Strategic Communications Manager

Salary: $80,000 to $100,000, based on experience
Experience: Graduate degree strongly preferred or equivalent work experience and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience
Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer
Location: Remote

CSSP seeks a creative and mission-driven Strategic Communications Manager to serve as the primary communication staff, project manager, and coordinator of communications strategies across all CSSP’s public communications efforts and platforms. This role is ideal for a purpose-driven and entrepreneurial communications professional who brings exceptional writing and editing skills, creativity, and strategic communications experience, experience in basic design, and website and social media strategy.

This role requires significant rapid response work when and as needed and developing all work with a reasonable sense of both excellence and urgency—ensuring CSSP is taking advantage of opportunities presented externally. This position includes opportunities for growth in the future.

CSSP has three main project areas—Practice & Innovation, Capacity Building & Leadership Development, and Public Policy. This Strategic Communications Manager will work in close partnership with CSSP strategy and initiative leadership across those areas in advancing CSSP’s mission.

Your Scope of Work

In this role, your responsibilities include, but are not limited to: engaging with CSSP staff and leadership on all organizational communications and working closely with, and managing and coordinating the work of, CSSP’s contracted strategic communications agency and other external partners. This position is ideal for someone interested in addressing disparities based on race, ethnicity, gender, and income in public policy and public system outcomes. Commitment to advancing equity for children and families of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and immigrant families is a must.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

CONTENT CREATION

• • • Developing creative content and strategies to amplify and share CSSP’s work.
    • Drafting original content, editing existing content, and assisting with content strategy planning.
    • Working with CSSP staff to develop, pitch, manage, and produce regular, topical, and timely content including op-eds and CSSP blog posts, among others.
    • Develop and produce original content for social and digital platforms, and reports and presentations tailored to our key audiences.
    • Ensure brand consistency and storytelling alignment across all content.
    • Manage internal newsletter and other important internal communications vehicles.

DIGITAL STRATEGY

• • • Working closely with CSSP staff and strategic communications consultants on the management and creation of CSSP’s digital content calendar, including creating regular content for CSSP’s social media channels.
    • Enhancing and expanding CSSP’s social media presence and outreach to various stakeholders to increase our reach and audience with a focus on strategic dissemination about key messages and work. Critical to this is ensuring our current audience receives targeted messaging aligned with their priorities.

PRESS & PARTNER OUTREACH

• • • Partnering with CSSP strategic communications firm and CSSP staff to ensure that every significant CSSP product is released with a high-quality, informative, and interesting press release, press kits, and related materials. These materials should minimally include one-page highlights of reports and a relevant blog post but could include infographics and other more engaging visual accompaniment.
    • Scheduling and facilitating a press brainstorm with relevant staff with the release of new CSSP content.
    • Closely monitoring the news for opportunities aligned with CSSP’s work and conducting and facilitating relevant outreach to initiate a process for press engagement.
    • Identify opportunities for CSSP leadership and key staff to communicate work and priorities to important audiences. These opportunities may be high-level conferences and symposiums but also through media forums, keynote speeches, podcasts, etc.

GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS

• • • Regularly providing both creative and responsive communications support to CSSP staff and leadership.
    • Creating innovative and interesting communications strategies to advance CSSP’s ideas and work.
    • Working with the consulting firm managing CSSP’s website to keep it user friendly, updated and aligned with CSSP’s strategic direction and growing areas of work.
    • Developing annual activity reports that assess the success of our efforts and sharing those reports with CSSP staff and leadership.
    • Travel, as needed, including attendance at all-staff gatherings and trainings.
    • Carrying out additional duties as needed.

SUPPORTING THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

• • • Work closely with the President and CEO and their special assistant to support the development of needed products and resources in support of executive activities, including the development of fundraising resources and materials. This also includes working closely with staff on fundraising efforts.

About You

We are looking for someone who shares a passion for our mission to achieve a racially, economically, and socially just society in which all children and families thrive.

• • • You have a strong commitment to racial justice and reducing disparities based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, sovereignty, gender, sexual orientation/gender identity, disability, and socioeconomics.
    • You are highly motivated by and deeply committed to our organization’s values. You actively apply an anti-racist, intersectional approach to the work to better serve historically marginalized groups. You help create a culture that is inclusive, equitable, and inspires engagement and curious learning.
    • You continuously practice a growth mindset. You welcome feedback, are open to new ideas, and support personal growth and development and organization-wide improvement.
    • You are a strong communicator with your colleagues and external partners.
    • You are data and results driven and have demonstrated success in setting goals and participating in teams to accomplish them.

Ideal candidates will also have:

• • • Graduate degree is strongly preferred or equivalent work experience and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.
    • A strong commitment to racial justice and reducing disparities based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, sovereignty, gender, sexual orientation/gender identity, and socioeconomics.
    • Understanding of social and family policy issues is preferred.
    • Exceptional skills in writing, editing, and editorial strategy. Ability to take concepts from pitch meeting to dissemination.
    • Extremely detail-oriented and aesthetically attuned to present high-quality, modern and effective communications.
    • Ability to translate data and nuanced policy and practice ideas into easily communicated products for diverse audiences.
    • Interest and ability in developing creative strategies to communicate CSSP’s work.
    • Experience developing press strategies and conducting outreach to the media and experience and a successful track record of pitching work and stories to a broad audience including press, partners, and other stakeholders.
    • Outstanding written and oral communications skills.
    • Experience growing and assessing social media channels and executing social media strategy for maximum engagement, particularly for mission-driven non-profits.
    • Experience creating compelling, engaging, creative, and ROI-driven digital content.
    • Fluency and experience in standard Microsoft office tools, design software (Adobe CS/Canva), WordPress or similar, social media management/monitoring tools, Constant Contact or similar.
    • Ability to work independently and under pressure, with multiple projects and competing deadlines under limited timelines.
    • A high level of motivation, creativity, and proactivity.

About CSSP

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is a national, non-profit organization that works to advance antiracist, human-centered policy and practices to support those who face the greatest barriers to well-being and self-determination in a society that is all too often racially, socially, and economically unjust. We work so that one day, all children and their families will thrive in a racially, socially, and economically just society. To do this, we advance anti-racist and just policies and practices in family autonomy, economic justice, and health justice. We are headquartered in Washington, DC, with staff working remotely across the country.

At CSSP, we recognize the long and devastating history of racism and discrimination in our country. Building on our history and foundation in racial justice, we are explicit and absolute in continued our commitment and focus on racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigrant rights, including through strengthening our organizational capacity to do this work in collaboration with community. We are committed to holding anti-racism and intersectionality as core values, doing this work with systems and communities, and including deep historical research as a foundational part of our work developing and advancing programmatic and policy ideas. CSSP is committed to working towards being an anti-racist organization and to identifying and eliminating aspects of White supremacy in our policies and culture.

What We Offer

CSSP offers an annual salary of $80,000 – $100,000 for this position, commensurate with relevant skills and years of experience. We also offer a comprehensive benefits package for all full-time employees, including 100% employer paid medical, dental, and vision plans for employee coverage. Other benefits include 100% employer paid disability and life insurance, a generous paid vacation and holiday schedule including winter and summer breaks, paid parental leave, and 11% employer-paid retirement contributions after one full year of employment. CSSP also provides cell phone and internet stipends, professional development funds, and the ability to work remotely.

How to Apply and Other:

Qualified applicants should send a cover letter and resume to [email protected] (subject: Your Name – Strategic Communications Manager). In your cover letter, please be sure to indicate where you found this position announcement. The interview process will include phone screening, panel style interviews, and final interviews. Finalists will also be asked to participate in a short, written exercise.

Due to the large number of applications, emails and phone calls to CSSP will not be accepted. We will accept applications until January 30th, 2026.

CSSP is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender expression, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status or caregiver status.