Brand and Communications Director

Global Shield is an international non-profit advocacy organization devoted to reducing global catastrophic risk. Global Shield takes a holistic approach, seeking policies that address all forms of global catastrophic risk. Our approach is informed by high-quality policy research and development along with experienced policy advocacy tailored for individual countries.

We are seeking a visionary and highly strategic Brand and Communications Director to build and lead a global brand that compels action on global catastrophic risk.

• Location: Global, working remotely
• Reporting structure: Reports to the Executive Director (based in Washington DC); preference for this person to overlap four regular working hours with Eastern Time. A few times a month, all-team meetings will happen outside of normal working hours to accommodate our international team.
• Position Length: Full time, regular.
• Work Authorization: This position is not eligible for employment visa or work authorization sponsorship.
• Salary: Salary will depend on experience level and location. The salary will be in line with that of a skilled professional in your country with 10-15 years of work experience. We set our global salaries based on local rates in your country.
• Travel requirements: 1-2 times a year for international travel

Application information: Apply here by Sunday, 27 July.

What you’ll be doing:

This role blends the public affairs and media responsibilities of a senior communications director at a mission-driven advocacy group with classic brand and marketing functions, such as brand strategy, development, and management. The primary focus of the role will be to provide communications in support of advocacy campaigns, while also building powerful new channels and partnerships to reach influential stakeholders. The Director will also shape and lead our global brand and storytelling with key audiences. As a key member of Global Shield’s senior leadership team, the Director will shape our global identity, public voice, social media, and strategic communications direction. This is a unique opportunity to shape the policy conversation around the most consequential threats of our time.

Key Responsibilities and Measures of Success

The role will have a diverse set of responsibilities (see Overall Responsibilities). The most critical responsibilities that will form the Director’s primary focus are:

• Provide highly professional communications support to in-country advocacy campaigns on policies we are pursuing to reduce global catastrophic risk
• Build Global Shield into a globally recognized NGO brand, especially where we have country offices
• Plan, manage, and deliver digital and social media strategy

Overall Responsibilities:

Media and public engagement

• Create and implement comprehensive communication plans to support Global Shield’s advocacy campaigns and policy priorities
• Conduct media approaches and build relationships with journalists, podcasters, and other media contacts
• Prepare communications materials for high-level events, media appearances and engagements, including op-eds, keynote speeches, and press releases.
• Support the development of speeches, presentations, and talking points for country directors leading advocacy on global catastrophic risk policy
• Manage the planning and organization of Global Shield-hosted events
• Serve as a primary point of contact for journalists and thought leaders
• Track media coverage related to Global Shield priorities

Brand development and management

• Lead the development and management of Global Shield’s brand identity and positioning, including consistent brand expression across touchpoints and countries
• Craft messaging that inspires action from diverse audiences, including policymakers, business leaders, philanthropists, and civil society actors.
• Develop organization-wide communications, messaging, and narrative strategy
• Set and manage metrics around reach, brand equity, and engagement
• Select, brief, and manage external agencies (creative, PR, digital, design, production) to support brand, marketing, and communications efforts.

Digital and social media

• Promote Global Shield brand across channels
• Manage or oversee website content and design processes
• Lead the development of content drafting and production
• Manage and improve search-engine optimization
• Lead the development of digital campaigns as needed

Storytelling

• Lead the development of a set of narratives and stories about global catastrophic risk and efforts to reduce risk
• Develop innovative formats for storytelling, such as video series, podcasts, or interactive reports, to engage diverse audiences.
• Position Global Shield as a storytelling leader in global risk (e.g. by crafting compelling, accessible narratives that frame global catastrophic risk in ways that drive political action)

Global expansion and new office development

• Develop a communications playbook for staff consistency across markets
• Develop a multilingual communications and content strategy
• Conduct internal training, such as media handling, social media best practices, or message discipline
• Support launch of new country offices in country

What we’re looking for

We are looking for individuals who possess the audacity to tackle global challenges. We want someone who can own and drive the brand to become a globally recognized organization.

Values

Global Shield expects its staff to align with our organizational values. Therefore, the candidate must demonstrate a range of important qualities:

• Audacious
• Influential
• Collaborative
• Creative
• Adaptive

Required Skills and Experience

We expect all of the following skills and experience:

• Brand and marketing experience: 5-10 years in senior marketing, communications, or brand leadership roles, with demonstrated ability to build global brands, support active advocacy campaigns with communications, or lead multi-channel marketing strategies.
• Relationship building: Strong track record of building strategic marketing or brand partnerships, including with external vendors and creative or PR agencies.
• Political communications acumen: Ability to understand global and local political environments and navigate controversial issues
• Communication skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English
• Education: Bachelor’s degree

Desired Skills and Experience

Candidate can also offer the following attributes, but will not be required to do so:

• Advocacy: Strong experience with advocacy campaigns, issue-based communications, or political/public affairs, or non-profits.
  Experience in a start-up, high-growth, or mission-orientated organization: Comfort with ambiguity, independent problem-solving, and building processes from scratch.
• Comfort with hybrid work: Our team is global and much of our day-to-day work is completed from home or other remote work locations.
• Additional language skills: Proficiency in a second language other than English, especially in an official language of the UN, is a plus.

We recognize that this is a unique role, so even if you do not meet all of the desired criteria but believe you have the skills for the job, we strongly encourage you to apply.

As a remote role, candidates can be located anywhere in the world. While we will prioritize fit and experience over location, we strongly encourage candidates from the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa region to apply. Salary will be benchmarked to reflect the experience of a skilled communications or marketing professional with 10–15 years of experience in your country or region.