Director, Policy & Communications (Education Policy)

Location: New York City, United States

Salary: $105,000–$150,000 annually for high-urban locations, including New York City and San Francisco.

Company

Educators for Excellence is an educator-led nonprofit movement focused on building teacher leadership, advancing education policy, and supporting a diverse, high-quality teaching profession.

What you will do

• Lead E4E-New York’s external communications strategy for advocacy and policy campaigns.
• Develop campaign narratives, message architecture, communications plans, editorial calendars, and rapid-response messaging.
• Manage media relations, including reporter outreach, press materials, op-eds, public statements, and spokesperson preparation.
• Lead digital, executive, and public-facing communications across email, social media, web, events, and advocacy materials.
• Advise the Executive Director and chapter leadership on communications, policy interpretation, public positioning, and reputational risks.
• Monitor and analyze New York City and New York State education policy, legislation, regulation, budgets, and implementation developments.

Requirements

• Approximately 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in communications, public affairs, advocacy, journalism, policy communications, political communications, nonprofit communications, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success developing communications strategies tied to advocacy, policy, organizing, or systems-change goals.
• Strong earned-media experience and relationships with reporters and other media stakeholders.
• Exceptional writing and editing skills across op-eds, press materials, speeches, talking points, digital content, and executive communications.
• Ability to translate complex policy or technical information into clear communications for nontechnical audiences.
• Working knowledge of public policy analysis and legislative or regulatory processes.

Nice to have

• Experience in education policy, K–12 education, government, advocacy, organizing, or a related policy environment.
• Experience advising senior executives or organizational leaders on communications strategy.
• Familiarity with the New York City and New York State education environment.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with paid time off and health insurance plans.
• Competitive salary with pre-tax benefits and cell phone reimbursement.
• Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination before the start of employment, with medical and religious exemptions available as reasonable accommodations.
• Equal opportunity workplace focused on inclusion, accessibility, and belonging.
• Reasonable accommodations are available throughout the interview process.

Hiring process

• Candidate experience and role-related competencies are assessed through a structured hiring process.
• New hire paperwork is completed using E-Verify.