virginia's premier guardian of civil liberties and a recognized champion of civil rights for all Virginians. For nearly a hundred years (50 in Virginia), the ACLU has made a profound difference in the lives of clients and community members, as well as historic contributions to our country and state. Now, more people than ever before have turned to the ACLU to fight back against unprecedented new attacks on civil rights and liberties. We are also committed to pursuing impactful policy changes at the local and statewide levels to achieve racial equity and advance civil liberties and civil rights for everyone. The ACLU-VA is committed to ending racist policing, cutting the number of people incarcerated in Virginia, increasing access to quality mental and medical care, ending sex and gender-based discrimination at work and in schools, and securing a constitutional right to vote for everyone.
What You'll Do
You'll help us protect and advance the ACLU's mission by:
- Building and directing a strong, well-designed, well-defined strategic communications and brand program that promote civil liberties and civil rights and the impact of the organization across the Commonwealth
- Building a strong, skilled communications team by making hiring recommendations, training, developing, and actively supervising and evaluating the work of the members of the communications team
- Training staff and board members and other community leaders to be effective ACLU-VA messengers and leading communications research efforts such as public polling or surveying key constituencies to inform messaging and communications goals.
- Developing metrics for measuring the effectiveness of the communications programs and developing and managing the annual budget for all communications efforts.
- As part of the senior leadership team, working to envision and build a healthy organizational culture.
- Building the brand of ACLU-VA and ensuring style and message consistency, and serving as a spokesperson for the ACLU-VA.
- Providing strategic integrated communications support for ACLU programs and campaigns, and providing strategic donor communications plans to support the efforts of the Development team
- Collaborating with the Communications Director on media outreach strategies that result in accurate, fair, and equitable coverage of our issues and work.
- Overseeing development and implementation of a strategic and targeted calendar of public speaking engagements, overseeing multimedia public education campaigns, and serving as final approver of all external-facing communications in accordance with the ACLU-VA Communications Policy.
- Overseeing the implementation and periodic review of the communications policy, and overseeing the preparation and implementation of crisis communications plans when needed
Who You Are
Our "Must Have's"
- A commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU, and to racial justice and civil rights issues, and an understanding that these issues are central to the overall protection of civil liberties.
- Working knowledge and broad understanding of civil liberties and civil rights issues, integrated advocacy, and strategic communications.
- Significant professional, managerial and leadership experience in strategic communications and media relations including:
- Experience managing organizational brands.
- Experience crafting strategic and creative communications approaches and plans.
- Experience serving as a spokesperson for campaigns or organizations.
- Experience writing, editing, and producing effective communications materials for publication in print and online.
- Experience effectively managing, supervising, and developing individual staff and building and developing teams.
- Ability to provide clear direction, set priorities, meet deadlines, and hold staff accountable to deadlines on concurrent projects in a fast-paced, occasionally stressful environment.
- Ability to work collaboratively toward strategic project and program solutions across functional teams.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively with diverse communities and people.
- Willingness and availability to work beyond the normal workday, on weekends, and/or more than 40 hours a week as necessary.
- Willingness and ability to travel throughout Virginia, and occasionally to other states for conferences and training.
- Proficiency with office technology and information systems.
- A commitment to diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion, to refrain from unlawful discrimination and to comply fully with all applicable laws; a personal approach that values the individual and respects differences of race, ethnicity and national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability and socio-economic circumstance, and the ability to work with diverse individuals within the organization and broader community.
- All ACLU-VA staff must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or be approved for an accommodation for religious or medical exemption.
What Else You Should Know
The ACLU of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, bi- or multi-lingual (including Indigenous languages) speakers, multi-cultural individuals, members of the LGBTQ community, those who have been formerly incarcerated or are currently under supervision, and other people from underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. We seek to build a diverse team and an inclusive organizational culture. All qualified applicants who share our vision and who have a desire to contribute to our mission are encouraged to apply.
Salary is based on market factors and individual experience and abilities The salary range for this position is $67,900 to $139,847, with a midpoint of $103,873.50. To preserve the opportunity for advancement, we do not typically hire above the mid-point of the range. In addition, we offer excellent benefits include paid time off, generous paid holidays, a 401k plan with employer contribution, medical and dental insurance, life insurance, and income replacement during illness through a combination of annual sick leave, short-term and long-term disability insurance.
Due to COVID-19 and our desire to keep our employees safe, our organization is currently following a hybrid work policy (to be discussed during the hiring process). This position will require a presence in the downtown Richmond office. All ACLU-VA staff members must reside within Virginia or within a 150-mile radius of our downtown Richmond office.
What Now?
Please review the complete job description on our Careers page and apply from our career site. A resume and cover letter will be required. Our HR team will review applications on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Submit your application as soon as possible. We will begin reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.