WildEarth Guardians jobs – come work for us!

Communications Director | Wild Places Program Director

Communications Director

Salary Range: $70,000 to $100,000

Location: Flexible within the Western United States with preference given to applicants in Denver, CO, Portland, OR, Missoula, MT

Deadline for Applications: March 8th, 2021 and will be considered on a rolling basis

Are you a Guardian for public lands, waters, and the wildlife that rely on those lands and waters?

Are you a great visual, verbal and written communicator who wants to lead a team that can create compelling communications whether under the pressure of a 24- hour news cycle or with evergreen communications assets? Do you have a passion for all things environmental that you want to proclaim from a rooftop, a short film, news release, or even, with a tweet? Do you possess a special magic that can move varied audiences (elected officials, our membership, the media) to connect to the important work of WildEarth Guardians? If so, this leadership position within our organization may be for you!

ABOUT WILDEARTH GUARDIANS

WildEarth Guardians (Guardians) is a west-wide nonprofit environmental advocacy organization headquartered in Santa Fe, NM with staff in Denver, CO, Missoula, MT, Boise, ID, Seattle, WA, Tucson, AZ, Portland, OR, and Sequim, WA. With a 30-year history of bold environmental action, we wage innovative legal, political, and grassroots campaigns to protect and restore wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and community health in the American West.

POSITION SUMMARY

WildEarth Guardians seeks a Communications Director who will be tasked with leading Guardians’ overall marketing, branding, and media strategy, while managing the daily urgency of the news cycle. A qualified candidate must have the knowledge and skills in values-based story-telling paired with a commitment to the Guardians’ statement on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. The Communications Director, and the team that they lead, will be responsible for collaborating with other organizational staff to produce high-impact communications that influence the social and political narrative about the important national, regional, and local issues in which we are engaged.

The Director will play an integral role in elevating our organization’s profile through the use of innovative and conventional communications strategies and tactics. Guardians and our staff already engage in substantial communications work. The Director will be critical for enhancing the quality and impact of this work to ensure greater success toward meeting organizational goals. In addition, the Communications Director will help to create and communicate the organization’s messages while ensuring brand consistency.

The Communications Director must have the ability to manage staff and interact well with others in a fast-moving, complex organizational ecosystem working with multiple teams and staff across the organization.

Principal Responsibilities:

COMMUNICATIONS WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

• Work with program, fundraising, and communications staff in developing innovative communications;
• Execute an aggressive, creative and integrated earned media strategy working primarily with program and campaign staff;
• Develop visionary and creative approaches to communications that include, but are not limited to, film, radio, print and social media in order to market the organization and our ideas to policy makers, thought leaders and prospective donors;
• Create metrics to evaluate, and evolve existing communications, and manage execution of communications to create momentum and awareness;
• The Director guides and coordinates with program leaders to create communications that fulfill their project goals and reach overarching conservation program goals while building overall brand awareness;
• Ensure that all program, fundraising, and communications materials present a consistent and cohesive brand

STAFF MANAGEMENT:

• Directly supervise the communications team, create a culture of teamwork, support, and professional development, and hold staff accountable to achieving the organization’s strategic goals;

DIGITAL ADVOCACY:

• The Communications Director is responsible for overseeing the organization’s digital strategy and managing a team to build power online to contribute to the success of campaigns;
• Generation of online content for all WildEarth Guardians e-platforms that engages audiences and results in measurable action;
• Determine when to invest in new technologies;
• Decide the best platforms, timing, and methods to disseminate new creative material;
• Mentor and lead a team member responsible for e-platform administration, execution, and coordination. Coordinate e-platform maintenance—ensure that new information (article links, stories, and events) is posted regularly and in a way that builds the brand;
• Evaluate current platforms for efficacy and coordinate with Associate Director to potentially migrate to a different Donor Management Systems;
• Develop and maintain a system to respond to inputs and rapidly send high quality and accurate e-communications appropriately;

PRINT COMMUNICATIONS:

• Creatively imagine, then coordinate and manage the development, distribution, and maintenance of all print collateral including, but not limited to, newsletters, brochures, annual reports, fact sheets etc.;
• Coordinate print and e-communications so one amplifies the other;

FUNDRAISING:

• Assists with organizational fundraising efforts as needed to ensure financial health of the organization;

Additional preferred knowledge and skills include:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, Communications, Marketing/Advertising or related field;
• Five + years of experience in a similar communications, marketing or creative director role;
• Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills;
• A strong track record as an implementer who thrives on managing a variety of key initiatives concurrently;
• Knowledge of conservation issues in the American West;

Compensation and Benefits

WildEarth Guardians offers a friendly and flexible, team-based environment with an excellent benefits package. You have flexibility to select benefits based on your personal preferences, your family situation, and/or your financial objectives. Benefits include full health, vision, dental, life, and disability coverage, a 403(b) retirement plan with a 3% match, paid and un-paid health and family leave, a sabbatical policy, sick leave, three weeks paid vacation to start, and fourteen holidays including your birthday. Salary is negotiable within the identified range based on experience.

TO APPLY

Apply for the position by providing a cover letter, resume, writing sample and three references through the web portal. Cover letters should communicate the applicant’s heartfelt commitment to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. Applicants are encouraged to tell us who they are as human beings, and why they care about this work and are interested in this position.

Applications must be received by March 8th, 2021 and will be considered on a rolling basis.

Please respect our anonymous hiring process, and apply through the web portal rather than contacting Guardians staff directly.  Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

WildEarth Guardians is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, family/marital status, religion or other protected classes. We especially encourage applications from persons of color, women and LGBTQ+ candidates.

JEDI Vision Statement

WildEarth Guardians recognizes that numerous communities continue to be underrepresented in the environmental movement. Lack of access, lack of opportunity, and disparity of power in decisions affecting our shared planet is an injustice. This document represents our commitment to change that state of affairs by changing the culture of our own organization.

As advocates for the health of the natural world, WildEarth Guardians affirms biodiversity, ecological unity, and the interdependence of all life. We believe that diversity, whether of ecosystems, cultures, or peoples, is a strength. We affirm the right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment. We affirm the right to live free from the threat of ecosystem collapse. We recognize this right is not equally realized among all.

We work to ensure that the American West’s landscapes, wildlife, rivers, and climate will be protected so that future generations of people, plants, and animals can thrive in and be nourished by the natural world. We work to ensure that ecosystems will be respected and managed responsibly and sustainably; that the natural and human environment is restored to the benefit of all people and living things; and that no community should bear disproportionate risks of environmental harm due to demographic characteristics or economic conditions.

Power to manage lands and waters is being seized and consolidated by special interests. We must reverse this trend that threatens lands, waters, and Western communities.

WildEarth Guardians commits to becoming a more equitable, just, and inclusive organization. As we engage in this ongoing process, we commit to celebrating diversity, buoying inclusivity, and striving towards equity. We commit to integrity and accountability by continuing to seek out new training opportunities and in nurturing equity and inclusion throughout our organizational practices. We adopt Environmental Justice principles to guide our advocacy and outreach. We strive to confront injustice by welcoming a wide variety of voices as we defend the vulnerable from the powerful. We embrace opportunities to bring together as many people as we can to create a more just, beautiful, and equitable world. We are learning how to better bolster issues of equity while confronting environmental injustice, and we make this solemn promise that our actions will become consistent with our words.

Wild Places Program Director

Salary Range: $70,000-$85,000

Location: Denver, CO, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Missoula, MT or potentially elsewhere for the right person

Deadline for Applications: Review will begin December 2, 2020

Are you a Guardian for public lands, waters, and the wildlife that rely on those lands and waters?

WildEarth Guardians seeks a full-time Director for the Wild Places Program to guide efforts towards meeting our ambitious goals to address the nature crisis by protecting public lands in the American West. The Director will lead our team of smart, energized staff working on innovative and bold campaigns to protect public lands and national forests.  The Director will work with five Wild Places staff to articulate the vision, set goals, plan campaigns, and communicate and support staff in communicating the work.  The Director will inspire, mentor, strategically advise, and supervise a team of powerful advocates. The Program Director will also be responsible for some program work.

ABOUT WILDEARTH GUARDIANS

WildEarth Guardians (Guardians) is a west-wide nonprofit environmental advocacy organization headquartered in Santa Fe, NM with staff in Denver, CO, Missoula, MT, Boise, ID, Seattle, WA, Tucson, AZ, Portland, OR, and Sequim, WA. With a 30-year history of bold environmental action, we wage innovative legal, political, and grassroots campaigns to protect and restore wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and community health in the American West.

The Wild Places Program works to protect and connect the West’s vast landscapes. Working across the west, we employ policy advocacy, litigation, grassroots organizing, communications, and legislative work to further our goals.  The Wild Places program works both defensively and proactively, developing strategies to influence and drive systemic change, and engaging on smaller, place-based projects as well. We will balance sustained focus on long-term campaigns, with nimbleness and agility in order to take advantage of significant opportunities as they arise.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Program Director works closely with the Program’s staff and the Conservation Director to provide both Program vision and strategic and tactical guidance. The Program Director works collaboratively with staff and other Program Directors to develop and implement strategies to protect wild places and the wildlife dependent on the habitat on public lands.  The majority of the program’s current focus is on protecting national forests. The position is supervised by the Conservation Director.

Principal Responsibilities:

• The Program Director hires, supports, supervises and nurtures the talent of the program staff;
• The Program Director works with staff to identify goals, develop work plans and campaign plans and assists in implementing the work;
• The Program Director ensures the Program produces effective, values-driven communications about the work;
• The Program Director works with staff and attorneys to develop, propose, and support legal advocacy;
• The Program Director dreams up and proposes policy solutions for the problems facing wild places in the American West.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Passion for protecting and restoring wild places of the American West;
• Strong relational skills, including ability to connect with and build coalitions with diverse stakeholders;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to translate compelling vision and ideas into action;
• Experience developing and leading campaigns;
• Strong moral compass and tenacity to stand against the tide;
• Analytical, strategic mind and ability to prioritize in a world full of problems, winnow out distractions, recognize and act on opportunities, and anticipate potential future consequences;
• Excitement and skills for managing, developing, and working with the strong advocates in the Program;
• Integrity, kindness, sense of humor, and a healthy sense of outrage.

Additional preferred skills include, but are not limited to:

• 7+ years experience in campaigning and/or environmental advocacy;
• Law degree or deep understanding of relevant laws and how to develop litigation;
• Creative, self-starter with proven ability to work independently and collaboratively;
• Knowledge of and experience with federal, regional, and state environmental policy;
• Comfort using social media platforms;
• Excellent organizational skills to support success in a fast-paced environment with a full workload where it is necessary to balance and prioritize multiple tasks and deadlines.

Compensation and Benefits

WildEarth Guardians offers a friendly and flexible, team-based environment with an excellent benefits package. You have flexibility to select benefits based on your personal preferences, your family situation, and/or your financial objectives. Benefits include full health, vision, dental, life, and disability coverage, a 403(b) retirement plan with a 3% match, paid and un-paid health and family leave, a sabbatical policy, sick leave, three weeks paid vacation to start, and fourteen holidays including your birthday. Salary is negotiable within the identified range based on experience.

TO APPLY

Apply for the position by providing a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and three references through the web portal. Cover letters should communicate the applicant’s heartfelt commitment to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. Applicants are encouraged to tell us who they are as human beings, and why they care about this work and are interested in this position.

We are reviewing applications on a rolling basis and will continue to do so until we fill the position.

JEDI Vision Statement

WildEarth Guardians recognizes that numerous communities continue to be underrepresented in the environmental movement. Lack of access, lack of opportunity, and disparity of power in decisions affecting our shared planet is an injustice. This document represents our commitment to change that state of affairs by changing the culture of our own organization.

As advocates for the health of the natural world, WildEarth Guardians affirms biodiversity, ecological unity, and the interdependence of all life. We believe that diversity, whether of ecosystems, cultures, or peoples, is a strength. We affirm the right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment. We affirm the right to live free from the threat of ecosystem collapse. We recognize this right is not equally realized among all.

We work to ensure that the American West’s landscapes, wildlife, rivers, and climate will be protected so that future generations of people, plants, and animals can thrive in and be nourished by the natural world. We work to ensure that ecosystems will be respected and managed responsibly and sustainably; that the natural and human environment is restored to the benefit of all people and living things; and that no community should bear disproportionate risks of environmental harm due to demographic characteristics or economic conditions.

Power to manage lands and waters is being seized and consolidated by special interests. We must reverse this trend that threatens lands, waters, and Western communities.

WildEarth Guardians commits to becoming a more equitable, just, and inclusive organization. As we engage in this ongoing process, we commit to celebrating diversity, buoying inclusivity, and striving towards equity. We commit to integrity and accountability by continuing to seek out new training opportunities and in nurturing equity and inclusion throughout our organizational practices. We adopt Environmental Justice principles to guide our advocacy and outreach. We strive to confront injustice by welcoming a wide variety of voices as we defend the vulnerable from the powerful. We embrace opportunities to bring together as many people as we can to create a more just, beautiful, and equitable world. We are learning how to better bolster issues of equity while confronting environmental injustice, and we make this solemn promise that our actions will become consistent with our words.

Please respect our blind hiring process, and apply through the web portal rather than contacting Guardians staff directly. Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

WildEarth Guardians is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, family/marital status, religion or other protected classes. We especially encourage applications from persons of color, women and LGBTQ+ candidates.