Director of Corporate Communications

Job Description

Panagora Group is a woman and employee-owned small business (WOSB) providing novel and integrated solutions in global health and international development. Our goal is to provide innovative solutions that build national capacity and promote sustainability through robust local participation and capacity building, utilizing highly integrated and private sector solutions. Throughout our work, we embrace a virtuous circle of knowledge stewardship, collaborative learning, and application of evidence to heighten and accelerate positive health and development outcomes. In 2023, Panagora was awarded a Great Place to Work certification based on employee feedback.

Panagora seeks a dynamic director of corporate communications to direct the vision and oversee the implementation of our external and internal communications strategy, including managing a small team, and working closely with our CEO and executive team. The ideal candidate will have 10-15 years of relevant experience in communications, both internal and external, with progressive leadership responsibility. Successful candidates will have experience providing strategic leadership to 1) realize organizational goals through engaging and creative storytelling, messaging, and branding and 2) lead internal communications to foster transparency, support knowledge management, and facilitate a robust company culture. The director will have demonstrated experience working for other USAID and other donor-funded implementing partners working in international development and will be familiar with industry trends, issues, and associations.

Responsibilities

• Implement and further develop multi-pronged communications strategy that is aligned with Panagora’s corporate goals and external positioning priorities, working across all teams
• Work closely with the executive team to define strategic priorities and internal and external corporate messaging
• Manage external communications, including continuous improvements to the Panagora website, branding and messaging updates, marketing materials, and social media management
• Develop and/or use external communications messaging and products to share the story of our ESOP and employee ownership, working in coordination with the Employee Ownership Culture Committee (EOCC), HR, and external consultants
• Work with internal communications manager to direct big-picture strategy for internal communications
• Work closely with the internal communications manager and the EOCC to support and help foster a strong employee ownership culture
• Support and collaborate with the KM specialist to help strengthen corporate knowledge management initiatives to streamline and clarify information across the company
• Maintain quality control across company, including overseeing editorial support for projects and proposals, and training across the company to build capacity in writing, messaging, editing, formatting, and document production
• Support new business efforts as needed and with basic production support for proposals either directly or by enlisting trained staff to support and providing them with mentorship and guidance during the proposal
• Direct and oversee the creation, production, and dissemination of branded collateral.
• Support projects as needed with direct communications support
• Manage communications team, including two managers and an associate; set priorities based on long-term strategy and short-term needs, balance workloads, establish best practices, improve team processes and systems, provide mentorship and guidance, foster positive work environment and effective teamwork
• Manage external consultants and vendors for website upgrades, graphic design content, videos, and other creative content as needed
• Apply leadership and management principles in developing an inclusive, respectful work environment consistent with Panagora’s values related to employee ownership and diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Work with president and CEO and VP of program impact to establish and implement Panagora’s external engagement strategy
• Manage our relationships with key professional associations

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in communications, of which at least 5 of them involved leading a team of employees and consultants
• Demonstrated experience successfully managing communications portfolios for organizations, including developing comprehensive external and internal campaigns, tracking and analyzing metrics and other indicators, writing and developing creative content, writing comms strategies, creating branded collateral, and maintaining a department budget
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including writing for the web and social media
• Efficient and effective writing for different audiences both internally and externally
• Strong understanding of managing an editorial process within a team and knowledge of how to produce of complicated documents (writing, editing, formatting steps and timelines); knowledge and experience with proposal production a plus
• Basic graphic design skills, including working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud suite of software (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) and familiarity with Canva; able to direct graphic design work and manage external graphic designers. More advanced background in graphic design a plus
• Proficient use of WordPress and Hootsuite or other similar tools
• Experience with USAID policies and programs required with knowledge of global health, monitoring, evaluation, and learning a plus
• Commitment to fostering an inclusive, respectful work environment that helps team members grow in their careeers
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
• Demonstrated experience managing and working with multi-cultural teams with diverse skill sets
• Willingness to travel internationally

Reports to: President and CEO

No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted. Only applicants who include the required application components will be considered.

Panagora Group is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Panagora Group is currently working a hybrid work schedule, and employees are encouraged to come into the office at least once a week to foster engagement, collaboration, belonging and professional development. Departments/teams will hold in-person meetings that involve a high degree of collaboration, where ideas are generated quickly and often feed off each other, e.g., brainstorming, storyboarding, proposal development, strategic planning, and performance discussions. Staff who reside in the DC/MD/VA area are strongly encouraged to work from the office on those days.

Benefits

Panagora Group, Inc. offers competitive salaries including regular performance reviews and merit increases with an excellent insurance program (health, dental and vision) paid leave, holidays, bonuses, employee assistance program, training and development assistance, commuter allowance, phone allowance, Society for International Development and Humentum Memberships, as well as employee stock ownership (ESOP) and 401K programs.

 *Note: Panagora does not offer visa sponsorship at this time.

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