State & Regional Press Secretary

Title: State & Regional Press Secretary (Spanish language preferred)

Reports to: Associate Communications Director

Hours: Full-time, Exempt

Location: Washington, DC (candidates working from NY, FL, TX, CA, or CO will be considered)

Led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, GIFFORDS is a nonprofit organization whose team is on a mission to save lives from gun violence. GIFFORDS is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating an environment that celebrates diversity, equity, and inclusion. People of color, trans individuals, gender non-conforming individuals, women, people with differing abilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.

GIFFORDS is seeking a State & Regional Press Secretary to join our team. The State & Regional Press Secretary is an experienced political communications professional and a senior member of the Communications team who will be responsible for promoting our mission, work, and principals across media markets and advancing the gun violence prevention agenda nationally. The position will work closely with the Communications Director and Associate Communications Director to formulate and promote GIFFORDS experts, research, and messaging to journalists across the country. It will play an important role in the expansion of GIFFORDS’ State Initiative work as the organization establishes additional state-based programs.

This is a full-time position ideally based in our Washington, DC office. This position requires evening and weekend work as well as interest and ability to travel up to 25% of the time. GIFFORDS requires all staff members to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with limited exemptions as required by federal and state law.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Due to the high volume of applicants, no phone calls or emails, please. 

Duties Responsibilities:

• Proactively identifies opportunities to build the profile of GIFFORDS, our policy priorities, and our founder, senior leadership, and surrogates in key states 
• Pitches GIFFORDS spokespeople for local TV, radio, and digital opportunities on an ongoing basis and ensures principals are fully briefed for interviews
• Serves as a senior member of the Communications team and helps develop the overall strategic vision for the organization’s communications program
• Handles all incoming state-based media requests, evaluating whether or not the organization should engage and who the right spokesperson should be
• Works closely with the Political and State Initiatives departments to form and execute state-by-state strategies
• Serves as a core member of the rapid response team, working with the Communications Director and Associate Communications Director to coordinate statements and external-facing materials
• Leads planning and coordination of all local and regional press events
• Helps create external press communications materials, including statements, press releases, press notes, memos, and op-eds
• Helps oversee media associates and relevant external consultants working on earned media
• Serves as an on-the-record spokesperson for the organization
• Support GIFFORDS internal inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism (IDEA) work
• Other duties as assigned

Required knowledge, skills experience:

• Minimum of five years of experience in media and/or communications; candidates with experience on political campaigns, party committees, PACs, or Capitol Hill are preferred
• Experience in forging and maintaining media contacts/relationships, especially with reporters focused on politics
• On-the-record spokesperson experience
• Experience with and affinity for rapid response, fast-paced environment
• Experience preparing and staffing an elected official (or other high-profile principal) for media interviews
• Strong political and earned media instincts
• Outstanding oral, written, communication, and presentation skills
• Entrepreneurial spirit; strong creative-thinking and problem-solving skills
• Superior time management and attention to detail
• Willingness to monitor media requests outside of typical work hours 
• An ability and willingness to travel up to 25% of the time
• Experience messaging with cultural competency and has the ability to examine GIFFORDS media and communications materials through an equity and inclusion lens
• Comfort working in a moderate political environment with bi-partisan and centrist constituencies.
• Commitment to ending America’s gun violence epidemic through effective engagement of gun owners.

Valued non-essential knowledge, skills, experience

• Spanish fluency
• Comfort with engaging with the issue on social media
• Experience working with media in many states
• Experience working for an issue advocacy organization

Salary benefits

The salary range for this position is $107,000 - $128,000 annually, with the exact salary depending on experience. Competitive benefits include employer-funded health, dental, and vision insurance; health, transit, and parking flexible spending accounts; 401k plan with 4% employer match; 25 days of PTO annually plus paid week vacation between Christmas and New Year’s; and ten paid federal holidays.

Applying the interview process

Submit your resume and a short writing sample (i.e., a press release or an op-ed). Our interview process for this position consists of a phone interview, a video interview, a writing exercise, a final interview, reference checks, and a background check.