Marketing & Communications Manager

PERTS seeks an energetic and creative Marketing & Communications Manager who is passionate about marketing, education, and supporting PERTS’ mission to improve students’ experiences and outcomes on a large scale. This is a fantastic opportunity for a marketing professional early in their career who is ambitious, thoughtful, and analytical. The role offers significant learning opportunities and the potential to quickly gain more responsibilities. 

This is a full-time, exempt, remote position that requires travel 2–6 times a year, and reports to the Director of Programs. The role offers a salary range of $75k–$85k, based on experience and local cost of living.

About PERTS

The Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) is a national nonprofit that helps schools improve the quality and equity of learning conditions, conditions that foster engagement and accelerate learning. To advance its mission, PERTS develops, tests, and scales the impact of evidence-based solutions in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. Its research sheds light on high-impact practices and enables PERTS to continuously increase its impact. PERTS’ evidence-based tools, measures, and services are used by more than 400 schools and colleges, directly impacting over 100,000 students a year. PERTS is funded by national foundations (e.g., the Raikes Foundation, Gates Foundation, Overdeck Foundation) and by service contracts from its partner colleges and school districts. 

PERTS has a remote working culture that welcomes candidates from across the U.S. Our team is committed to contributing to something bigger than ourselves while caring for each other as a team. As such, we are a small, family-friendly, human-centered organization. We come to work as whole people and push each other to grow and do our best while maintaining a warm and inclusive spirit. We focus on improvement instead of blame, and we believe that practicality beats purity.

Because inequitable educational systems disproportionately harm people of color and people from working-class backgrounds, we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.

Core Responsibilities

The Marketing & Communications Manager will have some marketing experience and is excited to continue to grow their marketing skills. They will be coached and supported by an experienced education marketing professional. As they develop requisite expertise, the Marketing & Communications Manager will assume significant responsibility and ownership for all of PERTS’ marketing efforts and key communications priorities, including, but not limited to: 

• Manage branding, messaging, and positioning strategies that promote PERTS services and approaches through various channels. For example, develop and refine PERTS communications in order to help education leaders understand and implement evidence-based student experience practices—practices that help students engage and learn to the best of their abilities. Such communications may include newsletters, website copy, collateral, ads, videos, slide decks, support articles, social media posts, and virtual or in-person presentations. 
• Coordinate media relations and stakeholder communications, including through creating and implementing marketing communications strategies.
• Website and SEO: Write website copy, update the PERTS website and knowledge base, and enhance SEO. 
• Handle advertising, product promotion, and sales support: Develop and manage a list of leads (education leaders) who are interested in specific PERTS services and insights or are already using those services; develop and send targeted communications to keep leads engaged and to assist sales and program staff with converting those leads into clients or repeat clients. 
• Oversee market research, data analysis, and evaluation: Use relevant tools to track and analyze the effectiveness of the communication activities above; recommend and/or implement improvements based on those analyses. 
• Supervise marketing project teams and collaborate with other teams in furtherance of the activities above.

Application Process & Timeline

1. Applications for this role will be accepted through June 21, 2024. 
2. Applications should include a strong cover letter that includes the applicant’s personal reasons for wanting to support educators to work towards a more equitable and human-centered education system as well as examples of how they’ve demonstrated the required skills and dispositions listed in the role description. 
3. The application process will include 3-4 interviews with various team members, submitting a performance task and/or work samples, and reference checks.

Equal Employment Opportunity

PERTS is a fiscally sponsored project of Tides Center. Tides Center is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and welcome your application even if you do not meet every one of the above requirements. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, political affiliation, disability, or medical condition. We encourage and consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified applicants with a disability may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.

Requirements

Desired Skills, Experiences & Dispositions

Outstanding candidates will have, or be ready and eager to quickly develop, the following skills, experiences, and dispositions. All of these attributes are necessary to be successful in the role long-term, but we welcome your application even if you only meet some of the criteria below.

• Mission Driven: Commitment to PERTS’ mission and the ability to articulate your passion for supporting educators and working towards a more equitable and human-centered education system.
• Writing & Communications Skills:
• Outstanding writing and the ability to consistently compose compelling, creative marketing copy.
• Proven ability to make complex, research-oriented concepts accessible. 
• Ability to understand different audiences and write copy catered to the appropriate audience.
• Marketing Operations Skill: Experience with and/or eagerness to learn marketing and sales tools and systems, including:
• Mass email services, e.g., MailChimp
• Customer Relation Management (CRM) tools, e.g., FreshSales, SalesForce
• Basic video editing skills, e.g., Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, iMovie
• Basic graphic design skills, e.g., Adobe Illustrator, Canva
• Website development via WYSIWYG editors, e.g., Wix, Wordpress
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Conscientiousness & Self-Management: Exceptional attention to detail; a record of following through on challenging commitments with minimal supervision (including in remote work settings); the ability to anticipate needs and work across teams with competing demands; and comfort with ambiguity.
• Proactive Communication & High Emotional Intelligence: Superior written and verbal communication skills, as well as the instinct to communicate proactively and appropriately with various audiences and team members. Experience with or strong interest in storytelling through video and written formats.
• Growth Mindset: Life-long learner willing to seek knowledge and new experiences in order to get the job done, e.g. by learning new software, skills, and concepts; continuously seeking and responding to feedback; and taking initiative to enhance our work.

• Practicality and Simplicity: Proven track record translating complex issues and experiences into compelling and accessible content, ideally in narrative styles and audiovisual formats.

Benefits

• The salary range is $75k-$85k, based on experience and local cost of living.
• Comprehensive healthcare benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; annual professional development funding; as well as confidential counseling, designed to support the passion and energy we look for in our staff.
• There is a 403b, with a match up to 6% of salary. 

• Generous paid time off beginning at 8 weeks of holiday/vacation/wellness time per year including: 12+ organization-wide holidays, two team holiday recess weeks, and 15 days of vacation in the 1st year (moving up to 25 days by the 8th year). Additionally, there is paid time off for family leave, jury duty, military, bereavement, and other circumstances.