Director of Communications
Summit Learning seeks a Director of Communications who will play a leading role in telling the Summit Learning story both proactively and in response to crisis situations. The Director of Communications will report to the Senior Director of Communications for Summit Learning and lead the development of the organization-wide communications strategy, messaging, executive communications, crisis communications efforts, and resources and trainings to help schools communicate about Summit Learning.
This is an ideal position for an experienced communications professional who is passionate about Summit Learning. The Director of Communications will have the opportunity to set the long-term communications strategy for Summit Learning, lead on crisis communications efforts, and design tools to support a network of schools across the country.
Who We Are:
What if all students graduated high school with not only content knowledge, but the habits and skills to successfully navigate college and career, with a sense of purpose to anchor them? This is the question at the core of Summit Public Schools. Summit is a public school system serving heterogeneous communities in the Bay Area and Washington State and operate 11 schools serving over 3,600 students.
We share our personalized approach to teaching and learning for free through Summit Learning, with more than 330 partner schools across the country. Summit Learning forms the foundation on which Summit’s successful schools were built, with our schools consistently ranking among the best in the nation.
Are you looking for the opportunity to lead change? Do you want to help reimagine what schools should be? We put students in the driver’s seat and empower them with the skills and habits they need to be successful in college and life. We need diverse, driven, and dynamic talent to join our growing team to help realize our educational vision.
What You’ll Do:
Communications Development & Strategy
- Design & execute an organization-wide communications strategy for Summit Learning
- Develop a strategy to provide tiered communications support for the 300+ schools in the Summit Learning community
- Develop and activate adoption of messaging for Summit Learning
- Develop scalable, on-demand communications and messaging resources for the Summit Learning community
- Plan and execute training and professional development opportunities for the Summit Learning community at venues including regional convenings, summer trainings, and webinars
- Support proactive communications strategy in partnership with media team, including writing, pitching, and placing op-eds; responding to media inquiries, and supporting local advocate development
- Develop and execute thought leadership plans for the Summit Learning executive team, including developing speeches, providing talking points, and preparing for events
Relationship Management & Professional Development
- Serve as primary liaison with Summit Public Schools’ Chief of Schools and site directors to support schools’ communication efforts around Summit Learning
- Plan and execute training and professional development opportunities for the Summit Learning community at venues including regional convenings, summer trainings, and webinars
- Project manage communications in crisis situations, including coordination with internal teams, consultants, and schools - with support from the Senior Director of Communications
What You Need:
Key Qualities and Skills
- Commitment to uphold Summit’s values, belief that all children deserve a rigorous and equitable education that prepares them for college and for life.
- Bachelor’s Degree.
- At least 5 years’ experience at a public relations agency, education technology organization, or other related education nonprofit is required.
- An understanding of the intersection of traditional and digital communications is required.
- Excellent interpersonal, writing, communication and presentation skills are required.
- Prior experience managing media relations teams and working with communications consultants is required.
- Proficiency in Google Platforms, including Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides.
- Clear health and background check.
- An ability to travel to schools participating in the Summit Learning Program across the country.
Who You Are:
About You
- You maintain high expectations for all students and believe all students can find success in school, college, and life.
- You thrive while collaborating and are excited to work with your colleagues. You find positivity in share successes.
- You’re deeply dedicated to social justice and feel motivated by the challenge and impact of working in a heterogenous community and closing the achievement gap.
- You share our vision to reimagine what schools should be and are excited to make an impact on the public education landscape.
- You are data-driven and have the ability to collect, evaluate, and utilize data in meaningful ways.
- You are positive and resilient in the face of big challenges.
- You take initiative and ownership in driving your work to meet personal and team goals.
- You possess strong relationship skills, with the ability to motivate, inspire, develop, and communicate with a diverse group of teachers, leaders, staff members, and community members.
- You have an ability to apply honest, actionable, and timely feedback that results in improved performance.
- You have a strategic mindset when it comes to executing professional development initiatives.
- You are empathetic and culturally competent. You’re open to having hard conversations.
- You thrive in innovative environments, and are comfortable with the ambiguity that can come with a dynamic and progressive workplace.
- You’re committed to continuous improvement, see feedback as a positive, and have a growth mindset.
What you get:
Summit offers competitive salaries and benefit options for full-time employees, including covering 75% of the health, dental and vision plan costs. We fully cover life and disability insurance. We have a “take what you need” PTO policy, 11 paid holidays and 3 weeks of organizational-wide closure during the year.
We strive to recruit a diverse team. Summit Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, parenthood, citizenship status, creed, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Summit will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
People from all diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Spanish language proficiency is a plus.
