Description

WJN seeks a strategic, creative, and highly skilled Head of Communications to lead how the organization shows up publicly, shapes conversation, and tells its story. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Head of Communications will own WJN’s messaging, editorial direction, content strategy, public positioning, earned media, social media, and audience growth efforts. This person will ensure WJN has a clear, compelling, and consistent external presence — and that its communications reinforce organizational priorities, build visibility, and help drive adoption of the Winning Jobs Narrative across the broader ecosystem. This role is responsible for turning strategy into narrative momentum. The ideal candidate is an excellent writer, sharp message architect, strong editorial thinker, and disciplined communications strategist who understands how to translate research and ideas into public-facing content that moves people, shapes conversation, and builds organizational credibility.

Key Responsibilities:

Communications Strategy & Messaging

Lead WJN’s overall communications and messaging strategy across organizational channels, campaigns, programs, and public moments. 

Shape WJN’s public positioning, narrative framing, editorial voice, and brand identity. Translate WJN’s research, frameworks, and organizational point of view into clear, compelling external communications. Ensure communications are aligned with WJN’s mission, strategic priorities, programmatic work, and organizational goals.

Develop messaging guidance, talking points, statements, op-eds, memos, social content, email content, and other materials as needed.

Content Strategy & Editorial Systems

Own and manage WJN’s organization-wide content calendar.

Develop proactive content systems that allow the organization to communicate consistently and strategically rather than reactively.

Oversee external-facing content across WJN’s owned channels, social platforms, newsletters, website, events, campaigns, reports, and partner-facing materials.

Create systems for turning research findings, partner insights, programmatic work, and organizational learning into high-quality content.

Maintain a clear and recognizable organizational voice across audiences and platforms.

Earned Media, Social Media & Audience Growth

Build and maintain relationships with relevant reporters, editors, columnists, producers, and other media stakeholders.

Identify opportunities for earned media that elevate WJN’s research, leaders, ideas, partnerships, and broader mission.

Lead WJN’s presence across social and digital platforms, with a focus on audience growth, engagement, and visibility.

Develop strategies to reach key audiences across the political, advocacy, nonprofit, philanthropic, labor, democracy, and communications ecosystems.

Track communications performance and use data, feedback, and judgment to improve reach and impact over time. 

Cross-Team Collaboration

Work closely with the Head of Programs & Partnerships to ensure communications strategies support partner engagement, adoption, and field-building.

Collaborate with the Head of Narrative Strategy to translate research, curriculum, tools, and strategic frameworks into accessible public-facing content

Support internal communications and cross-team alignment as WJN grows.

Manage external vendors, consultants, designers, writers, digital strategists, and other communications partners as needed. 

Organizational Leadership

Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the Executive Director.

Participate actively as a member of WJN’s senior leadership team.

Help build a collaborative, rigorous, learning-oriented organizational culture rooted in clarity, creativity, accountability, and impact.

Represent WJN externally when appropriate, including with partners, media, funders, coalitions, and at public events.

About WJN:

America faces a deep and growing disconnect. Economic insecurity and inequality have left millions of people feeling unseen and unheard. The notion that hard work leads to a decent life no longer feels true for too many, fueling frustration, polarization, and distrust in government and civic institutions. The Winning Jobs Narrative (WJN) is a narrative architecture that puts working people back at the center of the economy, and establishes a new economic paradigm—one that rewards work, restores agency, and rebuilds trust that civic systems can deliver material improvements in people’s lives. The architecture was designed with a north star of making the economy work for working people. The core architecture and its accompanying tools and products rebuild a shared economic language that reconnects people to each other, to government, and to civic participation. Its aim is economic paradigm change. WJN currently consists of two separate projects whose impact is measured by narrative adoption and utilization — shaping how others do their work via education and training, influencing, and equipping the institutions that reach the public, workers, and decision-makers.

Winning Jobs Narrative Education or WJN Education, a fiscally sponsored project of North Main Street Fund, undertakes research, narrative development, education, and training that builds shared language and improves the ability of stakeholders to communicate effectively about the economy across workers, leaders, donors, and institutions in order to drive a paradigm shift toward an economy that centers working people as the true drivers of shared prosperity, economic growth and civic stability.

Winning Jobs Narrative Action or WJN Action, a fiscally sponsored project of Forward Action Fund, supports narrative development, training, and tools focused on promoting policies and legislation, as well as engaging in communications around elections that advance policies and leaders that put working people and their concerns first. WJN is a multifaceted project with many collaborators, advisors, and contributors. Radical cooperation is our guiding principle. No single project can deliver everything that a movement for working people needs. So we set out to build on the work of colleagues and share findings and innovations widely to help inform a broader conversation. Learn more and sign up for updates here.

Requirements

Qualifications:

Significant experience in communications strategy, media relations, digital communications, advocacy communications, political communications, nonprofit communications, journalism, or related fields.

Excellent writing, editing, messaging, and storytelling skills.

Strong editorial judgment and ability to translate complex ideas into clear, persuasive public-facing content.

Proven ability to develop and execute communications strategies across multiple channels and audiences.

Experience managing social and digital platforms for an organization, campaign, public figure, or initiative.

Understanding of audience psychology, digital engagement, and how ideas move through political, media, and advocacy ecosystems.

Highly organized, proactive, and execution-oriented.

Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment with shifting priorities and high standards.

Strong commitment to WJN’s mission of reconnecting with working-class audiences and rebuilding trust through more effective economic narratives.

Preferred Qualifications:

Existing relationships with political, policy, economic, labor, democracy, or advocacy reporters.

Experience across both the political/advocacy and nonprofit/philanthropic spaces.

Experience working in or with campaigns, advocacy organizations, unions, coalitions, philanthropic institutions, think tanks, or movement organizations.

Familiarity with public opinion research, message testing, narrative change, economic messaging, or working-class voter engagement.

Experience helping build or scale the communications function of a growing organization, campaign, or start-up initiative.