2023 Director of Marketing and Communications Job Description
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition transforms our streets and neighborhoods into safe, just, and livable places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation. We’re seeking a passionate, highly-motivated individual to power this crucial work by supporting the organization’s diverse communications and marketing efforts.
You will have the opportunity to build upon our ongoing success and help to innovate our approach, while working with a dedicated staff to promote the bicycle for everyday transportation.
The Director of Marketing and Communications will work closely with the Executive and Deputy Directors and leadership team to help craft strategic messaging, manage cross-departmental projects and collaboration, build a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy, manage rapid response communications, respond to urgent media requests and pitch proactive media to develop and strengthen the organization’s constituent and membership engagement ladder. This position will manage a motivated and talented team of communications and marketing staff.
Reporting to the Deputy Director, this position will serve in a leadership capacity to build new audiences and constituencies for our work, increase our voice and influence in the community, engage membership to support our mission, and manage all aspects of the organization’s brand.
Commitment to Equity and Justice
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition acknowledges the harm biking culture and unequal access to transportation have inflicted upon underserved communities — especially people of color, people with disabilities, people from working-class backgrounds, women, and people with LGBTQ+ identities. We believe that these communities must be centered as leaders in the work we do; therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities.
Primary responsibilities:
- Manage, support and grow a team of skilled communications, design and marketing professionals;
- As a key member of the organization’s leadership team, help set organizational priorities, measure and evaluate progress, and respond to emerging opportunities;
- Oversee, lead, and maintain the direction of the organization’s content strategy, brand, voice, and messaging
- Coach and provide constructive feedback to all organizational staff to improve storytelling, writing, and communications skills.
- Develop and deploy quarterly organizational high-level messaging as well as topical messaging and talking points;
- Manage all incoming media inquiries, develop and sustain relationships with media contacts, and proactively increase organizational visibility in the media;
- Manage the creative direction of all digital and print design
- Direct strategy across social media, paid ads, website, mass email, and print
- Manage and coordinate organization’s multi-channel communications calendar;
- Facilitate collaboration with other departments’ communications needs, especially planning and executing advocacy campaign communications; highlighting programmatic accomplishments and earning them media exposure; and ensuring the success of membership, fundraising and events appeals and invitations
Strong candidates will possess as many of the following qualifications as possible:
We recognize that this position encompasses a number of different responsibility areas. We are committed to train and support our staff to strengthen their abilities in each area and we encourage applications from people who may not have all of the qualifications listed below.
- Experience in effectively managing and growing teams, with an emphasis on professional development support for junior staff.
- Experience in cross-team project management and facilitation
- Superlative written and verbal communications skills
- Proven track record in understanding the needs of different audiences and taking an antiracist approach to messaging strategy
- A commitment to and passion for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s mission and core values of transportation justice, sustainability, people power, and joy.
- Experience acting as an on-the-record spokesperson for an organization, as well as experience fielding media requests, developing internal media capacity, developing relationships with media contacts, and handling crisis communications.
- Experience building strategic communications plans.
- Be adaptable, thoughtful, and quick-thinking under pressure.
- Strong understanding of brand development and maintenance.
- High level of comfort with web/digital media analytics and experience evaluating performance and adapting planning/projects accordingly.
- Demonstrated track record of list and social media follower growth.
- Working knowledge of the local media landscape.
- Demonstrated experience effectively adapting to a rapidly shifting digital media landscape
- Experience working within a membership-based advocacy organization.
- Experience crafting fundraising/membership communications.
- Advanced knowledge of Salesforce, Marketing Cloud and Google Apps suite.
- Familiarity with WordPress, HTML, Google Ads and analytics.
- Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and Canva
- Fluency in languages other than English, especially Spanish, Cantonese and Tagalog.
Salary and Benefits: The annual salary for this exempt position is $85,000-$95,000 depending on depth of experience. Full-time benefits include excellent medical, vision and dental insurance with no employee contribution, as well as a year-long four-day workweek pilot, three weeks of paid time off (increasing with tenure), ten days of sick leave, pre-tax transit benefits, and a flexible work arrangement policy.
Hours: Full-time, exempt
Reports to: Deputy Director
Location: Hybrid — San Francisco Bay Area. Staff and their supervisors will work together to determine the appropriate work arrangement based on the nature of the individual’s role, and in alignment with organizational policies and departmental needs and activities. We strive to be as flexible and fair as possible while ensuring in-person accessibility when needed to interface with our volunteers, membership, community, and each other.
To apply, please submit a resume and a PDF with your answers to the below three questions. Please make your answers roughly one paragraph each:
- What inspires you to want to work at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?
- What does transportation justice mean to you and how do you see it fitting into your career?
- What skills and/or experiences do you have that would make you a good fit for this role?
About the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition works to transform San Francisco’s streets and neighborhoods into safe, just and livable places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation. Our work is guided by our five-year strategic plan and the core values of Transportation Justice, Sustainability, People Power and Joy. The organization’s culture reflects its grassroots origins and professional advocacy in equal measures. Our active membership represents San Franciscans of all ages and backgrounds from all neighborhoods who are working towards safe, sustainable and more affordable ways to move around our city. The SF Bicycle Coalition is the largest city-based bicycle advocacy group in the nation and one of the largest member-driven groups in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is an equal opportunity employer. Our commitment to transportation justice includes acknowledging that society’s bad behavior disproportionately hurts the most marginalized people in society — including people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQ+ people. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities.
