Pillar Search is honored to partner with Sandy Hook Promise on their search for the new Vice President, Marketing. This is a remote role. Qualified candidates are encouraged to email their cover letter and resume to Cindy Joyce, Pillar’s Founder/Executive Search Consultant at cindy@pillarsearch.com.

About Sandy Hook Promise 

Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) envisions a future where all children are free from school shootings and other acts of violence. As a national nonprofit organization, SHP’s mission is to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Creators of the lifesaving, evidence-informed “Know the Signs” prevention programs, SHP teaches the warning signs of someone who may be in crisis, socially isolated, or at-risk of hurting themselves or others and how to get help. SHP also advances school safety, youth mental health, and responsible gun ownership at the state and federal levels through nonpartisan policy and partnerships.

SHP is led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.

Commitment to Racial Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

SHP strives to ensure its culture and work environment reflect the values of race, diversity, equity, and inclusion (REDI) and is responsive to the views and issues of the diverse communities with which we live and work. SHP encourages individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to equity and inclusion to apply.

Position Summary

This is the role you’ve been waiting for – an opportunity to leverage your extensive background in brand building and marketing fundamentals on a fast-growing brand that is making a difference and saving the lives of young people. You are joining a high-performing team that has won two Emmy awards for “Outstanding Commercial” and countless Cannes Lions, Effies, Webby Awards, and other recognitions. Not only will you be driving the brand but will also drive growth on grassroots fundraising that makes up 65%+ of the organization’s operating budget.

As the Vice President of Marketing (VP), you will be leading a highly skilled department that is responsible for development, planning and execution of all SHP brand marketing, internal and external communications, media and public relations, web content and digital marketing management, social media, collateral creation, and graphic design. Additionally, as the VP you will be strengthening SHP’s thought leadership and awareness across a range of audiences and ensure consistency in messaging across all touchpoints, internally and externally.  You will be refining the marketing and brand vision collaboratively across departments internally as well as with partners and agencies externally.  You will be managing relationships with world-class CMOs, agencies, and media leaders to evolve our brand vision and create compelling messaging and creative that drives brand equity, program adoption, policy actions, and fundraising results. With your work, we will advance SHP’s thought leadership, program impact, and policy objectives.  This role will support the work of both the Foundation (c3) and the Action Fund (c4).

In this role, you will lead and manage a large and highly talented team with 2-3 direct reports who manage additional communications, digital, marketing, and creative professionals to oversee a team of approximately 15 marketers. The VP will also work closely with the COO and team leads to manage external agency partners across disciplines, including ad creative, social media, digital marketing, fundraising, media, public relations, and others as needed.

This role reports to the Chief Operating Officer.

Job Responsibilities

Marketing/Branding

• Responsible for (and gate keeper of) the overall SHP Brand / SHP Programs marketing, brand treatment, and promotional execution – including directing key messages, brand identity guidelines, advertising, and delivery channels – this role collaborates and aligns on overall strategy and execution with the C-suite.
• Lead holistic vision and strategy for all marketing and branding across all touchpoints, including all elements of Advertising, PSA campaigns, Communications and PR, Digital, and all other messaging and advertising; delivering on objectives for both C3 and C4 SHP organizations.
• Lead media strategy and work with SHP’s Media Advisory Board, ensuring strong continued media donations and continuous innovation on how to change the narrative on gun violence in both evergreen and rapid response contexts.
• Drive holistic strategy and marketing and communications support of activities surrounding all SHP PSA campaigns, evergreen messaging, fundraising messaging, messaging in support of our policy and program initiatives, events, conferences, speaking engagements, and other such functions.
• Accountable for all grassroots fundraising (~65% of total organization’s revenue) driving winning strategies across traditional and digital channels, including email and SMS, as well as social, web, search, and more.
• Leads colleagues and stakeholders to understand and support the branding, marketing and communications strategies. Must be collaborative and focus on shared goals.
• Ensures the highest standard of editorial quality of print and electronic media communications, assuring timely access to information by all stakeholders.
• Monitors industry trends and analyzes market research to adapt, refine. and apply winning strategies to SHP’s marketing approach.

General

• Ability to co-create, develop, and consistently communicate a vision for widening awareness of the SHP brand and deepen understanding of its unique holistic approach.
• Leads the department to deliver on its 5 marketing priorities – 1) Elevate and strengthen the SHP brand and thought leadership, 2) Expand SHP’s Program and Policy Reach, 3) Grow and diversify revenue, 4) Enhance SHP’s digital footprint and 5) support internal marketing team.
• Leads, collaborates with, and supports Communications, Digital and Creative teams to deliver all goals for the department, ensuring strong fundamentals, continuous innovation, and growth of team members. Ensures goals are clearly defined, monitored and that performance is optimized on an ongoing basis.
• Serves as one of SHP’s chief storytellers and ensures that assets that are developed connect with the heart and head to effectively drive action with target audiences.

• Identifies the need for, develops guidelines for, and directs the activities of external resources as it pertains to branding and marketing, such as outside consultants, including advertising agencies, public relations agencies, graphic designers, website designers, marketing professionals, and speech and freelance writers.

• Identifies and develops relationships/partnerships with third parties such as community leaders, academics, industry leaders, media experts, thought leaders, associations, etc. that could be influential on behalf of the organization and support the growth of SHP’s thought leadership in gun violence prevention (GVP) and school safety.
• Partners with leadership to create a psychologically safe working environment that emphasizes team building, innovation, and resilience.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in senior marketing/brand management/communications positions within a corporation or nonprofit, including significant diversified management experience.  10+ years managing a team of marketing/communications professionals.

• Passion for brand building and marketing with proven ability to get the best creativity out of teams to develop the next evolution of the SHP brand.

• Ability to lead integrated, multichannel strategies and manage priority campaigns for both brand-building and performance marketing, with a history of continually innovating and testing new ideas and ability to manage art (creativity/gut) and science (data) of marketing.

• Proven track record of developing successful marketing strategies, leveraging multiple marketing disciplines, that contributed to the achievement of set goals and mission of the organization.

• Strong experience and understanding of communications, digital marketing, and media in business as usual and rapid response contexts.

• Exceptional written and oral communicator who displays a strong sense of vision, sophistication and a collaborative, creative, and strategic approach to communication.  The ideal candidate will be a gifted storyteller with a history of crafting stories (with words and visuals) with an impact-oriented approach that connects to multiple audiences.

• Experience hiring, coaching, and managing a highly talented, experienced, and diverse team of leaders.  Proven ability to break down silos and facilitate cross-team integration and collaboration.

• In-depth experience managing and coaching for top-quality outputs from internal teams and external consultants and agencies (e.g. public relations agencies, creative ad agencies, media agencies, etc.)

• Proven ability to create and communicate marketing strategies and well-organized plans and deliver them with excellence by necessary deadlines.

• Ability to re-prioritize and react when necessary to urgent rapid response moments.

• Experience handling sensitive and confidential issues.

• Demonstrated ability to build, develop, and foster relationships internally and externally.

• Strong attention to detail with the ability to solve problems, work independently, and excel in a high-performance culture.

• Takes an ambitious, innovative, and creative approach to communications, marketing, and digital strategies.

• Adept in Microsoft Office Applications, proficiency in Excel, Word, and Outlook; ability to quickly learn new systems and processes.

• Willingness to travel as necessary (Approx 5-10%)

Benefits and Salary Range

The starting salary for this position is $160,000-180,000. SHP offers a competitive benefits package, including:

• Generous paid time off and holidays

• Paid parental leave

• Health, dental, and vision

• Employer paid life insurance and short- and long-term disability

• 401k match

• Employer Paid Employee Assistance

This is a fully remote position.  SHP operates within a distributed workforce, allowing for location flexibility across the country for most positions. We provide remote office support for all staff, which includes a laptop, home office reimbursement, monthly WIFI reimbursement up to $40, and monthly cell phone reimbursement up to $50.

Equal Opportunity Employment

SHP is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We strive to be an employer of choice: where a diverse mix of talented people want to come and do their best work. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are focused on promoting diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion and believe deeply in having a workforce comprised of people of all beliefs and backgrounds who seek to prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life. Members of all under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.

To Apply

Sandy Hook Promise has partnered with Cindy Joyce of Pillar Search & HR Consulting for the Vice President of Marketing search. Please submit your materials (cover letter and resume) to Cindy at cindy@pillarsearch.com.

Phone calls are not accepted.

About Pillar Search & HR Consulting: A woman-owned business based in Boston, Pillar Search & HR Consulting provides executive search/recruiting and human resources consulting expertise to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, working with senior leaders and the boards of directors to hire and develop the very best talent across all functional areas of the organization. Pillar’s Founder, Cindy Joyce, is a Certified Diversity Recruiter. For more information, please visit www.pillarsearch.com.