Director of Communications and Narrative Strategy - Chicago United for Equity (CUE)

CUE is hiring a Director of Communications and Narrative Strategy to design and lead our work building the case for audacious systems change. 

You should apply if: 

• You’re keenly aware of the power of language. Your speaking and writing demonstrate a clear values-led approach that is compelling to varied audiences. 
• You are a seasoned creative editor who enjoys integrating written, visual, and digital mediums to build greater imagination around what’s possible – and what we should expect from our civic institutions. 
• You find joy in bringing out the best in others. You are excited to work with amazing people, coaching and growing them to achieve collective goals. 
• You earn trust by being real. You’re attentive and empathetic, and people feel your genuine enthusiasm to build together. You hear what’s said, and what’s not said to understand needs and concerns and address them proactively. You say what you mean, and you get back to people with clear answers. You’re quick to read the power dynamics in different spaces and adjust them through your choices to speak, listen, and collaborate to shift power. 

Full description also available here.

About Us 

CUE is a network of racial justice advocates working across diverse types of civic power as organizers, researchers, artists, storytellers, policymakers, and lawyers to redesign Chicago’s civic institutions and transform Chicagoans’ relationship to power. 

Our community envisions a different future – and builds the blueprint to get there. Through our Fellows’ work, we build models for how to shift power in government, philanthropy, research, and other civic institutions. Since 2018, we’ve garnered national recognition for our work developing people-powered voter guides, participatory budgets, and community-led policymaking strategies. 

Position Description 

We are seeking to hire a seasoned communications strategist who will oversee narrative strategy across our organization. This position will be responsible for hiring and growing a communications team, and will report directly to the Executive Director. 

This role launches a second phase of the organization’s growth, as we refine our ability to influence change in Chicago’s civic systems. The position has the unique opportunity to help us tell both a unified story of our work across a wide, thriving network of leaders – and to engage with an ever-growing community of leaders to identify new case studies that can help catalyze greater change across specific civic sectors. 

As such, ideal candidates for this role will be fluent in communications, content, and campaign strategies with experience in digital media, external affairs, advocacy, and/or audience engagement. In alignment with our values, this role will partner with the brilliant strategists in our community to co-create messaging that is authentic and impactful at shaping the ecosystem’s understanding of equity in outcome and process. This role will drive strategy to engage and activate audiences across government, research and academia, philanthropy, media, and Chicago neighborhoods. 

Responsibilities 

1. Design and Lead Narrative Strategies that Inspire Change: 
1. Develop a strategy to increase the visibility of Fellows’ projects with local and national audiences, to increase adoption of the resulting models, frameworks, and key principles 
2. Maintain and expand partnerships with publications, conference partners, and sector-specific platforms to grow organizational visibility and reach. 
2. Grow Leadership to Expand Narrative Capacity: 
1. Develop training to support Fellows, staff, and board members to be confident ambassadors for the organization. 
2. Grow Fellows’ confidence and ownership of their stories and support our Fellows’ in distilling their projects into compelling stories to maximize their impact. 
3. Collaborate with CUE Fellows to set a vision for the annual Equity Playbook, a collection of projects, stories, frameworks, and principles developed and refined during the CUE fellowship program, and lead editing and design to execute a high-caliber final product. 
4. Train and manage Storybank team to ensure our Fellows’ projects are distilled into compelling stories and key messages that instigate change across different audiences 
3. Overseeing all communications to ensure strategic alignment and high-level execution: 
1. Lead development of a cohesive, multi-channel communications strategy for the organization. 
2. Build and manage brand identity development and brand management 
3. Grow CUE’s communications team over the upcoming years, to build out and manage all aspects of the communications strategy, including: website and digital communications, donor and fundraising materials, media and public relations, event promotion and marketing, and maintaining consistent messaging across all parts of the organization. 
4. Oversee narrative portions of grant reporting and other reporting on CUE's impact, including developing an Annual Report in coordination with the CUE staff. 
5. Hire and manage consulting partners to develop an impact evaluation model for the organization 
6. Review, audit, and curate CUE Storybank to continuously grow stories of impact, and develop recommendations for key messages that amplify our vision and values 

Qualifications 

Being effective in this role requires: 

• 7+ years of experience in communications strategy development and managing complex creative projects with staff and contractors, combined with other relevant experiences 
• Strong team manager who enjoys growing staff within in a goal-oriented environment 
• Problem-solver, adaptable and collaborative, quick to adjust as challenges arise 
• High emotional intelligence and diplomacy; ability to quickly build trust and credibility with diverse stakeholders and ability to develop and manage complex relationships 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong attention to detail 
• Adaptability, with demonstrated experience successfully managing both long-term projects and immediate term, emerging day-to-day challenges 
• A reputation for integrity, transparency, and ethical leadership that fosters diverse and inclusive team cultures 
• Strong judgment to think critically about everything we are doing and ensure CUE’s values are infused across all work 

Compensation, Benefits, and Work Structure 

This is a full-time role with an annual salary between $83,000 - $91,000 with health, dental, and vision insurance. 

Full-time positions work a 4-Day Work Week, with a hybrid work model unless required for special events or unforeseen, time-sensitive communications needs. Staff work remotely on Mondays and Wednesdays, and in-office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Staff also have 2 weeks of virtual work available per year, as well as 4 weeks of PTO, and 12 days of sick leave. Additional benefits include professional tools allowance, professional development resources, and internet reimbursement. 

Application Process 

Applications must be submitted here: https://bit.ly/CUEDoCapp Applications submitted through any other medium will not be considered. Application deadline is August 25th. Candidates can expect a response within 2 weeks of submission.