Senior Director of Communications & Marketing at The LGBT Center

Axis Talent Partners•New York City, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director of Communications & Marketing is a strategic partner to The LGBT Community Center’s Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Team, and Management Team. This leader directs the organization’s communications, marketing, and audience engagement strategy, strengthens the department’s systems and team, and positions communications as a proactive partner to Development, Programs, Operations, and Advocacy & Government Affairs. The role will help translate the Center’s Strategic Resiliency Plan into an integrated communications strategy and recommend the structure and resources needed for the function to grow. The Senior Director oversees the communications and marketing operating model, workflows, calendars, tools, vendors, budget, and marketing technology stack. They build cross-functional planning partnerships, develop audience segmentation and outreach strategies, establish campaign and channel KPIs, and use results to guide priorities. The role also leads the Center’s institutional storytelling, brand, executive communications, media relations, and crisis communications. As a people leader, the Senior Director manages, coaches, and develops staff, creating a collaborative and inclusive team culture. The role is hybrid and based at The Center in New York City.

Requirements

Significant progressive experience and deep expertise across nonprofit communications and marketing, including integrated campaign planning, digital and email marketing, content strategy, and brand.
Current knowledge of how audiences find, engage with, and act on nonprofit messaging, and the ability to guide colleagues while valuing their program and community expertise.
Senior-level leadership experience managing a multi-person communications or marketing function, ideally in a multi-service nonprofit, advocacy, or community-based organization.
Proven ability to set strategic direction, advise executive leadership, and prioritize competing needs.
Experience assessing and strengthening communications functions, including systems, processes, and planning structures.
Ability to write, edit, and guide execution while also building for the longer term.
Experience managing budgets, vendors, and a marketing technology stack.
Demonstrated success partnering across fundraising, programs, operations, and policy teams; ability to influence without formal authority, build trust, and navigate competing priorities transparently and with care.
Experience assessing audience data, developing segmentation and reach strategies, and setting marketing KPIs.
Working fluency with marketing automation or CRM tools such as Pardot/Salesforce or similar, WordPress, social media, and analytics tools, sufficient to diagnose problems and direct work.
Exceptional writing and editing skills, including the ability to explain complex program, impact, and policy work clearly to diverse audiences.
Executive speechwriting experience.
Experience with media relations and crisis communications.
Proven people leadership, including hiring, recruiting, coaching, and developing staff, and leading teams through growth and change.
Deep personal and professional alignment with LGBTQ+ communities, with an equity lens grounded in understanding structural racism and intersectionality.

Nice To Haves

Experience at an LGBTQ+ organization or community center.
Established New York City media relationships.
Experience supporting policy or advocacy campaigns.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead an organization-wide communications and marketing strategy aligned with The Center’s goals, and partner with leadership to set priorities for team time and resources.
Advise the CEO and Management Team on communications, including during the Strategic Resiliency Planning process, and translate the final plan into an integrated communications strategy.
Evaluate departmental needs and recommend the structure, staffing, and resources needed to grow the function.
Assess and improve department systems, workflows, tools, planning and editorial calendars, roles, and intake and approval processes.
Design an operating model that balances proactive priority-driven work with day-to-day requests, clarifying what the team produces, what other departments can handle with tools and templates, and what should be outsourced.
Oversee the marketing technology stack, including mass email, website, social media, and analytics tools; manage agency, designer, PR support, and freelancer relationships and budgets.
Build regular planning cadences with Programs, Development, Operations, and Advocacy & Government Affairs, and establish clear shared expectations for communications support.
Partner with program leaders on campaigns that encourage community members to participate in behavioral health, community programs, arts and culture, and advocacy services.
Partner with Development on digital fundraising, donor acquisition, campaigns, signature events, and stewardship materials.
Partner with Advocacy & Government Affairs on rapid-response messaging, public policy and legislative campaigns, and government communications.
Assess audience data across email, web, social, and program channels; develop segmentation and outreach strategies aligned with fundraising, program, and engagement goals.
Develop outreach strategies to engage communities historically under-reached across New York City boroughs and diverse LGBTQ+ communities.
Set meaningful campaign and channel KPIs with internal data and systems colleagues, and use results to refine strategy and focus effort.
Develop a clear, compelling organizational narrative and equip leaders and staff to communicate it consistently.
Translate program work and data, including client and community voices, into impact stories for fundraising, programs, and public channels.
Lead institutional publications, including the annual report, brochures, membership materials, and press kits.
Lead writing and strategy for the CEO’s speeches, remarks, and public messaging.
Build shared understanding and ownership of The Center’s brand, and maintain practical brand standards across digital, print, and on-site channels.
Build proactive press relationships, lead media outreach, and oversee crisis communications planning and response.
Manage, coach, and develop staff through clear goals, performance expectations, and growth paths; build a collaborative, inclusive team culture.