Communications Manager, full time

Salary: $80,616

Reports to the Director of Public Strategy

Application due April 25, 2025

please apply using this form

The Invisible Institute is seeking a communications manager to shape our external messaging and communicate with the public in a way that reflects our work and values. 

The communication manager will be responsible for expanding the reach of the Invisible Institute’s journalism and helping ensure our work reaches the people most affected by police misconduct and state violence. They will need to understand the fundamental principles of our mission, and then effectively share our work and partnerships to a public audience. We are interested in candidates who will bring creative approaches to digital and in-person outreach while also helping standardize our existing communications systems. The role includes a mixture of maintaining key communications workflows, including our newsletter, social media, and press releases, and helping our team explore new avenues of reaching our core audiences on the South and West Sides of Chicago through print editions, public events, and digital outreach. This position reports to the Invisible Institute’s director of public strategy and also works closely with the director of development and the organization’s program teams. 

Our ideal communications manager will be a confident strategist, but will also have the emotional intelligence to be flexible and resilient as circumstances change. Our work environment is collaborative, dynamic and experimental, and a strong communications manager must be able to work both autonomously and in step with our team. 

This is a hybrid role. We are looking for candidates based in Chicago who are able to work alongside our team at our office in Woodlawn on a regular basis, but we also support regular remote work.

Key Requirements and Responsibilities

Communications Strategy and Content Development (40%)

  • Develop strategy and messaging to support communications and updates to supporters, readers, funders, and other stakeholders as well as promoting our periodic investigations. 

  • Implement a communications plan with well-conceived, segmented strategies to reach priority audiences effectively.

  • Train staff to be effective spokespeople for the work.

  • Develop and maintain excellent relationships with reporters and journalists in local, state and national media.

  • Maintain and expand up-to-date media lists; track press coverage of Invisible Institute.

  • Identify, present, and implement mission aligned opportunities to increase visibility of Invisible Institute’s work to new audiences and deepen engagement with our current audience.

  • Coordinate with the journalism team on outreach plans for major investigations, including in-person and virtual events and print editions.

  • Collaborate with the team on engagement experiments, like our recent effort to pair investigative series with regular community reading groups.

  • With the development director, collaborate in the creation and promotion of materials for special events and campaigns.

  • Maintain the organization's visual identity, style guide, and communications material. 

Website, Email, Newsletter, Social Media (60%)

  • Create social media assets to educate the public about our work and drive new traffic to our investigations. 

  • Supervise management of the Invisible Institute website, including regular page updates, generating new stories and materials, publicizing the website and expanding its outreach.

  • Manage the maintenance and expansion of Invisible Institute social networking channels, including Instagram, Twitter, etc.

  • In collaboration with development staff, execute development campaigns, such as annual fundraising campaign. 

  • In collaboration development director, produce and maintain fundraising materials for donor and foundation meetings.

  • In collaboration with the director of public strategy and program staff, plan and execute the monthly View From the Ground Newsletter. 

Qualifications

Our Communications Manager must have at least 3-4 years of experience with communications work, and:

  • Have excellent communication abilities

  • Be a proactive self-starter with strong work ethic and sound judgment

  • Experience with Google Workspace (Gmail, Google Drive), Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), Canva, Squarespace, and email marketing tools (MailChimp) are essential

The following skills and experience would be useful for the role, but we do not expect a candidate to have all of them. We welcome hearing about other experiences and skill sets that you believe could help you perform this role.

  • Personal experience with policing and the justice system

  • Previous collaboration with journalism, legal advocacy, or organizing work

  • Video editing and photography

  • Experience managing Google Analytics and Ad campaigns

Benefits and Compensation

  • Pay starts at $80,616 with annual cost of living increases. The Invisible Institute uses set tiers of pay for all staff.

  • Four weeks paid time off, plus sick days & family leave.

  • Regular holidays, including team-wide weeks off in August and December.

  • Fully-covered healthcare, dental, and vision.

  • Flexible work schedule, mixed remote and in-person

Application details

Please apply using this form, which includes a series of short questions and a space to upload your resume or CV. A cover letter is not required for this position. People who have experienced policing firsthand are strongly encouraged to apply, and we welcome candidates with a diverse range of identities and experiences. Feel free to reach out to jobs@invisibleinstitute.com with further questions.