Senior Manager, Communications and Press Secretary

Job Description

Job DescriptionDescription:

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Manager, Communications & Press Secretary (SMCPS) plays a vital leadership role within the Communications and Advancement Department, reporting directly to the Senior Director of Communications (SDC). This position is ideal for a savvy, driven, and media-obsessed communications professional who thrives in a fast-paced, high-stakes political environment and is committed to defending democracy through smart, strategic visibility.

The SCMPS leads the League’s media relations and national press strategy—working aggressively and creatively to grow the League’s visibility, elevate our thought leadership, and work to ensure the League’s presence in national discourse. The successful candidate must have a track record of securing high-impact news coverage, managing relationships with influential journalists, and shaping narratives that break through the noise.

The SMCPS is responsible for identifying and pursuing high-value media opportunities for the League’s CEO and senior leaders, placing them in timely, credible, and influential forums—from national print and broadcast outlets to podcasts, op-eds, and panels. This person must be passionate about and committed to telling the League’s story, unafraid to try bold new outreach strategies, and methodical in building sustained press momentum that reinforces the League’s relevance and influence.

The SMCPS supervises the Manager, Internal Communications, and the Coordinator, Media Relations, and works cross-functionally with staff across various internal departments and with coalition partners. This role requires flexibility and availability outside of standard business hours, including some nights and weekends, to respond to breaking news, media inquiries, and other urgent communications needs. The SMCPS also contributes to broader Communications and Advancement Department goals, leads and executes rapid response needs, and helps maintain message discipline across the organization's network. Strong candidates will be flexible in their workstyle, able to easily adjust to changing priorities, and a team player who can solve problems to meet organizational goals.

The salary range for this position is $110,000-$120,000 annually, based on experience and qualifications.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

· Aggressively pursue visibility opportunities for the CEO and executive leaders, including TV, print, radio, podcast, and social media broadcasts.

· Lead and proactively build media relations to ensure consistent, high-quality coverage of the League’s work, leadership, and priorities across national and regional press with key voting rights and democracy outlets.

· Maintain and grow strong relationships with top-tier reporters, editors, and producers, especially in political, legal, voting rights, and democracy-focused beats.

· Represent League in coalitions and messaging alliances helping shape coordinated media and align communications across the democracy sector.

· Pitch stories and craft strategic media angles that amplify the League’s values, counter disinformation, and connect to current events.

· Prepare and staff national League spokespersons for earned media opportunities at interviews.

· Provide executive media coaching to sharpen message delivery and elevate public presence.

· Coordinate across departments and staff to develop and implement media outreach plans for specific campaigns.

· Supervise and mentor the Media Relations Coordinator and the Internal Communications Manager, ensuring high-quality, aligned work and shared strategy.

· Develop compelling media tools, resources, and templates, including talking points, one-pagers, press releases, op-eds, letters to the editor, communications trainings, and email copy on key League issues.

· Track coverage, evaluate media performance, write and analyze visibility for internal reports, and adjust strategy to meet long-term visibility and positioning goals.

· Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS:

· Bachelor's degree in public relations or a related field

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

· A minimum of eight (8) years of communications experience in campaign advocacy work and/or membership organization. Non-profit experience preferred.

· Background in media relations or strategic communications. Non-profit, political, and/or issue campaign experience desired.

· Excellent writing, editing, and presenting skills.

· Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.

· Established relationships with national media and experience booking spokespersons on cable news.

· Experience supervising personnel.

· Strong ability to work independently, manage projects, and collaborate effectively.

· Ability to work quickly under pressure, meet deadlines, and adapt to a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.

· Knowledge of the League’s core voting rights issues.

· Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) / Office 365 experience preferred

· Familiarity with Cision and Drupal is a plus.

· Commitment to nonpartisanship, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a passion for voting rights.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The person in this position is primarily sedentary and needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access office machinery. The person must also be available to travel to news offices and events. Constantly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, copy machine, computer, and computer printer.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is generally indoors and rarely exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate-to-low.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The League of Women Voters of the United States is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace based on equal opportunity. The League is committed to hiring staff that reflects this country's full range of racial, ethnic, cultural, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic identity, a workplace where true diversity is fostered, and different perspectives are valued and freely exchanged. We encourage women, minorities, and individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities to apply.

This job description will be reviewed periodically as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity. Essential and marginal job functions are subject to modification. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.