Director, Staff Writer

Company Description

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 280 schools, nearly 15,000 educators, and 175,000 students and alumni.    

 
Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation trains and develops outstanding educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources and training for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. 

Job Description

About The Position 

The Director, Staff Writer will be responsible for creating high-quality content that expresses KIPP’s brand and communicates progress on key priorities with internal and external audiences. The Director, Staff Writer will craft communications that inspire action and drive impact. They will both work independently to plan, draft, and execute communications, as well as work cross-team to workshop, iterate, and align on copy that best suits the audience and platform. This person needs to come with a love of writing, a commitment to KIPP’s mission, and an excitement to work in close partnership with a collaborative team. The staff writer is part of the marketing and communications team and will report directly to the VP of Marketing and Communications.   

Responsibilities 

The Director, Staff Writer will focus on the following, as part of a larger, integrated team-wide marketing and communication strategic plan:    

Project & Client Management: 

• Interview and assess the needs, priorities, and key milestones of multiple internal clients and stakeholders to recommend a content creation scope and sequence that effectively communicates progress on key priorities; clients may include Office of the CEO, Office of the President, Talent, Development, K-12 Program Leads, Senior Director of Media Relations, and Data Team 

• Effectively balance and deliver on content scope and sequence with timeliness and prioritization  

• Communicate timeline expectations, review windows, and progress to completion with relevant clients and project stakeholders 

Content Creation & Copy Editing:  

• Write for both routine communications (e.g., monthly network-wide emails from the Office of the CEO that support implementation and communicate progress on key priorities) as well as for ad hoc communications needs (e.g. announcement of new initiative or response to crisis situations)  

• Research, draft, route, and finalize editorial and opinion content aligned with storytelling arc of the year key milestones in the voices of program leaders, edited to fit platform parameters 

• Prepare leadership talking points and speeches for funder meetings, conferences, and speaking engagements; draft and edit talking points for program leads as needed 

• Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications Team to edit and improve accuracy, grammar, brand messaging, and editorial style for written content across all channels, including social media, video scripts, website copy, press releases, and messaging guides 

Skills  

• Communications: Ensures content written persuasively, clearly, and professionally, using correct grammar, vocabulary, and tone; responds promptly to concerns and ensures that stakeholders are aware of actions that are being taken and explain the rationale for decisions and/or outcomes to the stakeholder 

• Process & Project Management: Can effectively manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders to deadlines and goals while balancing multiple short- and long-term projects; demonstrates a disciplined, independent, and innovative approach to translating strategy into priorities and project plans, even in unstructured spaces; continually applies strong attention to detail to the execution of all projects and constantly looks for ways to improve and to scale learning quickly; 

• Relationship Building and Stakeholder Management: poss