What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director, Marketing & Communications position at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee?
We are hiring for a full-time Director, Marketing & Communications to join the External Affairs Department at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.
Who we are: For nearly 50 years, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee has dedicated itself to nourishing and empowering their neighbors so they can thrive. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Second Harvest implements sustainable solutions to food insecurity through a strategically selected network of more than 600 partners across 46 counties in Middle and West Tennessee. Our partners include food pantries, congregate meal sites, shelters, childcare facilities, senior centers, group homes, and youth enrichment programs. For more information about Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, its mission, and programs, please visit secondharvestmidtn.org.
What you’ll do:
Summary: The Director of Marketing & Communications leads brand strategy, integrated fundraising campaigns, events marketing, design operations, donor communications, and external partnerships for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee — the state’s largest hunger relief organization. This role sits at the intersection of fundraising, programs, and external relations within the External Affairs department. The Director manages a team of three direct reports and serves as the primary relationship lead for all paid media, public relations, direct response, website, and creative agency partners. This position supports and fosters our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, which is the foundation for creating a culture of belonging for all personnel.
Key Responsibilities:
Marketing Strategy
When & Where:
Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM. Occasional duties may be necessary, as well as responding to issues, outside of normal working hours (e.g., disaster response, community events, etc.).
Travel: Occasional daytime travel required, up to 5% of work week.
Flexibility: Our flexible work program is a strategic tool to achieve organizational goals, empower employees to do their best work and foster engagement by supporting high performance, business continuity as well as wellbeing and work-life-balance. WorkFlex arrangements are complex and specific to individuals and roles.
Essential business/ first responder: In instances of a federal, state or locally declared emergency, Second Harvest is typically considered an essential business service and emergency responder. All employees may be required to perform regular or emergent duties on-site. Employee safety is balanced with business and community necessity. Some positions are more likely to be required on-site than others.
Is this you?
Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Communications, or related areas required.
Experience: 5 years proven experience in developing and implementing innovative marketing and communications strategies in complex organizations. Experience in fundraising is preferred.
Skills & Capabilities:
Other requirements: Our pre-hire process requires acceptable results from the following: professional reference feedback, criminal background, and Motor Vehicle Record. Current Driver’s License and automobile insurance are also required. Criminal backgrounds are evaluated on a case-by-case basis considering several factors (timing, frequency, severity and job relation).
What Second Harvest has to offer:
Work with a purpose: As one of middle Tennessee’s largest nonprofits, our local hunger relief work is uniquely rewarding, hands on and solutions oriented. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results. A career with Second Harvest ensures that you not only earn a paycheck, but also help your local community through meaningful work. If you are passionate about serving your neighbors in need and are committed to our mission of ending hunger, we invite you to join our 120 person team in the fight against hunger, as we work to achieve our vision of a hunger free community.
Award winning workplace: we are a best-in-class workplace because we are passionate and people focused – we listen, respect, care and challenge each other, so that our neighbors can count on us. Our employees have identified us among The Tennessean’s Top Workplaces based solely on employee surveys and feedback. There is ample opportunity to be engaged, have work-life-balance and grow with Second Harvest.
Compensation & Benefits: Second Harvest is proud to offer rich and affordable total compensation packages. Full-time employment includes 34 days off, medical (employee-only is 100% employer paid), dental, vision, 403b retirement (up to 3% match, 5% base, length of service vesting), disability insurance (short and long term) and long-term care insurance.
DEIB & Equal Employment Opportunity: Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee provides equal employment to all applicants and employees based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We do not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. We believe that inclusion and belonging strengthen our team, drive innovation, and enhance our ability to serve our community.
Who we are: For nearly 50 years, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee has dedicated itself to nourishing and empowering their neighbors so they can thrive. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Second Harvest implements sustainable solutions to food insecurity through a strategically selected network of more than 600 partners across 46 counties in Middle and West Tennessee. Our partners include food pantries, congregate meal sites, shelters, childcare facilities, senior centers, group homes, and youth enrichment programs. For more information about Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, its mission, and programs, please visit secondharvestmidtn.org.
What you’ll do:
Summary: The Director of Marketing & Communications leads brand strategy, integrated fundraising campaigns, events marketing, design operations, donor communications, and external partnerships for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee — the state’s largest hunger relief organization. This role sits at the intersection of fundraising, programs, and external relations within the External Affairs department. The Director manages a team of three direct reports and serves as the primary relationship lead for all paid media, public relations, direct response, website, and creative agency partners. This position supports and fosters our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, which is the foundation for creating a culture of belonging for all personnel.
Key Responsibilities:
Marketing Strategy
- Conceive, coordinate, and implement high-level integrated, multi-channel campaigns around marketing, fundraising, and general brand awareness that clearly position the organization as a leader in hunger-relief while supporting the organization’s fundraising and programmatic goals. Own the Marketing Operations Plan process for each signature campaign — serving as the single source of truth for campaign details, messaging, timelines, and channel-by-channel execution. Establish clear goals, benchmarks, deliverables, and metrics to monitor progress and evaluate success.
- Direct strategic brand initiatives, ensure brand consistency in all Second Harvest programs and communications, and manage cross-functional efforts related to furthering the mission of Second Harvest.
- Build and maintain relationships with vendors to provide added value and develop savings opportunities in the areas of advertising, creative and printing, that don’t reduce the quality or caliber of campaigns.
- Develop and manage the annual marketing budget, including monthly expense tracking, invoice approvals, vendor spend management, annual budget planning, and income budget coordination with Finance and direct response partners. Own the RKD contract renewal process, which requires CEO approval.
- Oversee the development, launch, and ongoing management of consumer-facing product brands, including the organization’s retail grocery brand (Simple Goodness), encompassing packaging, retail positioning, brand voice, and creative direction in partnership with external creative agencies.
- Lead physical environment and wayfinding branding efforts across organizational facilities, ensuring signage, environmental graphics, and spatial identity systems align with and reinforce the Second Harvest brand experience. Manage agency partnerships and cross-functional coordination to execute wayfinding projects from concept through installation.
- Steward the organization’s overall brand integrity by maintaining and evolving the Brand and Language Guide, enforcing brand standards across all internal and external channels, managing approvals for external-facing materials, and providing guidance to staff and partner agencies on appropriate brand usage.
- Set organizational strategy and revenue goals for all direct response fundraising programs — including direct mail, email, digital advertising, and multi-channel campaigns — and hold accountability for annual and multi-year direct response revenue targets. Partner with the Senior Marketing Strategist, who manages day-to-day direct response execution, to ensure all programs are optimized toward defined performance metrics and growth goals.
- Provide strategic leadership in developing responsive, innovative approaches to fundraising challenges, identifying new opportunities for program and revenue growth, and ensuring all campaigns have clearly defined success metrics and measurement plans prior to launch.
- Oversee publicity and media relations efforts to promote the organization, its executives, and subject matter experts on issues relating to hunger in America, increasing brand awareness across the 46-county service area. Support the Manager, Media & Communications in executing day-to-day earned media and PR strategy.
- Position organizational leadership as thought leaders on hunger relief, food insecurity, and related policy issues through media placements, speaking opportunities, and external communications.
- Lead the planning and execution of six signature fundraising and awareness campaigns per fiscal year — Power of ONE, Holiday, Nutrition Month, Hunger Free Summer, Generous Helpings/Chefs’ Dinner, and Stars for Second Harvest — managing multi-channel strategies across direct response, earned media, paid media, social, and cross-functional activation simultaneously. Maintain year-over-year campaign performance benchmarking and lead post-campaign debrief presentations to EA leadership.
- Direct the marketing and production of signature fundraising events, including Generous Helpings, Chefs’ Dinner, Stars for Second Harvest, Ode to Otha, and Sunset Soirée. Oversee ticket sales strategy, sponsorship fulfillment, creative asset production, and media placements for each event. Manage event ticketing through Luminate and Eventbrite platforms.
- Manage the end-to-end campaign sponsorship process as it relates to creative deliverables — coordinating logo collection, designer assignments, sponsor review windows, and final approvals on a non-negotiable timeline tied to media partner submission deadlines.
- Manage all freelance designer relationships directly, including assignments, creative briefs, feedback, approvals, and invoicing. Maintain the Campaign Assets Specs and Deadlines file as the single source of truth for all design deliverables across campaigns and events. All final assets require Director approval before going live, being submitted to a media partner, or going to print.
- Produce a range of donor-facing and board-level materials directly, including program-specific donor one-pagers, CEO and board presentation decks, impact reports and summaries, and quarterly KPI recaps. Oversee production of the Annual Impact Report in partnership with the print vendor.
- Manage all paid media, public relations, direct response, website, creative, print, and apparel vendor relationships. Serve as the primary point of contact and strategic lead for agency partners including Finn Partners (paid media and PR), RKD (direct response and donor stewardship), Cathexis Partners (website and Luminate), and freelance design vendors. Oversee vendor performance, scope, and contract renewals in partnership with the CEO and Finance.
- Lead the Marketing and Communications team with both oversight and hands-on support in developing and implementing creative and marketing projects, direct response marketing and fundraising, content strategy, branding and advertising.
- Manage and develop direct reports to a sustained high level of performance through coaching, mentorship, and other team building practices to ensure that they continue to acquire new skills as well as enhancing current skills. Conduct quarterly performance reviews and goal-tracking through PerformYard, and facilitate an annual planning offsite to align the team on campaign strategy, individual goals, and the fiscal year calendar.
- Lead recurring cross-functional meetings with Development, Community Impact, and Food Resourcing departments to align on campaigns, donor communications, neighbor stories, program updates, and shared organizational priorities.
- Manage the organization’s internal marketing request intake process and serve as the primary internal communications lead for the Marketing & Communications department, including posting campaign updates, press coverage highlights, and KPI recaps to the organizational intranet (WorkVivo)
When & Where:
Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM. Occasional duties may be necessary, as well as responding to issues, outside of normal working hours (e.g., disaster response, community events, etc.).
Travel: Occasional daytime travel required, up to 5% of work week.
Flexibility: Our flexible work program is a strategic tool to achieve organizational goals, empower employees to do their best work and foster engagement by supporting high performance, business continuity as well as wellbeing and work-life-balance. WorkFlex arrangements are complex and specific to individuals and roles.
Essential business/ first responder: In instances of a federal, state or locally declared emergency, Second Harvest is typically considered an essential business service and emergency responder. All employees may be required to perform regular or emergent duties on-site. Employee safety is balanced with business and community necessity. Some positions are more likely to be required on-site than others.
Is this you?
Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Communications, or related areas required.
Experience: 5 years proven experience in developing and implementing innovative marketing and communications strategies in complex organizations. Experience in fundraising is preferred.
Skills & Capabilities:
- Strategic and results-oriented leader who can translate business and operations plans into marketing and communications strategies.
- Strong understanding of direct response fundraising strategies and best practices with the ability to effectively set goals and provide oversight for the management of projects and expectations.
- Tactical and creative thinker who can effectively and constructively lead Second Harvest to consider new and innovative approaches to targeting and engaging new stakeholder groups, as well as branding and partnership development.
- Proven collaborator and influencer who can serve the needs of internal and external stakeholders, has proven ability to ‘manage-up’, and can lead interdepartmental initiatives to collectively accomplish organizational objectives.
- Sets priorities and execute against them, while also seeing to immediate organizational needs.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to step into an unfamiliar situation and add immediate value.
- Flexible and adaptable learner who is comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty and can lead and develop teams in a dynamic environment.
- Uses data to conceptualize and analyze problems and solutions and identify key metrics that will help the organization work towards strategic objectives.
- Technologically proficient in digital marketing tools, CRM tools, and fundraising software such as Blackbaud’s Luminate Online, Raiser’s Edge, or similar software.
- Superior verbal and written communication skills with the ability to generate high level content and oversee staff in the creation of content.
- Knowledge of Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, and standard office programs including Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Knowledge/understanding of the nonprofit sector relating to hunger issues.
- Demonstrated business acumen, including experience of budgeting and resourcing.
Other requirements: Our pre-hire process requires acceptable results from the following: professional reference feedback, criminal background, and Motor Vehicle Record. Current Driver’s License and automobile insurance are also required. Criminal backgrounds are evaluated on a case-by-case basis considering several factors (timing, frequency, severity and job relation).
What Second Harvest has to offer:
Work with a purpose: As one of middle Tennessee’s largest nonprofits, our local hunger relief work is uniquely rewarding, hands on and solutions oriented. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results. A career with Second Harvest ensures that you not only earn a paycheck, but also help your local community through meaningful work. If you are passionate about serving your neighbors in need and are committed to our mission of ending hunger, we invite you to join our 120 person team in the fight against hunger, as we work to achieve our vision of a hunger free community.
Award winning workplace: we are a best-in-class workplace because we are passionate and people focused – we listen, respect, care and challenge each other, so that our neighbors can count on us. Our employees have identified us among The Tennessean’s Top Workplaces based solely on employee surveys and feedback. There is ample opportunity to be engaged, have work-life-balance and grow with Second Harvest.
Compensation & Benefits: Second Harvest is proud to offer rich and affordable total compensation packages. Full-time employment includes 34 days off, medical (employee-only is 100% employer paid), dental, vision, 403b retirement (up to 3% match, 5% base, length of service vesting), disability insurance (short and long term) and long-term care insurance.
DEIB & Equal Employment Opportunity: Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee provides equal employment to all applicants and employees based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We do not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. We believe that inclusion and belonging strengthen our team, drive innovation, and enhance our ability to serve our community.