Communications Manager

Urban Green Lab

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Job Summary

Help us tell the story of our mission.

Summary

Urban Green Lab is searching for a full-time Communications Manager to help us teach communities how to live sustainably.

Urban Green Lab

We teach communities how to live sustainably. Founded in 2009, Urban Green Lab is working to make learning how to make more sustainable choices in Nashville, Tennessee, just a part of life. We organize, train, and connect people in classrooms, households, and workplaces – places where culture begins. Learn more about our story, people, and values here.

Our Educational Philosophy

We believe learning how to live sustainably should just be a part of life. That means it needs to be systemic and woven into the existing fabric of who we are. Learning how to make more sustainable choices should begin with thinking “upstream” about how we can protect what we care about most in all the places where we learn, work, and live. We think these spaces can serve as laboratories for learning, taking chances, and exploring our life-long responsibilities as stewards of the earth. To us, a little change goes a long way.

Job Summary

Urban Green Lab’s Communications Manager – a newer role at the organization – will help tell the story of our mission so we can inspire deeper engagement in our work and sustainability overall. Supervised by the Executive Director and working in close collaboration with the team, the Communications Manager is responsible for ensuring our communications strategy is delivered smoothly through multimedia platforms, professional marketing support, and public relations.  The position is full-time, exempt, and based in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Communications Manager comes at a time of growing investment in storytelling at the organization and the emerging need of Nashville consumers for simple, accessible resources about how to make sustainable choices where they learn, work, and live. The Communications Manager will have a voice in every communications decision we make and shape our core messaging. We’re looking for someone who shares our values and can grow with us over time.

Work Environment

Urban Green Lab enjoys a flexible work-life balance and all staff are responsible for managing their own schedules during the week. Staff are expected to spend reasonable time with the team at our Marathon Village office and partners in the community. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities. The employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, listen and feel, reach hands above the shoulder, occasionally stoop or crouch, and lift or move items weighing 10-25 pounds.

Equal Opportunity

Urban Green Lab is fully committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and to attracting, retaining, developing, and promoting the most qualified employees without regard to their race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship status, veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by state or local law. Urban Green Lab welcomes applicants from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and ideas.

Disclaimer

This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, requirements, or conditions. While intended to be accurate, it is not meant to exclude that other, different tasks may be required when circumstances change (such as during emergencies, personnel changes, workload alterations, rush jobs, or technological developments or advancements).

Job Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Marketing Deliverables: Work hand-in-hand with Urban Green Lab’s external marketing firm and related vendors to ensure the timely completion of their deliverables related to strategic messaging, campaign creation, media relations, website design, paid media, target audience refinement, design of publications and promotional items, and possible journalist training. Advise and grow these relationships and projects, and translate our mission.

• Social Media: Lead social media for Urban Green Lab with a focus on celebrating our champions. Platforms include Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. Turn these into vehicles for better storytelling about the people on our frontlines and to inspire deeper engagement in our work. Collaborate with the Development Manager to accelerate individual donor stewardship through social media messaging and campaigns.

• Community Relations: Co-host talks or panels with experts that help educate the community about key sustainability issues in Nashville. This currently includes Sustainable in the City, a monthly webinar series with Zero Waste Nashville. Represent Urban Green Lab at strategic community events, like our teacher trainings, roundtable meetings, and press announcements, but also those led by peer organizations or prospective partners.

• Visual & Oral Storytelling: Help grow our visual and oral storytelling as an organization. This includes vetting and hiring photographers and videographers to cover special events, filming video program trailers for the website, working with designers on publications and promotional pieces, recording personal oral histories and community listening session discussions as appropriate, capturing B-roll, and organizing film files.

• Strategy & Reporting: Collaborate closely with Urban Green Lab’s Communications Committee and contribute to the development of the organization’s communications goals and metrics. Regularly collect, analyze, and report data related to communications both internally (during staff retreats and the Annual Review meeting with the Board of Directors) and externally through the Annual Report, donor reports, newsletter, and website.
• Everything Else: Serve as the organization’s overall point-person for communications and work with the external marketing firm on general public relations. Provide small edits to the website (The marketing firm will handle the big ones). Help the team ensure brand fidelity. Attend regular team or organizational meetings, and generally represent the organization in the community. Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Personal Attributes 

We’re searching for someone who is the following:

• Passionately committed to Urban Green Lab’s mission and values
• Entrepreneurial and goal-orientated with a keen sense for innovation
• Proactive, dependable, and on-time – a team player to the core
• Diplomatic with excellent community relations and listening skills
• Positive and flexible with intellectual curiosity and ability to adjust to change
• Inclusive and empathetic with an understanding of what it means to be equitable
• Humble and gracious under pressure with a high sense of integrity and humor

Experience & Knowledge

We’re searching for someone who has the following ideal experience and skills:

• At least 3-5 years of professional experience in a marketing or communications role at an agency or in-house position
• Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills
• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Proven success with marketing and communications responsibilities
• Understanding of what makes for great partnerships with myriad stakeholders
• Track record with social media and visual storytelling (photography, video, etc.)
• General fluency in sustainability issues, ideally related to Nashville, is a plus
• [Ideal] Experience with WordPress and Salesforce
• Background in working for or with a nonprofit organization and its partners is a plus

Additional Information

Benefits

How to Apply

How to Apply

Please email your cover letter and resume to Noah Spiegel, Sr. Director of Operations, at careers@urbangreenlab.org. Combine all documents into one PDF file with your full name as the file name and write “Communications Manager” in the email subject line. Incomplete submissions and follow-up inquiries will not be considered. Only applicants selected for consideration will be contacted. Applications are accepted until the position is filled. All correspondence is confidential. Background check required.

Details

• Date Posted: January 5, 2023
• Type: Full-Time
• Job Function: Administrative
• Service Area: Education
• Start Date: 04/03/2023
• Salary Range: 52,000-55,000
• Working Hours: M-F 9:00am-5pm