Associate Director - Communications

Organization: The Midtown Association (MA) is a non-profit organization that is making Midtown the center for culture, creativity, and vibrancy in Sacramento's urban core. We were recently selected by our team and the Sacramento Business Journal as one of the Best Places to Work in Sacramento.
Organizational Stability: MA was founded in 1985 and has secure funding through a property tax assessment. Many of the members of the board and the Executive Director have served the organization for more than ten years. The organization receives positive independent external audits on an annual basis and has experienced 20% year-over-year growth over the last four years.
Our Values:

• Integrity: Having incredibly high standards for ourselves and our company to perform at the highest level possible in service to our stakeholders.
• Responsiveness: Always closing out every internal and external request professionally and completely, offering thoughtful and empathetic customer service, and providing proof of high performance to our stakeholders at the end of tasks and projects.
• Celebrating Growth: Continually investing in the growth of individual employees, the cohesiveness of the team, the company as a whole, and therefore Midtown's growth, and celebrating each step along the way.
• Collaboration: Always being willing to step forward and help our colleagues and our stakeholders.
• Resiliency & Resourcefulness: Acknowledging that the work of the Midtown Association is ever evolving and finding creative solutions to new challenges as they arise.
• Efficiency & Transparency Through Technology: Creating efficient, transparent, and nearly automated processes that link company goals to all tasks through well-managed technology.
• Be a politically astute, strategic thinker with a proven ability to design a successful communications strategy.
• Be familiar with digital tools and tactics, including Facebook Business Manager, Google Ads, geofencing, and keyword advertising.

Our Culture: The MA is a small but mighty office of twenty-five governed by a board of twenty-seven artistic, fast-paced, and innovative property and business owners. We attract high-performing, highly ethical employees who truly care about their community. Our team works well together because we hold ourselves accountable to strong project management and complement one another's strengths. We really enjoy what we do and find ourselves laughing and joking often. Our office is a beautiful modern storefront with open-air meeting space, natural light, room for bike storage and more than 20 restaurants/coffee shops/bars within two blocks. Our office is business/business casual attire.
Position Summary: The Associate Director of Communications leads the organization's communications strategy, including media relations, electronic and digital communications, community committees, and presentations. The communications strategy supports the organization's strategic plan and drives action on key advocacy priorities, ensures strong participation in community events and committee meetings, generates awareness of Midtown Association's programs and projects, increases sales tax in the Midtown district, and supports the resource development goals of the organization. This position has two direct reports and has three peers. This position reports to the Executive Director.
Specific Qualifications and Requirements

• Be a politically astute, strategic thinker with a proven ability to design a successful communications strategy.
• Possess an awareness of Sacramento's economic and political landscape, being able to understand the objectives and opinions of a diverse group of stakeholders, colleagues, and community members.
• Be experienced in developing both organizational and campaign-specific communications plans.
• Be an effective people manager to guide high-performing staff and consultants to set and achieve team and individual goals and objectives within the communication strategy as well as personal and professional development goals.
• Be an effective collaborator with other Associate Directors to ensure their projects and programs are effectively integrated into the communications strategy.
• Be an excellent written, verbal, and visual storyteller to guide and protect the Explore Midtown brand voice, messaging coherence, and identity within the communications strategy.
• Be able to cater storytelling appropriately to different audiences and seamlessly integrate into the organization's existing voice.
• Be a strong public speaker to deliver media interviews and presentations to engage donors or stakeholders to support the health and growth of the organization.
• Be a thought partner to the executive team to design public meetings/public engagement efforts to support the communications and fund development strategies.
• Be a strong advocate of Midtown and Sacramento, including helping problem-solve difficult community challenges that the association is engaged with, such as mitigating the impacts of homelessness and ensuring a safe and welcoming nightlife.
• Be experienced in navigating crises as a part of a team, with the ability to display tact and demonstrate discretion when dealing with sensitive matters or difficult subjects.
• Be in a continuous improvement mindset to look for new opportunities to grow and shape the organization.
• Be experienced with WordPress or similar website management platform including SEO/SEM best practices.
• Be familiar with digital tools and tactics, including Facebook Business Manager, Google Ads, geofencing, and keyword advertising.

General Qualifications and Requirements:

• Associate Directors act as staff leads to committees of board members and expert community members.
• Associate Directors have a solution- and action-oriented approach, including recommendations for improvements to organizational operations for efficiency and stakeholder results.
• Associate Directors drive program budget development and deliver projects on budget.
• Associate Directors operate with high integrity to uphold company policies.
• Associate Directors must possess a commitment to stakeholder satisfaction, addressing concerns and delivering outcomes.
• Associate Directors must possess a strong desire to continually learn and develop their understanding of the company and relevant subject matter.
• Associate Directors plan program performance to generate specific outcomes.
• Associate Directors must be able to adapt to rapidly changing scenarios with the ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently.
• Associate Directors bring recommendations to their supervisors for greater efficiency and service delivery in the organization.
• Associate Directors work with senior management to create partnerships that generate funds to grow and sustain the organization.
• Associate Directors have no less than five years of professional experience in a relevant area (such as communications, non-profit leadership, public policy, economic development, fundraising, or association management) with progressively increasing experience.
• Associate Directors have a bachelor's degree in a relevant area of study.
• Associate Directors are adept in the use of office technology, including experience with Office Suite, Lattice or a similar people management platform, and with Monday.com or a similar project management system.

All candidates should anticipate pre-employment background checks, driving record checks, and drug screening (cannabis is allowable).
Work Environment: The work environment is in the office four days per week with one remote day per week in addition to a bank of work from anywhere time. The office environment is located primarily inside and consists of working in meetings, via email, via phone, independently, or in collaboration with external partners to complete tasks involving communications, public relations, and fundraising. The office is generally an open environment. We have a very collegial and community/customer-facing office, and interruptions of work can be routine so this position is best suited for someone who can be flexible, focused, results-oriented, and can set priorities.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• People Management: Oversee a high-performing team comprised of a Communications Manager, Creative Manager, Public Relations Consultant, and short-term contracts for public affairs, video and web work.
• Campaign Leadership/Strategy: Keeping the "Midtown Love" brand strategy in action through high-quality design and brand voice, leading long-range and short-term key campaigns on behalf of the organization, ensuring the messages are threaded through all channels (@ExploreMidtown social channels, 5-7 semi-evergreen print pieces, earned media, e-newsletters, board communications, website, presentations, committees, and a few limited paid media opportunities).
  • Long-range key campaigns include demonstrating organizational program outcomes to stakeholders, promoting specific clusters of businesses to consumers to increase the economic health of the district, advancing the organization's position on an advocacy matter with government agencies, or ensuring the community is well-viewed to receive outside investment.
  • Short-term key campaigns include specific public space installments, advocacy efforts for harm reduction strategies or future development projects, or an upcoming special event.
  • Evergreen print pieces include an annual report for Midtown Association, a prospectus for Midtown Parks, descriptions of organizational programs, consumer-facing rack cards, economic development reports, and others.
• Stakeholder and Fund Development Support:
  • Stakeholder support - Ensure new businesses and property owners are welcomed into the district by providing templates of resources and ensuring they are represented in electronic communications and media strategies. Support stakeholders by amplifying their communication efforts for openings, special events, and milestones. Support the economic development of the district through storytelling.
  • Fund Development Support: Generate the communications strategy and materials to support the fund development plan, which includes corporate sponsorship, grants, and individual donors.
  • Demonstrate district value by working collaboratively across departments to produce and maintain print and digital collateral materials which demonstrate the value of Midtown and its businesses.

Benefits: This is a full-time, exempt position at no less than 40 hours per week. The schedule is generally Monday through Friday, standard working hours, however, there are variations for meetings and to accommodate special events. MA has a very generous benefit package after the introductory period: 8 days of sick time, 12 days of vacation plus public holidays, 401k with 5% match, flex-spend account, medical, life, dental, vision, and alternative care insurance, work from anywhere hours, cost-sharing for dependent care, and parking.
Candidate Evaluations/Application Process:
Candidates for this position will be evaluated on several things, including their ability to apply joyful storytelling to Midtown, their people management skills to support two high-performing direct reports, their proven ability to be an influential strategic thinker within the field of communications, their bias towards action and driving quality outcomes, their transferable skills that give them the ability to work within a quasi-public agency, their verbal and written communication skills including the ability to provide media interviews or presentations, and their experience related to communications within a similar industry (non-profit communications or fundraising, or destination marketing, or trade association, or public agency, or other).

• Step 1: The online application process includes providing a resume and cover letter to the application portal. This process also includes writing short answers to a series of questions to give an insight into your experience, work style, and writing style. This process will take 30-60 minutes.
• Step 2: Selected candidates will receive a phone screening opportunity. This process will take 30 minutes.
• Step 3: Selected candidates will advance to up to three interviews with (a) Executive Director, (b) Communications Manager and Creative Manager, and (c) Associate Directors. Each interview will take 30-60 minutes.
• Step 4: The final candidate will receive a job offer conditional upon successfully completing background screening.