Director of Marketing and Communications

Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council | Director of Marketing and Communications


Founded in 2013, the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) is a global community of purchasers, suppliers, advocates, and experts committed to driving positive impact through the power of procurement.

SPLC connects members directly to sustainable procurement expertise and has a proven track record of supporting hundreds of organizations to design and execute meaningful sustainable procurement strategies. SPLC members gain access to one-on-one training, a network of engaged peers, and practical guidance that includes case studies, webinars, contract language, tools, and category-specific resources.

SPLC’s unique value is rooted in its over ten years of knowledge and ability to meet members where they are by helping them build custom roadmaps for sustainable procurement success that contributes to essential environmental and social outcomes.  

Within a fluid and rapidly evolving landscape of sustainability efforts worldwide, the SPLC equips members with the tools and knowledge required to prioritize opportunities for impact, identify the leading standards and approaches for the selected opportunities, benchmark progress, and receive recognition for their impact.

The first decade of the organization’s existence has delivered impressive results. SPLC has attracted into its membership some of the most influential sustainable procurement leaders globally due to the organization’s deep understanding of the challenges buyers and suppliers face today and its ability to design a meaningful community of practice to support its members. As its membership has grown and diversified, SPLC has maintained deep integrity around its mission, principles, and commitment to a genuine leadership agenda.

We are seeking an experienced, highly motivated self-starter to join our growing team. You'll lead efforts to grow our brand presence, thought leadership and member value. You’ll also help design and manage virtual and in-person events. This is a USA-remote, salaried position that qualifies for SPLC’s generous benefits package (see below), and allows for flexibility in how and where work gets done. Annual salary range is $65,000 -85,000 for the 4 day per week (SPLC-standard) position, depending on experience and skill set.

Who are you?

The individual we are looking for is a self-starter able to act fast, think strategically and creatively, maintain high standards, and be detail-oriented. They have a proven track record of marketing and communications excellence, preferably in a social equity or environmental sustainability context. Experience as project manager over external and/or internal marketing and communications initiatives would be helpful.

Experience in a corporate setting is a plus, however we will prefer candidates who have also or exclusively worked in an NGO environment. The right candidate understands how to balance the demands for creativity, collaboration and leadership across stakeholder categories, and is comfortable interacting with anyone from senior corporate and government leaders to environmental and social advocates, to small business owners and more.

This position is a key part of a small, talented and highly collaborative team, dedicated to the sustainability mission. Our team is all-virtual, but always connected. We operate on the values of authenticity, interpersonal relationships and mutual support, which are essential to our ability to deliver exceptional quality and value in all that we do. At SPLC, we find joy in the work we do, empowering organizations to drive some of the most consequential changes needed in our time. We honor diversity of all kinds and diverse candidates are actively encouraged to apply.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

  • For consideration, you must bring the following minimum skills to our team:
  • Experience communicating on sustainability and social impact
  • Proven experience in brand and integrated marketing campaign management 
  • Polished writing skills, with ability to translate staff knowledge into compelling prose, and to tailor content to many levels - from media articles to websites, to promotional campaigns.
  • Fluency with website, email marketing, and CRM/Member Management digital platform development.   
  • Familiarity with either virtual and/or in-person events project management
  • BA or higher from an accredited educational institution, OR equivalent work experience and work products that demonstrate the competencies required and indicated by such a degree.

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES 

  • The following qualities and skills will qualify applicants as preferred candidates:
  • A passionate interest in brand marketing with an eye for quality design
  • Experience with strategic communications, PR and thought leadership development
  • Excellent problem-solving skills.
  • A passionate interest in brand marketing with an eye for quality design
  • Strategic thinker, able to form opinions and defend them.
  • Ability to set and attain goals working independently, self-managing sequencing of work.
  • A quick learner, adaptable to new technologies and content areas.
  • Familiarity with SPLC’s current marketing tech if possible - including MailChimp, Zapier, Novi, Sengii, Loomly, WordPress, Jotform
  • A good collaborator - able and excited to work with a wide range of different people appropriately and effectively.
  • Strong attention to detail and follow-through.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Brand

  • Serve as a brand expert, champion, and coach to others, including creation of processes, messaging, internal communication, and creating and managing key asset repositories to enable our members and supporters to promote and communicate the value of SPLC’s offerings and insights.
  • Develop and maintain sustainability/social impact brand style guides, resources, and templates for internal and external use as needed to support and continue to grow the organization’s visibility as a central hub for sustainable procurement knowledge and convening;
  • Continue to develop SPLC’s messaging and visuals in line with our existing Brand Style guide, and identify improvements or expansions upon that Guide to strengthen SPLC’s brand positioning in an increasingly crowded market;
  • Define and write the creative briefs for organizational asset needs, and manage the budget to support brand initiatives such as iconography, videos, photography, identifiers, badges, illustrations, presentations, whitepapers, etc;
  • Work with CEO, staff and Board to ensure consistent communication and recognition of SPLC thought leadership - in sustainability media, speaking engagements;
  • Demonstrate sound judgment in assessing brand risks and making decisions that maintain the integrity of our core values and that uphold the larger brand & sustainability strategy.

Marketing

  • Own and drive marketing campaigns from development of brief through delivery/launch of assets and execution, partnering across and outside the organization as needed.
  • Design automated marketing workflows for ongoing engagement of members, potential members, and other interested parties;
  • Build social media strategy and calendaring; execute social media campaigns in collaboration with Interns/Staff/Board/Members
    • Manage monthly newsletter production - scheduling, sourcing staff and other content, producing and publishing, managing website integration    
    • Build organization-level event calendar – evaluating and prioritizing events for relevance to our audience and message, and working with staff to develop proposals and submit for speaking engagements 
    • Support and maintain consistency and excellence of brand style usage by all SPLC representatives in all outgoing communications
  • Manage the day-to-day oversight of assigned communications projects, including internal reviews, revisions, and final asset delivery to key stakeholders
  • Manage the relationship with design and production contractors, from developing agreed-upon SOWs, to monitoring and managing timeline and deliverables, to designing consultation/review processes.
  • Develop, maintain, and communicate schedules to critical stakeholders, while ensuring project schedules are met on time and with quality
  • PR/media outreach in collaboration with the CEO will be part of this work as appropriate.

Events

SPLC runs a monthly webinar series, occasional virtual convenings, and an in-person Summit. For the Summit event (which is moving to a biannual schedule with the next occurrence in 2025) we work with a skilled events management firm with whom we have a longstanding relationship. The Marketing and Communications Director is not responsible for execution of logistical tasks, but instead supervises and serves as internal traffic controller and PM, working closely with that contracted team to ensure event alignment with our brand, support member and Board involvement, prepare and promote sponsorship packages and engage staff and CEO as needed. 

Events-related duties will include:

  • Working with staff and CEO to identify topics and speakers for the webinar series, engage those speakers and manage comms and marketing of those (free) sessions;
  • Assist with SPLC’s Annual Leadership Awards program
  • Serve as central point of SPLC contact for Summit events management contractors, both leading up to and onsite during event;
  • Recruit and manage member committee processes to support Summit program development and local event planning;
  • Identify and recruit keynote speakers in collaboration with CEO and Board, and provide them with guidance on audience and messaging;
  • Oversee development of Summit mainstage Run of Show, and produce scripted remarks as needed by CEO, sponsors, Board members, consistent with event themes and SPLC brand style;
  • Manage existing SPLC contractors who support the event and do not fall under the events management team’s purview – e.g. graphic design.

SALARY RANGE: $65,000 - $85,000 for 32/hr/week schedule, depending on relevant experience 

STANDARD SPLC EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

SPLC Employees working 32 hours or more per week (defined as “full-time”) qualify for the following benefits:

Insurance – Medical, Dental, Vision All SPLC employees qualify for ICHRA reimbursement of the employee’s monthly premiums (typically covering 100% for the employee and 50% for family members, subject to a ceiling set annually by Board of Directors) for a qualifying health/dental/vision plan and direct expenses. SPLC covers 100% of the employee’s premiums for Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D), short-term disability, and long-term disability benefits, and offers up to $750/month reimbursement for childcare expenses.

Retirement accounts All employees have the opportunity to participate in a SIMPLE IRA tax-deferred retirement savings plan with an employer 3% match for full-time (32 hr) employees.

Paid Time Off All employees receive 15 days of paid vacation time, 10 paid holidays (2 of which are “floating”), 10 sick days and 5 personal days. For each year of satisfactory service to the SPLC, an employee receives 1 additional vacation day. We commonly close our offices the last week of the year as a holiday week for all employees. Annually, five days of vacation time may be carried over each year to the following year, to be used within the first six months of the carryover year.