Media Relations Manager

About New America: New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States. New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create.

About the role: New America is seeking a personable, organized, media-savvy Media Relations Manager who will continue to build the organization’s media relations strategy to raise awareness of New America’s programs and people. Working closely with the Director of Communications and our entire Central Communications team, the Media Relations Manager will be responsible for strategic media engagement efforts to ensure a steady stream of earned placement in media outlets across New America’s core policy areas. They will work to build and nurture relationships with local, national, international, and trade media to elevate New America’s profile in alignment with its new strategic vision. They will serve as critical partners to colleagues with varying degrees of media proficiency. This role requires strong media instincts, a keen ability to distill complex topics into an accessible story, and a creative and collaborative mindset.

Responsibilities:

Media relations – 80%

• Support development, and management of, a strategic and proactive earned media outreach plan for New America;
• Build and nurture strong working relationships with reporters and editors;
• Field media requests from journalists;
• Serve as an on-the-record spokesperson and primary respondent to media on behalf of New America;
• Research and maintain press lists, spanning New America’s areas of focus;
• Develop project-specific media outreach plans to promote New America’s research and subject matter experts to reporters, including pitches, press releases, and direct reporter outreach;
• Assist subject matter experts in publishing op-eds in external outlets by crafting pitches and identifying opportunities for strategic placement, with an eye on the evolving media landscape; and
• Coordinate timely responses to media with leadership, staff, fellows, and other colleagues, offering counsel and ensuring accuracy, consistency, and tone of messages are in alignment with content strategy and organizational guidelines.

Strategic communications and management – 20%

• Serve as the media lead for New America’s Central Communications team, providing guidance and coaching to communications team members and helping to shepherd and inform the organizations’ broader communications strategy;
• Support the drafting of external and internal communications on behalf of New America executives as needed;
• Advise senior leadership on communications related to media as needed;
• Develop and conduct media training workshops to build capacity of staff, providing group and individual coaching sessions (e.g., recorded on-camera interviews with feedback); and
• Support risk assessment and crisis communications response planning, and support engagement with media in those situations as needed.

Qualifications:

Candidates for this position should have the following:

• 4+ years of experience in media relations/communications/journalism;
• Proven, hands-on experience pitching and placing stories in media;
• Existing relationships with journalists, media partners, and producers is a plus;
• Understanding of the media landscape in Washington, DC, nationally, and New America’s areas of focus
• Desire to take on a media leadership role within a dynamic communications team;
• Prior experience using Cision, Meltwater, or other media monitoring service;
• Prior experience using Salesforce, or another CRM, is a plus;
• Strong attention to detail, and excellent organizational, time and project management skills;
• Ability to communicate clearly and collaborate effectively with internal and external colleagues and stakeholders;
• Excellent writing and verbal communications skills;
• Intellectual curiosity, motivation, and a desire to learn on the job;
• Fluency with word processing programs, database management, and experience with internet research; and
• Adaptable, solution-oriented, tech-savvy, self-motivated candidates are preferred.

Location: Washington, DC-based candidates are preferred, but fully remote situations will be considered for the right candidate.

Compensation and benefits: This position is a full-time role with benefits. The annual salary will be between $70,000 – $78,000, depending on experience.

New America offers a highly competitive benefits package that includes health care, dental, and vision coverage; a generous retirement plan; observes all federal holidays; 20 days of paid time off (combined vacation and sick days) in your first year of employment and 30 days of paid time off in subsequent years; 12 weeks of paid parental leave; and an office-wide closure between Christmas and New Year.

How to apply: Submit a cover letter and resume. Applicants without a cover letter and resume will not be considered. The deadline to apply is May 31. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submissions are recommended. Please, no phone calls or emails.

New America is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels of the organization thereby creating a culture that allows us to better serve our clientele, our employees and our communities. We value and encourage the contributions of our employees and strive to create an environment where everyone can reach their full potential and drive outstanding results. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law. This policy applies with regard to all aspects of one’s employment, including hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation, eligibility for benefits, and termination.

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