Communications Associate or Senior Communications Associate, Peace & Security

Position description

ReThink Media seeks a Communications Associate to support their Peace & Security Team. The Communications Associate will primarily work on our nuclear portfolio, supporting organizations and coalitions in advancing arms control and disarmament through tactics such as media pitching, op-ed editing, messaging guidance, and media strategy.

Description

The Opportunity

ReThink Media seeks a Communications Associate to support their Peace & Security Team, which works to advance a less violent and more just U.S. foreign policy. The Communications Associate will primarily work on our nuclear portfolio, supporting organizations and coalitions in advancing arms control and disarmament through tactics such as media pitching, op-ed editing, messaging guidance, and media strategy. The person in this role will work to advance strategic public messaging in support of arms control and disarmament policy initiatives with a particular focus on regional security issues, U.S.-China security relations, and support for frontline communities impacted by U.S. nuclear weapons development, testing, and use. We are open to hiring either an Associate or a Senior Associate, based on the experience the chosen candidate brings to the role.

Organizational Description

ReThink Media is a unique, nonprofit organization that places media and communications at the center of our movement building agenda. We strengthen the collaborative media and communications capacity of state and national advocacy groups; increase the “voice share” of their spokespeople; and provide in-depth media, messaging, and opinion research to inform movement strategy.

We focus on long-term engagement with our advocacy partners and with the issues we take on—all driven by a belief that the stronger the groups are across an issue sector and the tighter their collaboration, the more likely they are to win real and lasting policy victories. At present, ReThink works in three distinct, yet interconnected, issue areas: the protection of human and civil rights; strengthening our democracy; and a more constructive US foreign and national security policy.

Our Peace and Security team works closely with the nation’s foremost leaders and experts, advocating solutions to some of the most complex and challenging national security issues of the 21st century, from nuclear security to ending our forever wars.

Position Overview

The Communications Associate reports to the Program Director of the Peace & Security team, and in addition to media training, they will be involved in strategic communications planning, media pitching, ghost-writing, coalition leadership, and media analysis.

We are looking for someone with a strong commitment to a more just and peaceful foreign policy, a rebalancing of our national resources away from war, and advancing an agenda of inclusion in foreign policy-making – an area wherein women and people of color are grossly under-represented.

Principal Duties

• Maintain existing and develop new relationships with key journalists; assist partner organizations in building their own networks of media contacts.
• Assist organizations and coalitions in strategic communications planning and assist individual organizations and experts in their media work as appropriate including by pitching out experts and story ideas; editing op-eds, press releases, and other media statements; ghost-writing and editing op-ed submissions, etc.
• Help design and execute media skills training workshops tailored to the particular needs of the organizations we serve and with an emphasis on advancing equity in media representation.
• Assist with media monitoring, using emerging news stories to engage ReThink’s partners in responding to emerging media opportunities.
• Represent ReThink in coalition meetings as assigned to provide media and communications expertise in those discussions.
• Assist in planning and carrying out events, seminars, journalist meet and greets, and press conferences, as needed.
• Participate in media analysis, public opinion analysis, and message testing.
• Maintain a high level of issue awareness on nuclear arms control and national security issues relative to the campaigns and actions of our partner organizations.

Essential Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum of 1-3 years of relevant work experience for an Associate role, or 3 years for a Senior Associate role. 
• Background in strategic communications and/or media engagement is strongly preferred.
• Experience in at least one of the following: engaging journalists, writing press materials, developing traditional and social media strategies, and/or pitching stories/op-eds/articles for publication.
• Ability to proactively monitor news coverage to identify opportunities; creatively and strategically frame ideas; develop stories; and synthesize complex policy issues in a way that appeals to reporters, editors, producers, and a wide variety of audiences.
• Understanding of the barriers to equal representation in media discourse and issue advocacy more broadly.
• Strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills.

Desired But Not Required

• Experience working on nuclear weapons issues, arms control, or disarmament issues is strongly desired.
• An understanding of current global geopolitical trends, particularly in terms of conflict and strategic competition.
• Experience building strong relationships with key journalists.
• Strong training and public presentation skills.
• Basic understanding of MailChimp, MuckRack or other journalist databases, PowerPoint, and Google Suite. Experience with Canva is useful.
• Experience in social media and digital communications.

Location & Salary

This is a remote, full-time position. The position will require occasional travel to staff and planning meetings, and to presentations and trainings. ReThink aims to recruit the best people for every position and we have recently moved to an all-remote staffing model. At the same time, some locations are more immediately relevant to the strategic objectives of our work. Applicants are welcome from across the country, but will be considered in conjunction with their strategic proximity to key partner locations or constituencies. In this case, proximity to Washington, DC is particularly useful. In all cases, ReThink requires employees to live within 90 minutes of a major airport to facilitate occasional travel. The salary range listed below pertains to employees in Washington, DC and might potentially be adjusted for candidates in locations with much lower costs of living.

ReThink Media is committed to pay equity and transparency in our salary, raise, and benefits structure. We regularly conduct market comparisons. Staff receive an annual 360º performance review and ReThink is strongly committed to internal and external professional development. We aim to attract, develop, and retain diverse, talented, and growth-minded staff.

This is an intermediate-level position that comes with a generous benefits, vacation, health savings, sabbatical, and retirement package. Salary is commensurate with experience; the starting annual salary range for a Communications Associate is $50,000–54,080, and the starting annual salary range for a Senior Communications Associate is $62,500–67,500.

Application instructions

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