Description

Step into a pivotal role where your strategic communications and public relations expertise will shape messaging for Charlotte Latin School. Under the guidance of the Director of Philanthropy, you will lead and articulate our school's narrative, ensuring a consistent, positive, and resonant voice. While the position requires on-site collaboration, some responsibilities can be managed remotely, providing flexibility.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Strategic Communications: Direct and cultivate our overarching communications program to establish a positive, clear image for our community and beyond.

• Strategic Marketing: Collaborate on integrated marketing efforts, from digital campaigns to print media, ensuring the school's voice effectively reaches its target audience. Oversee marketing initiatives, including research, planning, creation of advertising and collateral, and constituent and demographic analysis.

• Messaging: Orchestrate, plan, and implement essential communications, prominently including those for the Head of School. Consistently responsive and attentive to all communications needs of all constituents, including the academic leadership team, board of trustees, faculty, and staff.

• Team Leadership: Champion a team of four, ensuring a harmonized approach to publications, advertising, website, social media, brand identity, and other communication-related tasks. Coach and encourage the professional development of department staff. Develop and monitor the department's annual budget.

• Interdepartmental Collaboration: Engage seamlessly with the admissions, philanthropy, and technology departments to guarantee timely and strategic communication, including but not limited to producing print and electronic publications, internal communications to parents, faculty, and staff, crisis communication, and media relations.

• Public Relations: Cultivate and sustain media relationships, identifying and acting upon effective outreach opportunities for the school.

• Digital Supervision: Oversee the school's online portals, ensuring our website stays updated, user-friendly, and aligned with our messaging goals.

• Brand Stewardship: Steer our brand's direction from initiating market research to ensuring a powerful, unified brand identity.

• Writer/Editor: Supervise the school's primary writer and editor and oversee the school communications manual and style guide.

Role Specifics:

• Publications: Oversee the creation and dissemination of publications, from semiannual magazines to annual reports, admissions, and fundraising materials.
• Internal Communications: Develop an annual plan for efficient, error-free communication of school news and events, including the school's family email newsletters.
• Crisis Communication: Serve as the lead during crises, providing guidance on communication strategies.
• Online Engagement: Guide the online narrative by approving content for the public sections of the school's platforms to ensure effective, state-of-the-art architecture and timely content production.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field; Master’s preferred.

• A minimum of five years in communications or marketing, seven plus years preferred. 

• Independent school experience strongly preferred.

• Proven leadership experience with the ability to inspire and manage a team.

Skills:

• Demonstrable proficiency in written, verbal, and organizational tasks.

• Familiarity with integrated marketing and communications principles are essential.

• Collaborative mindset, complemented by a proactive approach and adaptability.

• Comfort with MS Office, web applications, Adobe Creative Suite, and other related software.

• Knowledge about the role of technology and electronic communication in fundraising is preferred.

• A deep-rooted commitment to enhancing relationships within the CLS community while always upholding professionalism, honesty, and integrity.

• A philosophical alignment with the school's core values and curriculum and instruction, which can be found on our website: www.charlottelatin.org, including a commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Working Conditions and Environment

• Intermittently lift, carry, push, and pull up to 15 pounds.

• Continuously see, sit, balance, grasp, and have repetitive use of arms, wrists, hands, and fingers; and some fine finger dexterity.

• Frequently talk and hear.

• Intermittently stand, stoop, bend, twist, crouch, kneel, crawl, walk, climb stairs and ladders, operate foot and hand controls, squeeze, and reach above shoulders.

• Exposure to dust, chemicals, fumes, flammables, grease, dirt, stacked materials, electrical equipment, machinery, low to medium noise levels, and moderate indoor heat and cold temperatures.

• Long or odd hours, as needed.