Director of Media and Press Relations

The take-away

Ready to take on some of the most powerful forces in our society? We’re looking for a Director of Media and Press Relations to join a fierce, smart team challenging global corporations, holding them accountable, and creating a world where all people can thrive.

Why you’ll love coming to work every day

You’ll help change the world by being part of fearless and winning campaigns. You’ll be joining an organization that’s not satisfied with the world as it is—and has a vision for how it should be. When your quest is ending corporate abuse, you can’t be afraid to name names and demand what the world needs. For more than 40 years, we’ve been exposing and challenging the abuses of the likes of Nestlé, Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris International, McDonald’s, and more. We don’t back down, and we run campaigns until we win.

You’ll work with awesome people. Join a team of passionate, kind, determined, optimistic, and solutions-oriented folks. We work hard, celebrate victories large and small, and always have each other’s backs.

You can take on big responsibilities as you go. You’ll thrive here as you develop new skills, tackle new challenges, learn, and grow. We pay lots of attention to building staff leadership, and we provide support and training to help you grow in your role.

You’ll be part of an organization committed to advancing racial equity and transforming systems of oppression. We are deeply committed to prioritizing the leadership of people who bear the brunt of corporate abuse: Black and Indigenous people and other people of color, women, low-income people, people in the Global South, and LGBTQ+ folks around the world. Our unique culture has been fostered by a long history of women at the helm. We are actively focusing on the leadership of our staff of color, knowing we are stronger when the organization reflects the vision of the world we’re building together.

What you’ll do

For more than four decades, Corporate Accountability has moved millions of people to challenge corporate power through hard-hitting campaigns that achieve victories for health, human rights, democracy, and the planet. We do this by, among other strategies, exposing corporate abuse, shifting the public climate, and mobilizing people to take action. The media plays a key role in each of these strategies.

That’s where you come in. We’re looking for someone to lead our media program to reach people all over the world and motivate them to take action with us. You’ll develop our media strategy, drafting compelling messaging and communications materials that shift the narrative on issues from climate change and water privatization to food and tobacco industry abuses. You’ll build and deepen strong reciprocal relationships with reporters; build a spokesperson program from among our team, allies, and broader community; and develop relationships with influencers to help our messaging and analysis reach a wider audience. You’ll do it all in partnership with a broad, cross-organizational team. And in so doing, you will continue to build widespread awareness of the organization, our mission, and our 45-year track record of success in curbing corporate power.

Who you are

• The rampant abuses of corporations and the outrageous amount of power they have make you mad as hell—and you want to do something about it.

• You have a commitment to advancing racial equity and ending systems of oppression, and are ready to do this in your day-to-day work. You understand that campaigning for justice must include working to dismantle white supremacy, institutional racism, colonialism, and anti-Blackness.

• You are adept at securing media. You can secure, collaboratively and independently, media coverage that reaches a broad range of audiences, including reporters, government delegates, corporate executives, and grassroots organizers—depending on the strategy.

• You are a tenacious communicator and organizer to your core. You thrive on building authentic relationships with journalists, editors, and influencers. You’ve got hours of media pitching under your belt, and are always ready to hop on the phone to pitch a reporter on their next big story—or meet them for coffee, or slide into their social media DMs. You can build relationships with integrity and build power for global change with people from diverse backgrounds.

• You are a top-notch writer and skilled editor. You're fluent in framing and messaging best practices, such as the Race Class Gender Narrative framework, and can harness them to move people to take action and create change.

• Communications is at the heart of your theory of change, and you know good planning is at the heart of good communications. You understand that strategic planning is essential to success, and you have experience creating, implementing, and leading others to implement both short- and long-term plans. 

• You are a great supervisor. You lead with compassion, managing and collaborating with staff toward goals, and encouraging people to lead from their positions.

• You keep up to date with global media standards, and are always thinking outside the box. You creatively bridge traditional and new media, including social media, and are excited to to step into this role to further bring Corporate Accountability’s work to new multimedia platforms.

• You have at least 6 years of experience in organizing, communications, or other relevant fields.

What you’ll be responsible for in the day-to-day

• Play a leading role in securing media coverage for the organization through ongoing, active media pitching and reporter cultivation.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with reporters and thought leaders—whether that’s grabbing a coffee (virtually or in person), talking on the phone, commenting on their social media posts, or anything in between.

• Develop regionally and culturally appropriate media messaging and materials, ranging from media memos and press releases to in-depth analysis and reports (in partnership with the Research team) to reach a variety of audiences from the U.S. to the Global South through the media.

• Lead effective planning processes to develop both short- and long-term media plans, including assessing and employing innovative traditional and new media strategies in coordination with our campaigns and digital teams. 

• Lead other staff and support allies in securing media coverage and building relationships, including by running an effective spokesperson training program.

• Plan and run successful media events ranging from press conferences to report launches to creative visibility and pressure actions.

• Track media relationships and impact by developing and maintaining press lists and using Meltwater’s media database and monitoring to track and analyze impact.

• Create and oversee the yearly media team budget. 
• Travel 2 - 5 times each year to represent Corporate Accountability at major campaign events, press conferences or visibility actions, in-person planning sessions or team meetings, and/or rapid-response media opportunities. Our current approach to travel is staff-led, meaning we will continue to center the health and safety of our staff in these decisions.
• Actively participate in organization-wide planning, fundraising, racial equity work, recruitment, and campaign activities. 

Salary and benefits:

Hours: Corporate Accountability’s full-time staff generally work 32 hours per week, with periods of more intensive work that correspond with the ebb and flow nature of campaigns or projects throughout the year. 

Our core hours are 10 am - 4 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with flexibility to determine your remaining hours of the week in coordination with your supervisor and team. Given the nature of campaigning, rapid response moments, and working with organizers and activists at an international organization, there will be instances where you would need to be available outside of standard business hours.

Benefits: Our comprehensive benefit package includes: 

• Health insurance (with 90% of the premium for all tiers covered by the organization) and dental coverage (with 100% of the individual premium covered by the organization); Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options for transit, health care, and dependent care; voluntary life insurance; an employee assistance program; and 401(k) with employer match.
• Generous time off policies including one month of personal vacation time, one week of office closure for collective rest, holidays, and unlimited wellness days to prioritize health.
• $40/month home office stipend with $250 provided at the time of hire to go towards setting up a home office.
• Both internal and external training and leadership development opportunities.

Salary: $80,000

Location:

Remote based role with the expectation of travel as listed above.

We are looking for great candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. If you don’t exactly fit the job description, but you know you have skills and experiences that are transferable to this position, please apply! Tell us about yourself and why you should be our next Director of Media and Press Relations.

To apply: Visit www.corporateaccountability.org/employment-opportunities. Attach your résumé to the online application and include a cover letter, press release sample, and second writing sample of your choosing. Please include where you heard about the position. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and our current capacity to process applications, we will be responding on a rolling basis and therefore might take between 2 – 4 weeks to respond to your application.

Corporate Accountability stops transnational corporations from devastating democracy, perpetuating systemic racism, trampling human rights, and destroying our planet. We are building a world rooted in justice where corporations answer to people, not the other way around -- a world where every person has access to clean water, healthy food, a safe place to live, and the opportunity to reach their full human potential.

Corporate Accountability is an equal opportunity employer and an inclusive organization. Black and Indigenous people and other people of color, women, nonbinary people, LGBTQ+ and disabled folks are strongly encouraged to apply. Join more than 60 smart and driven staff and interns working in this dynamic organization with a powerful network of members and allies around the world.