Communications & Brand Strategy Manager

Social Justice Learning Institute•Inglewood, CA

3d•$88,000 - $88,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Communications & Brand Strategy Manager leads the strategic direction of communications, narrative development, and brand positioning for the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI). This role ensures that SJLI’s public voice, storytelling, and visual presence reflect the organization’s mission, values, and growing national influence. Working across departments and regions, the Communications & Brand Strategy Manager translates SJLI’s work in education equity, health in the built environment, youth leadership, and community power into clear, compelling narratives that resonate with key audiences including community members, partners, funders, policymakers, and the broader public. This role oversees the organization’s communications pipeline—from narrative development and campaign strategy to storytelling and digital distribution. The manager ensures that SJLI’s communications remain consistent, culturally grounded, and responsive to a rapidly changing social, political, and media landscape. The Communications & Brand Strategy Manager supervises a small communications team responsible for storytelling, design, and digital platforms. Together, this team ensures that SJLI’s work is visible, understood, and positioned to inspire action, investment, and long-term impact. The ideal candidate is both a strategic communicator and narrative leader who understands how storytelling, media, brand, and public messaging work together to strengthen movements, amplify community voices, and advance social change.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience in communications, marketing, public relations, or related fields; nonprofit experience preferred.
Demonstrated experience developing and implementing strategic communications initiatives.
Exceptional writing, editing, and storytelling skills with the ability to translate complex ideas into accessible narratives.
Experience managing media relationships and securing press opportunities.
Ability to translate complex ideas and programmatic work into compelling narratives.
Experience leveraging data to drive program improvements and demonstrate impact.
Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
Experience leading or collaborating within small communications teams.
Commitment to social justice, equity, and community-centered storytelling.
Strong emotional intelligence, cultural humility, and the ability to collaborate across diverse teams.
Valid driver’s license and ability to attend SJLI programs (in each region as needed), community events, and partner activations as needed to manage content capture as needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience working within nonprofit, advocacy, or youth-serving organizations.
Experience supporting executive communications or public-facing leadership.
Familiarity with digital communications platforms and campaign strategy.
Comfort working in fast-paced environments with evolving priorities.
Experience collaborating across departments to support organizational initiatives.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead SJLI’s comprehensive communications strategy aligned with the organization’s mission, strategic priorities, and programmatic initiatives.
Shape and steward SJLI’s institutional narrative, ensuring that the organization’s work is communicated in ways that are clear, compelling, and rooted in community voice.
Translate complex programmatic work into accessible public messaging that reflects the depth and impact of SJLI’s initiatives.
Identify opportunities to position SJLI within broader public conversations related to education equity, community health, youth leadership & advocacy, and systems change.
Work closely with executive leadership to align communications priorities with organizational strategy, fundraising goals & aspirations and external engagement.
Establish messaging frameworks that ensure consistency across all public communications.
Serve as the steward of SJLI’s brand identity, ensuring that messaging, tone, and visual presentation remain consistent and aligned across all platforms and materials.
Guide the ongoing development of SJLI’s brand presence as the organization grows in scale, influence, and public visibility.
Oversee the development of major communications materials including reports, presentations, publications, and campaign assets.
Maintain and evolve brand guidelines, messaging frameworks, and communications templates.
Ensure the organization presents a cohesive and professional presence across digital platforms, public materials, and partner collaborations.
Provide strategic oversight for SJLI’s website, ensuring that messaging, storytelling, and featured content reflect organizational priorities, campaigns, and institutional narrative.
Lead communications planning for major organizational initiatives, campaigns, and milestones.
Develop and manage the execution of messaging strategies and communications plans for fundraising (including capital campaign) campaigns, community initiatives, and public awareness efforts.
Collaborate with the Development team to support donor communications, institutional storytelling, and philanthropic engagement.
Coordinate communications efforts for key organizational events, announcements, and strategic moments.
Ensure that campaign communications reflect both strategic goals and authentic community voice.
Working with Executive Leadership to managing communications responses during politically sensitive moments or public issues affecting the organization or the communities it serves.
Identify opportunities to leverage the SJLI website as a key platform for campaign communications, storytelling, and public engagement.
Lead media engagement efforts that expand SJLI’s visibility and position the organization as a thought leader in social justice, youth leadership, health in the built environment and community-driven change.
Develop and manage execution of multimodal communication strategies for SJLI to amplify its work including but not limited to podcasting, docustyle content curation, and more.
Build and maintain relationships with journalists, media outlets, and strategic communications partners.
Identify and secure opportunities for media features, interviews, opinion pieces, and other public-facing opportunities.
Support executive leadership in preparing for media appearances, public remarks, and external communications opportunities.
Track media engagement and visibility metrics to evaluate communications impact.
Serve as the organization’s editorial lead, ensuring that all external communications maintain a high standard of clarity, accuracy, and storytelling quality.
Provide editorial oversight and copyediting for key communications materials including reports, campaign materials, and publications.
Guide the development of story pipelines that elevate youth voices, community impact, and organizational milestones.
Ensure that communications reflect SJLI’s values of equity, authenticity, and community-centered storytelling.
Supervise the communications team responsible for storytelling, design, multimodal and digital communications.
Provide strategic direction for content development, digital engagement, and visual storytelling efforts.
Collaborate closely with program teams to identify impactful stories that illustrate SJLI’s work and community partnerships.
Support staff across the organization in aligning external communications with SJLI’s messaging and brand standards.
Foster collaboration between communications, development, and program teams to ensure coordinated storytelling and messaging.