Director of Communications

Purpose

To lead development and implementation of a comprehensive communications strategy for the Association that advances the mission of the UUA and embodies the values of a diverse, progressive, prophetic, and anti-oppressive faith community, to oversee the Communications staff group, and to guide communication from the Office of the President and the UUA as an organization. To work closely with the President, Executive Vice President, and other senior leaders to set strategic priorities for the Association’s communications to constituents and to the wider world.

Principal Responsibilities

   1.  Leads the development and implementation of a communications strategy for the UUA for both the general public and key audiences; ensures that communications strategy addresses the UUA’s intersectional justice priorities, its fundraising engagement, and its relationships with critical constituencies; sets or approves central messages for UUA communications across staff groups based on that strategy; oversees a regular planning process for messaging priorities and communications vehicles across all staff groups with structures for monitoring and accountability.

   2.  Supervises the Communications staff group, including UU World magazine (Periodicals Office) and the Outreach and Public Witness team, which manages UUA core communications, social media, UUA.org, and press relations.

   3.  Leads the development process for, and oversees the implementation of, the core messaging strategy for the UUA, including the voice of the President and institutional statements; delegates communications functions and operations to the Periodicals and OPW teams in alignment with the overall UUA communications strategy.

   4.  Works closely with the Outreach and Public Witness team to manage relationships, inquiries, and pitches with news media that can advance the UUA’s overall communications strategy; supports and approves the digital communications strategy of the OPW team, including topline social media and web strategies.

   5.  Acts as the publishing agent of the UUA to oversee the editorial process for UU World magazine in order to advance the UUA’s overall communications strategy; reviews and approves the magazine’s engagement with key topics and constituents for the UUA.

   6.  Advises, reviews, and approves the strategies, messages, platforms and other key aspects of the communications functions of other staff groups to ensure they are aligned with overall UUA strategy and best practices, and differentiated as appropriate; this includes working with the staff groups of Stewardship and Development, Organizing Strategy, General Assembly and Conference Services, Publications, Congregational Life (regional) staff, and others.

   7.  Manages incident-response communications strategy and messages for the UUA in crisis moments or other high-profile, urgent situations; may provide crisis communications support and coaching for UU congregations, organizations, and partners as needed to support the capacity of the Outreach and Public Witness team.

   8.  Provides additional writing and editing capacity for the President, Executive Vice President, Outreach and Public Relations Director, or other key UUA leaders as needed.

   9.  Acts as a member of the Leadership Council of senior staff executives, and of the President’s Direct Reports Team.

 10.  Performs other duties as requested by the Executive Vice President or the President.

Qualifications

This is a Grade 16 position (expected hiring range $95,000-$125,200 depending on experience). Note that qualifications may be met as a result of lived experience, volunteer work, professional experience, and/or formal or informal training. Requirements include:

·       10-15 years of relevant professional communications experience, with a deep understanding of Unitarian Universalism, including its justice work and faith communities.

·       Outstanding skills in written and verbal communication and relationship management.

·       Prior experience in a large organization is strongly preferred, with experience guiding and managing multiple communications goals across multiple channels and teams. Experience in a campaign or other fast-paced setting is valuable.

·       Fluency in communications planning and demonstrated ability to craft effective communications frameworks.

·       Experience working with news media, including relationships with journalists, opinion-editorial, and responding to press inquiries

·       Supervisory experience, with the ability to lead diverse teams in goal-setting and strategic planning.

·       Comfort with crafting messaging on behalf of a faith community, demonstrating inner spiritual grounding.

·       Personal and professional commitment to counter systems of oppression and cultural marginalization, and to promoting a staff culture of intercultural fluency and humility. Worked or lived experience with communities of color or indigenous peoples is of particular value.

·       Bachelor’s degree expected, relevant graduate study is valuable, but note that this qualification can be met as a result of other professional, educational and lived experience.

·       Proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word).

·       Ability to be responsive outside of business hours in exceptional crisis moments.

·       Periodic travel and weekend work is required.

·       Residency in or willingness to move to the greater Boston, MA area, and authorization to work in the United States are required.

·       Eagerness to work in an organization in which the dismantling of white supremacy and patriarchy is a high priority.

How to Apply

People with disabilities, people of color, indigenous people, Hispanic/Latinx, and LGBTQ candidates are encouraged to apply. The UUA is committed to developing a diverse and talented staff team. If you are excited about this role, but are unsure whether you meet 100% of the requirements, we encourage you to inquire and/or apply. Send cover letter and résumé—indicating “Director of Communications” in the subject line—via e‑mail to careers@uua.org, via fax to (617) 948-6467, or to Human Resources, UUA, 24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210. E‑mail submissions preferred.

About the UUA

The Unitarian Universalist Association is a progressive religious denomination headquartered in Boston’s waterfront Fort Point Innovation District with offices in Washington, DC and at the United Nations in New York City. Our faith community of more than 1,000 self-governing congregations brings to the world a vision of religious freedom, tolerance, and social justice. Our normal workweek is 35 hours, we pay 80% contribution towards health insurance premiums, 11% towards retirement (after one year), and have generous paid time-off policies. We are a great place to work and we value diversity. The UUA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to the full inclusion of all. As part of this commitment, the UUA will ensure that applicants and staff with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact the Office of Human Resources at (617) 948-4648 or humanresources@uua.org. For more information on the UUA, visit us online at UUA.org and uuworld.org.

Support for the Mission and Values of the Association

The Unitarian Universalist Association is a progressive and historic religious denomination. While it is not generally required or expected that an applicant/employee identify as a Unitarian Universalist (UU) or be a member of a UU congregation in order to work at the UUA, all UUA staff members are expected to perform their job duties in accordance with the UUA’s values, principles and mission. In particular the following points, drawn from the Seven UU Principles, are of particular importance for the UUA’s work environment and staff culture:

·       The inherent worth and dignity of every human being: We affirm the need for a human-centered workplace that allows our diverse staff to flourish. We also understand that our wider culture and society oppresses and denies human dignity, and we seek to counter the effects of that oppression in our hiring and workplace culture so that each person feels whole and valued.

·       Justice, equity and compassion in human relations, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all: We speak openly and publicly of our support for social and political issues, including LGBTQ equity, racial justice, climate justice, gender equity, and reproductive justice.

·       The interdependent web of existence: We recognize that the liberation of all people is interwoven, and we work to counter patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, environmental exploitation, and other interrelated systems of marginalization.