Communications Manager Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in communications, public relations, or media relations.
• Experience coordinating communications across multiple teams, departments, or program areas.
• Experience coordinating geographically dispersed or matrixed teams and influencing without direct authority.
• Demonstrated media relations and spokesperson-preparation experience.
• Experience managing external vendors or contractors and communications budgets.
• Proficiency with media monitoring tools, content management systems, email marketing, and design-collaboration platforms.
• Experience in a nonprofit, environmental, or mission-driven organization, or in the climate, clean energy, water stewardship, or broader environmental sector.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with the Pacific Northwest region.
• Familiarity with energy, water, and/or corporate sustainability issues.
• Experience managing crisis or incident-management communications.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the central contact for external communications requests, interview requests, speaking invitations, and media inquiries directed to BEF or its staff.
• Build and maintain proactive and reactive media relations to support BEF’s visibility in climate, energy, business sustainability, water resource, and environmental coverage.
• Monitor and report media coverage and public mentions to leadership, expand tracking practices, and flag emerging risks and opportunities.
• Prepare executive leaders and program staff for interviews, panels, and public appearances, including developing talking points and aligning messages.
• Manage BEF’s organizational social media presence, ensuring accuracy, consistency with the brand voice, and coordination with program-level content.
• Work with the Chief of Staff to develop a reputational risk and crisis communications protocol and partner with executive leadership on sensitive or high-visibility issues.
• Review external communications materials across programs for consistency, accuracy, and alignment with BEF’s mission and values.
• Manage external communications contractors and vendors, including scoping, budgeting, performance, and quality control.
• Maintain and evolve BEF’s messaging framework across print, digital, and public-facing channels.
• Partner with program teams to create, review, edit, and finalize organizational materials such as annual reports, impact stories, newsletters, and website content.
• Coordinate communications across Renewables, Watersheds, BWS, CBG, and executive functions without centralizing or displacing program communications capacity.
• Identify overlapping stories, opportunities to reinforce BEF’s shared narrative, and instances where program communications may work at cross-purposes externally.
• Establish light-touch shared standards and practices for voice, terminology, and review while preserving program teams’ ownership of day-to-day communications.
• Support high-functioning, impactful program-specific communications actions and strategies that reinforce program function, direction, and development.
• Periodically convene a program communications working group or community of practice to surface priorities, share resources, and identify cross-program collaboration opportunities.
• Advise program leadership on how their communications fit within and can draw on BEF’s broader organizational narrative.
• Partner with the Learning & Development Director to ensure appropriate staff receive communications and media best-practices training.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid medical insurance for employees; family/dependent coverage is 75% subsidized.
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance and life insurance for employees, employer-paid.
• Retirement plan with a 5% employer matching contribution.
• Generous PTO and vacation policy, including alternative care and self-care leave.
• Four-week paid sabbatical after the first six years, and every five years thereafter.
• Training and development opportunities, including a paid professional development budget.