The Director of Marketing and Communications at Mishkan is responsible for setting and executing the strategy for all external communications at Mishkan, identifying new opportunities and platforms for our messaging, and marketing opportunities effectively. This role works closely with the Rabbinic Team to refine and communicate a unified voice across all platforms and collaborates with Director-level staff across the organization to craft cohesive communication plans and deliverables and oversee program and event marketing. This role supervises one direct report, the Communications Manager, and works closely with vendors and contractors to create additional collateral as needed.

Leveraging email, social media, print communications, asynchronous content and our website, the Director develops audiences in order to better engage our community and ultimately grow our community. This role helps to enhance Mishkan Chicago’s presence, profile, and brand in Chicago, and beyond. This position is important because it helps our community more deeply and authentically engage with Mishkan, and communicates our values, priorities and “who we are” to the world. A strong candidate will be collaborative, extremely detail-oriented and have a strong sense of Mishkan’s voice and brand.

Responsibilities:

Marketing and Communications Oversight

• Works closely with Rabbinic Team to hone and communicate voice across all communications
• Sets the strategic direction for all external communications
• Supervises Communication Manager in the delivery of all marketing and communication deliverables
• Assists with the hiring and onboarding communications strategy, refining job descriptions and marketing open positions
• In partnership with Director of Programs, develops tools and strategies for program evaluation

Departmental Communication and Marketing Strategy

• Creates communications plan with Director-level staff to core audiences
• Works closely with Director of Early and Elementary Family Life and Director of Youth and Teen Experience on monthly family newsletter
• Regularly works with Director-level staff to understand current offerings, ensure website copy is up to date, and develop collateral
• Works closely with the Director of Mensch Academy to raise awareness of Mensch Academy and meet enrollment goals
• Works closely with the Director of Development to develop digital fundraising campaigns and mass mailings throughout the year

Program and Event Marketing

• Develops marketing strategy and collateral for holidays
• Creates and sets vision for marketing descriptions for programs and classes in collaboration with other staff
• Collaborates with relevant staff on execution of marketing descriptions for all programs and classes

Digital Strategy

• In collaboration with Senior Rabbi, sets strategy for visual storytelling and deliverables for photos, videos, and social media
• Hires event photographers and manages photo assets alongside Communications Manager
• Works closely with Communications Manager on execution of digital content

Brand

• Creates marketing strategy, collateral and branded signage for holiday programs and High Holidays
• Works closely with Director-level staff to produce digital and print materials for programs
• Sets strategies for targeting diverse audiences
• Oversees protocols and templates for staff-level audience engagement
• Designs swag and physical assets for organization and core audiences

Crisis Communications:

• Leads crisis communications, responses, and communications requiring nuance
• Leads strategy for planning, development, and dissemination of Mishkan’s views and statements

Preferred Qualifications/Experience:

• 7+ years of direct experience with marketing and communications
• Thrives in collaborative and team-based environments
• Strong understanding of and passion for Mishkan’s mission
• Attention to detail paired with the ability to see the big picture
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative culture with a strong practice around giving and receiving feedback for learning and growth
• Experience using project management software and CRM database
• Familiarity with the essential tools of a hybrid workplace, such as: team communications (Slack, Teams, etc), teleconferencing (Zoom, Meet, etc), digital file repositories (Drive, Dropbox, etc)

Supervisor

• Executive Director

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Communications Manager

Working Conditions

• This role is based in the city of Chicago. Mishkan’s offices are in the Ravenswood neighborhood
• Exempt, Full-time employee - 40 hours a week with some evening, weekend, and holiday hours required
• In-person presence at 3+ events per month, including Shabbat and other key programs
• Flexible working hours and conditions with the ability to work from home up to 3 days per week

Compensation and Benefits

• The salary range for this position is $75,000-90,000, commensurate with experience.
• We offer excellent benefits including health insurance, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) with retirement matching, generous paid vacation and sick time, parental leave, and ample time off for office closures, federal holidays and some Jewish holidays. We offer a family-friendly, dynamic, and progressive workplace.
• This is a full-time, exempt, benefit-eligible position.

This job description may not cover a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned depending on Miskhan’s organizational needs.