Senior Director, Media Relations

Senior Director, Communications 

College Board - Engagement and Reach 

This is a fully remote role. full-time position 

About the Team  

The Communications team is responsible for building and protecting the College Board reputation and overseeing organization's communications efforts, which are designed to increase educational access and opportunity for all students. We are a close knit, dedicated team with a track record of success in promoting the work of the College Board to a variety of audiences, including students, parents, educators, policymakers, the media, member organizations and staff. 

About the Opportunity   

You will serve as senior director for media relations, overseeing the organization’s engagement with external media including earned, owned, and paid opportunities. You play a key role in protecting the College Board’s reputation and telling our story through timely, proactive strategic communications.  

You will provide day-to-day leadership and manage a team of three media relations experts with a focus on coaching and skill development. You will develop and execute media strategies – at the national, state, and local levels – that highlight the value and positive impact of the SAT, Advanced Placement coursework, and BigFuture. This position is also responsible for managing media relations team’s relationship with its outside communications and media monitoring agencies.  

You will serve as deputy to the executive director of external communications and play an integral role on a team committed to broadening understanding of the College Board’s work, to highlighting its national leadership as a vibrant mission-driven non-profit, and to deepening public support for the organization’s various initiatives. This role will include a special focus on coaching the organization’s leaders on best practices for media engagement as well as participants in the College Board speakers bureau. 

Working with Communications leadership and the external communication team, you will meet ambitious goals that include securing extensive press coverage for the organization and its leadership, rapidly responding to crisis situations, and finding new ways and channels for telling our story. This position will report to the Executive Director, External Communications. 

In this role, you will: 

• Develop and execute robust, multi-faceted national and local media strategies that helps further the mission and aligns with state and national goals, including by: 

• Developing an editorial calendar that identifies inflection points and proactive outreach opportunities, including College Board announcements (such as new initiatives and partnerships), data and research reports, and the education lifecycle (such as SAT and AP Exam administrations and score reports); 

• Leading planning for certain high-profile media events and campaigns, including by identifying media to pitch, preparing leadership with talking points, and generating appropriate collateral material (press releases, media advisories, talking points, etc.) in a timely and organized manner. 

• Targeting and securing high profile media and public speaking opportunities for leadership, including newspaper and magazine profiles and Q&As, editorial board meetings, and TV and radio interviews; 

• Developing and placing opinion pieces from leadership and outside validators; 

• Leveraging relationships with journalists from media outlets that reach a variety of different key audiences – policymakers, students, parents, educators, advocates, etc. 

• Enact proactive and reactive media engagement, approving outgoing pitches, interview briefings, and strategies and language for responses to media inquiries. 

• Manage high-level reactive media inquiries – including for top-tier national publications – and serve as an on-the-record spokesperson when appropriate. 

• Responsible for analyzing and communicating with senior leadership about media trends that impact the organization. 

• Coach and develop skills of the media relations team to higher levels of performance.  

 About You  

You have: 

• A bachelor’s degree in English, journalism, communications, or related field is required. 

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible work experience in public relations, journalism, public affairs or a related field required. 

• A background that includes direct support of a prominent principal (client/elected official/candidate), including staffing for media events and preparing briefings. 

• Extensive experience working with members of large media outlets; international experience is preferred. 

• Experience in crisis communications and issues management, including managing stories in national, top tier publications. 

• Progressive people management responsibilities 

 About Our Process   

• Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled   

• While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as live coding, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.    

About Our Benefits and Compensation 

College Board offers a competitive benefits and compensation program that attracts top talent looking to make a difference in education. As a self-sustaining non-profit, we believe in compensating employees equitably in relation to each other, their qualifications, their impact, and the relevant market.  

The hiring range for a new employee in this position is $108,000 to $160,000. College Board differentiates salaries by location so where you live will narrow the portion of this range in which you can expect a salary.  

Your salary will be carefully determined based on your location, relevant experience, the external labor market, and the pay of College Board employees in similar roles. College Board strives to provide our best offer up front based on this criteria.  

Your salary is only one part of all that College Board offers, including but not limited to:    

• A comprehensive package designed to support the well-being of employees and their families and promote education. Our robust benefits package includes health, dental, and vision insurance, generous paid time off, paid parental leave, fertility benefits, pet insurance, tuition assistance, retirement benefits, and more 

• Recognition of exceptional performance through annual bonuses, salary growth over time through market increases, and opportunities for merit raises and promotions based on increased scope of responsibility 

• A job that matters, a team that cares, and a place to learn, innovate and thrive 

You can expect to have transparent conversations about benefits and compensation with our recruiters throughout your application process. 

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