Director of Communications (Media Relations and PR)

Department: Communications

Position: Director of Communications

Reporting To: Vice President of Communications

Location: Remote for continental U.S. residents; (Office is Located in Washington DC)

Travel: Up to 10% domestic travel to RAINNs Washington DC headquarters as needed.

Position type: Full-Time Exempt

Compensation Range: $130000 $145000 (commensurate with experience).

About This Role

RAINN is looking for a Director of Communications who knows how to develop and land the story build the editorial relationship maximize PR in a partnership and relishes the chase in all three.

This is a role for a sharp instinctive PR and media leader who reads the news in the morning and sees five places RAINN should be in by the afternoon. Someone who picks up the phone after sending a follow-up email. Someone who can spot the cultural or media moment find the angle make the ask and place RAINNs expertise where it matters on the front page in digital pubs on the podcast everyone is talking about in the writers room in the artists lyrics in the athletes post-game interview.

As the nations largest anti-sexual violence organization RAINN is leading some of the most consequential conversations in American life about prevention justice and healing. The director of communications of Public Relations leads RAINNs earned media strategy and is the connective tissue between our programmatic work and the public conversations where it belongs.

You will report to the VP of Communications and partner closely with the Director of Marketing our Content Strategist Creative Director and external PR partners. Youll supervise the Entertainment Partnerships Manager and youll be a builder and coach of RAINNs spokesperson bench. If youve spent your career building a contact list youre proud of and a reputation for getting yes when other people get no this is the job.

What Youll Do

Meet the Story Where It Lives

The job isnt to land in any one kind of outlet its to know which outlet matters for which audience which moment and which goal and to be in the right one at the right time. A Times placement or a Sunday op-ed in the Post establishes credibility with lawmakers funders and institutional partners. A long smart podcast conversation might do more to shift how a younger audience actually thinks about consent. A well-timed Reddit AMA a Mashable explainer a 19th newsroom feature a viral TikTok from a creator weve briefed a thoughtful Vox piece a sharp segment on The Daily a quote in The Athletic during a sports accountability moment a Teen Vogue feature on Take It Down an appearance on Pod Save America or Armchair Expert or The Read an interview with a YouTuber whose audience trusts them in a way no anchor ever could each of these earns RAINN credibility somewhere different and each requires a different kind of pitch a different relationship and a different read of the moment.

From your seat on our education and community pillar build RAINNs PR profile across our three other impact areas and help sift through the noise of activity to find the actual opportunity. Our topics include victim support and services and our role as a secure and healing destination for survivors and allies; public policy and justice and our role as a legislation leader and generator at the state and federal level; consulting and training and our role as an expert in the space of organizational and industry prevention and response. But sexual violence touches all communities and building awareness wherever change is needed is part of the role.

• Identify which platforms move which audiences toward which behaviors and build coverage strategies that match.
• Hunt for and land earned media wherever it serves the mission legacy print and broadcast digital-native publications the podcast ecosystem YouTube and creator channels talk radio newsletters with real subscriber loyalty Reddit and Discord communities where the conversation is already happening and the next platform none of us has heard of yet.
• Build a real working press list not a database but a relationship-base. Know reporters producers hosts and creators by beat by deadline pressure by what theyre chasing. Be the call they take.
• Identify the news pegs and cultural moments where RAINNs expertise is the missing piece and move fast enough to be in the story while its still the story.
• Place op-eds ghostwrite for leadership and pitch original story ideas that journalists actually want to write about sexual violence its challenges and our solutions in prevention justice and healing.

Build the Entertainment Strategy in Team Partnership

RAINNs entertainment work runs as a true three-way partnership and the director of communications of Public Relations is the connective tissue in the middle.

The VP of Communications owns the high-level strategy sets the goals that go to the Board and plays the active senior role in the room the executive who secures the marquee partners makes the calls only an exec can make and aligns entertainment work with RAINNs integrated organizational strategy. The Entertainment Partnerships Manager owns the program as the issue-area expert and the ultimate executor the one with the day-to-day relationships the program playbook and the talent-side hustle.

The director of communications of Public Relations sits between them: turning the VPs strategy into concrete executable objectives supporting the higher-level tactical work and serving as a partner and sounding board to the Entertainment Partnerships Manager as they execute.

• Translate the VP of Communications entertainment vision into clear strategic objectives annual priorities quarterly targets signature moments and partner with the Entertainment Partnerships Manager to build the execution roadmap that gets us there.
• Support the higher-level tactical work alongside the VP: helping shape the asks to top-tier partners sitting in on the meetings where the Directors presence sharpens the strategy and making sure earned media muscle is ready to amplify whatever the partnership produces.
• Consult closely with the Entertainment Partnerships Manager on the day-to-day execution strategy refinement message alignment navigating tricky moments evaluating cross-departmental talent requests and providing the air cover and guardrails that let them build a program with real autonomy.
• Identify culturally resonant moments premieres album drops awards seasons championship runs viral conversations and partner with the Entertainment Partnerships Manager on how RAINN shows up.
• Connect entertainment partnerships to earned-media outcomes: making sure a talent partners moment with RAINN gets the press podcast and platform coverage it deserves and that the story travels well beyond the activation itself.
• Offer strategic guidance for the work of the Entertainment Partnerships Manager as they work directly with talent managers agents publicists studios leagues labels and creator networks. Help them get the meeting make the ask and close the partnership.

Drive Special Projects That Make People Pay Attention

• Conceive and lead signature editorial projects reports original research narratives documentary collaborations podcast series landmark moments that make RAINNs expertise unmissable and give media a reason to come to us.
• Translate RAINNs programmatic work public policy advocacy survivor services data and research into compelling stories that inform engage and inspire action.
• Partner closely with RAINNs Public Policy team to elevate federal and state legislative priorities policy initiatives and advocacy efforts through timely strategic communications that advance RAINNs mission and public impact.
• Support the Vice President of Communications with internal communications and crisis communications.

Prep RAINNs Spokespeople and Be Ready Yourself

• Build and run RAINNs spokesperson bench: train prep and coach the CEO senior leadership victim service and policy experts and survivor advocates to be sharp confident and on-message across broadcast print podcast and digital.

• Develop talking points message frameworks and rapid-response materials that hold up under pressure and sound like a human being not a position paper.

• Run pre-interview prep mock Q&A and post-interview debriefs. Build the muscle so RAINNs experts get better with every hit.

• Be media-ready yourself comfortable on the record on camera and on a hot mic and step in as a spokesperson when the moment the outlet or the topic calls for it.

• Support the VP of Communications in crisis communications management when coordination and cool heads make all the difference.

Expand Editorial and Content Capacity

• Add to the organizations editorial muscle in close partnership with the Senior Manager of Content and Community and Marketing Director sharper press releases faster rapid response better op-eds smarter long-form and a unified voice across every platform.

• Translate complex programmatic legal and clinical material into language that lands with reporters lawmakers and the public.

• Develop and execute integrated communications strategies that advance the visibility and impact of RAINNs federal legislative priorities state policy advocacy efforts and survivor-centered initiatives through earned media executive messaging strategic thought leadership digital storytelling and localized media engagement.
• Federal policy work (Congress federal agencies national legislation)
• State policy work (state legislatures governors attorneys general state-specific survivor laws)

Lead the Team

• Lead mentor and manage performance expectations for the Entertainment Partnerships Manager.

• Engage across the Comms team to measure report and elevate our work in our owned channels and within the organization.

• Mentor team members on strategic instinct relationship building and the craft of getting things placed.

• Build collaborative relationships across programs and support teams so the communications shop is a force multiplier not a service desk.

What You Bring

A PR Operators Track Record

• 10 years of progressive communications experience with a demonstrable record of placed coverage not impressions not reach decks. Stories that ran in places that matter because of you.
• Bachelors degree in Communications Public Relations Journalism Marketing Political Science English or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Existing active relationships with reporters producers podcast hosts and editors.
• A reputation in the room before you walk in.
• Experience managing PR firms and getting more out of them than the SOW promised.

An Appetite for the New Media Landscape

• Fluency across the full earned-media surface area: legacy print and broadcast of course but also podcasts (where the long smart conversations happen) YouTube and creator channels Substack and independent journalism TikTok and short-form and the talk-show late-night and streaming entertainment ecosystem.
• A point of view on which platforms move which audiences and the judgment to know when Pod Save America matters more than the Today show and when it doesnt.

Entertainment Sports or Influencer Chops

• Experience cultivating partnerships with celebrities athletes musicians creators or entertainment industry professionals or a track record that makes clear you would be exceptional at it.
• Comfort working with publicists agents managers and talent and the discretion and judgment to be trusted in those rooms.

A Writer Who Can Really Write

• Outstanding writing across formats pitches that get opened op-eds that get placed press statements that journalists quote talking points that survive contact with a hostile interview.
• An editors eye and a reporters nose. Knows what the story is often before the reporter does.
• Can take dense programmatic legal or research material and make it land.

Media Presence and Coaching Instinct

• On-camera and on-mic confidence comfortable as a spokesperson when needed and able to step in credibly during high-volume news moments.
• Demonstrated experience media-training executives experts or advocates and the instinct to know what makes someone good on air versus what makes them safe.
• Steady under pressure including in crisis communications and rapid-response moments where minutes matter.

Mission Alignment

• A respect for RAINNs mission and a sophisticated understanding or fast-study of sexual violence as a public issue including the care sensitivity and competency required to communicate about trauma and with survivors with integrity.
• The judgment to know when not to chase a moment and the spine to say so.

Technology & Digital Fluency

• Demonstrated technical proficiency in G Suite including the ability to effectively use and manage tools such as Google Drive Google Docs Google Sheets and Google Calendar.
• Comfortable learning and leveraging new communications technologies collaboration platforms and digital tools.

Why Youll Love This Role

If you got into this work because you love the chase the cold call the late-night text from a reporter the moment the segment airs and your phone lights up this is the job for you.

Youll have a real platform: RAINNs expertise is sought by Congress by major newsrooms by Hollywood by athletic leagues and by the public every time sexual violence breaks into the national conversation. Your job is to make sure that when those moments come RAINNs voices are in the story and to create the moments when they dont come on their own.

Youll work alongside policy advocates survivor services experts and a leadership team that will back ambitious bets. And the work itself preventing sexual violence supporting survivors holding institutions accountable is some of the most consequential work you can do with a press list.

Ready to Make a Difference

If youre the kind of communicator who finishes reading a job description and is already thinking about the first three pitches youd send send us your résumé and lets talk.

RAINNs headquarters are based in Washington DC. This position may be based regionally for someone whose residence is within the continental USA. Although this may be a remote role it may require some periodic business travel throughout the continental US and to our DC offices for onsite meetings and workshops.

Remote Work Requirements

RAINN employees are required to have a home office setup with a dependable high-speed internet connection. This must be sufficient to support all job-related tasks including accessing systems communicating with teams and providing uninterrupted hotline services or administrative support.

RAINN offers competitive compensation and a generous benefits package that includes medical dental and vision insurance life insurance employee assistance a 403(b) retirement savings plan paid vacation sick leave paid holidays including a bonus week and free access to the buildings fitness center. RAINN is based in Washington D.C.

When you work at RAINN youre joining a team of experts and professionals who stand up for survivors of sexual violence every day. Your job is important and so are you! RAINN will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race color creed religion national origin sex age individual identity genetic information disability or protected veteran status. RAINN encourages all qualified candidates to apply.

EOE/M/F/D/V

The above is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of the essential functions responsibilities and/or requirements.

Required Experience:

Director