Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Hybrid: Mondays and at least one other day per week are spent working out of our office in Buckhead.

Travel: Occasional overnight statewide and national travel (10% of time) is required to staff GEEARS events and attend conferences and meetings.

About GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students

Established in 2010 to help business, civic and government leaders maximize the economic return on the state’s investments in early care and learning, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students is a nonprofit organization operating to inspire and provide leadership for a statewide movement on quality early learning and healthy development for all children ages birth through five. Through advocacy, research and innovation, communication and convening, we advance our mission to ensure that all Georgia’s children, birth to age five, thrive by championing research-backed policies and investments, fostering collaboration, and leading a statewide movement to advance public will.

Led by GEEARS, PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive is a city-wide alliance of public and private partners collaborating to improve learning, health, and well-being outcomes for Atlanta's youngest children and their families. We envision a city where barriers to success are eradicated and families have what they need to ensure that all children starting at birth are healthy, learning and developing, so that they enter school ready for success, thrive once in school and are prepared to reach their full potential. GEEARS serves as the backbone organization for this collective impact effort and provides governance, fiscal oversight, data management, fundraising support, and the communication strategy to ensure the initiative is effective and sustainable.

The Opportunity

GEEARS is seeking a creative, strategic, and collaborative *_Vice President, Marketing & Communications*_ to lead the organization’s integrated marketing, communications, and public relations strategy. We are looking for a strategic leader who can help GEEARS and PAACT think bigger, communicate more clearly, work smarter, and build greater visibility and influence across Georgia. The right candidate will bring both the strategic perspective to shape where GEEARS goes and the practical experience to figure out how to get there.

This is an externally visible leadership role responsible for telling the GEEARS story in compelling ways that elevate our brand, deepen engagement with key audiences, build support for our work, and ultimately, inspire action to shift public systems and investments to better support improved outcomes for children from birth to age five.

As a member of the leadership team and reporting to the CEO, this person will partner with the CEO and help GEEARS build the systems, processes, team capacity, and external relationships necessary to communicate with greater clarity, consistency, creativity, and impact.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Marketing & Communications Leadership

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, integrated marketing and communications strategy aligned with GEEARS’ mission, strategic plan, and organizational priorities.
• Build integrated marketing and communications plans that increase awareness of GEEARS, its initiatives, strengthen its brand, engage key audiences, attract and retain donors, and advance organizational goals.
• Serve as a strategic communications partner to GEEARS leadership and teams, helping colleagues identify the right audiences, messages, channels, and opportunities to advance their work.
• Establish clear communications priorities and a proactive editorial and campaign calendar across the organization.
• Lead crisis communications and issues management, developing protocols and response plans that enable GEEARS to respond quickly, thoughtfully, and consistently to emerging issues, reputational risks, and unexpected events. Serve as a trusted advisor to CEO and leadership on communications strategy, messaging, media response, and stakeholder engagement during times of crisis.
• Monitor trends, audience engagement, and communications performance and use data and insights to continuously improve strategy.

Brand Development & Management

• Strengthen and steward the GEEARS brand across all communications, ensuring consistency in voice, visual identity, messaging, and positioning, including exploring the need to rebrand/rename to best achieve our mission.

Campaigns, Advocacy & Public Engagement

• Translate complex research, policy, and advocacy work into clear, compelling communications and campaigns that motivate audiences to engage and act.
• Bring a campaign mindset to communications—connecting strategy, storytelling, audiences, creative content, media, digital channels, and calls to action.

Media Relations & Public Relations

• Lead GEEARS’ media relations strategy, building and maintaining strong relationships with reporters, editors, producers, and other media professionals across Georgia and relevant national outlets.
• Identify opportunities to proactively position GEEARS, its leaders, research, policy priorities, and partners in the news.
• Write, edit, and approve high-level messaging, including press releases, media pitches, opinion pieces, briefing materials, and similar.
• Create and execute media event opportunities, including press conferences, press briefings, and editorial roundtables. Manage day-of event logistics, including audio-visual setups, prepping subject matter experts and media Q&A.

Communications Systems

• Build and improve internal communications systems, processes, workflows, and tools that make the organization more efficient and effective.
• Establish clear processes for planning, prioritizing, requesting, reviewing, approving, and executing communications work.
• Help colleagues across GEEARS become stronger communicators while ensuring the communications team is focused on the highest-value work.
• Support internal communications and uphold confidentiality, ensuring staff have timely, clear, and consistent information about organizational priorities, decisions, initiatives, and changes.

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage, mentor, and inspire a high-performing communications team currently consisting of a Staff Writer and Digital Media Manager, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, creative, and high-performing team culture.
• Determine when external consultants, agencies, freelancers, or other partners can best meet organizational needs versus building capacity internally, and manage those vendors and consultants as needed.

Fundraising & Development Support

• Partner closely with development staff to create donor-facing communications and support fundraising events that articulate GEEARS’ impact and value.
• Help ensure that GEEARS’ communications consistently demonstrate the connection between investment and measurable impact.

Who We’re Looking For Our ideal candidate

• Has a genuine passion for GEEARS’ mission and a commitment to changing public policy and investments to improve outcomes for all young children and families in Georgia.
• Has a bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations or a related field and at least seven years of progressively more responsible communications or public relations experience, preferably in a nonprofit, campaign, or advocacy setting.
• Has demonstrated success developing and implementing integrated marketing, communications, public relations, and/or campaign strategies for a non-profit, advocacy organization, political campaign, or similar organization.
• Is collaborative, inclusive, and able to build trust across an organization and with partners.
• Is energized by working in a small, mission-driven organization where leadership means both setting strategy and occasionally rolling up your sleeves to edit a Canva template.
• Is curious about and comfortable using evolving technology, media platforms, and AI tools to improve productivity, workflows, creativity, and team performance.
• Has experience building communications systems, processes, and workflows that improve organizational effectiveness.
• Has strong storytelling skills and the ability to make complex issues understandable, relevant, and compelling.
• Has experience with brand development and/or rebranding.
• Is familiar with WordPress, Canva, Monday.com, Bloomerang, Voter Voice, social media platforms (currently Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, but we’d love to explore TikTok and other platforms to reach our key audiences) and Microsoft Office systems.
• Brings strong media relations experience and either has deep relationships with Georgia media or has demonstrated the ability to build productive media relationships in a similar geographic or organizational context.

We encourage candidates who are excited about this opportunity to apply even if they do not meet every qualification listed. GEEARS values diverse experiences, perspectives, identities, and paths, and we welcome candidates from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in nonprofit leadership, communications, and public policy.

Please answer all applicant questions and submit a cover letter and resume/CV to be considered for this position: Hybrid: Mondays and at least one other day per week are spent working out of our office in Buckhead.

Travel: Occasional overnight statewide and national travel (10% of time) is required to staff GEEARS events and attend conferences and meetings.

About GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students

Established in 2010 to help business, civic and government leaders maximize the economic return on the state’s investments in early care and learning, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students is a nonprofit organization operating to inspire and provide leadership for a statewide movement on quality early learning and healthy development for all children ages birth through five. Through advocacy, research and innovation, communication and convening, we advance our mission to ensure that all Georgia’s children, birth to age five, thrive by championing research-backed policies and investments, fostering collaboration, and leading a statewide movement to advance public will.

Led by GEEARS, PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive is a city-wide alliance of public and private partners collaborating to improve learning, health, and well-being outcomes for Atlanta's youngest children and their families. We envision a city where barriers to success are eradicated and families have what they need to ensure that all children starting at birth are healthy, learning and developing, so that they enter school ready for success, thrive once in school and are prepared to reach their full potential. GEEARS serves as the backbone organization for this collective impact effort and provides governance, fiscal oversight, data management, fundraising support, and the communication strategy to ensure the initiative is effective and sustainable.

The Opportunity

GEEARS is seeking a creative, strategic, and collaborative *_Vice President, Marketing & Communications*_ to lead the organization’s integrated marketing, communications, and public relations strategy. We are looking for a strategic leader who can help GEEARS and PAACT think bigger, communicate more clearly, work smarter, and build greater visibility and influence across Georgia. The right candidate will bring both the strategic perspective to shape where GEEARS goes and the practical experience to figure out how to get there.

This is an externally visible leadership role responsible for telling the GEEARS story in compelling ways that elevate our brand, deepen engagement with key audiences, build support for our work, and ultimately, inspire action to shift public systems and investments to better support improved outcomes for children from birth to age five.

As a member of the leadership team and reporting to the CEO, this person will partner with the CEO and help GEEARS build the systems, processes, team capacity, and external relationships necessary to communicate with greater clarity, consistency, creativity, and impact.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Marketing & Communications Leadership

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, integrated marketing and communications strategy aligned with GEEARS’ mission, strategic plan, and organizational priorities.
• Build integrated marketing and communications plans that increase awareness of GEEARS, its initiatives, strengthen its brand, engage key audiences, attract and retain donors, and advance organizational goals.
• Serve as a strategic communications partner to GEEARS leadership and teams, helping colleagues identify the right audiences, messages, channels, and opportunities to advance their work.
• Establish clear communications priorities and a proactive editorial and campaign calendar across the organization.
• Lead crisis communications and issues management, developing protocols and response plans that enable GEEARS to respond quickly, thoughtfully, and consistently to emerging issues, reputational risks, and unexpected events. Serve as a trusted advisor to CEO and leadership on communications strategy, messaging, media response, and stakeholder engagement during times of crisis.
• Monitor trends, audience engagement, and communications performance and use data and insights to continuously improve strategy.

Brand Development & Management

• Strengthen and steward the GEEARS brand across all communications, ensuring consistency in voice, visual identity, messaging, and positioning, including exploring the need to rebrand/rename to best achieve our mission.

Campaigns, Advocacy & Public Engagement

• Translate complex research, policy, and advocacy work into clear, compelling communications and campaigns that motivate audiences to engage and act.
• Bring a campaign mindset to communications—connecting strategy, storytelling, audiences, creative content, media, digital channels, and calls to action.

Media Relations & Public Relations

• Lead GEEARS’ media relations strategy, building and maintaining strong relationships with reporters, editors, producers, and other media professionals across Georgia and relevant national outlets.
• Identify opportunities to proactively position GEEARS, its leaders, research, policy priorities, and partners in the news.
• Write, edit, and approve high-level messaging, including press releases, media pitches, opinion pieces, briefing materials, and similar.
• Create and execute media event opportunities, including press conferences, press briefings, and editorial roundtables. Manage day-of event logistics, including audio-visual setups, prepping subject matter experts and media Q&A.

Communications Systems

• Build and improve internal communications systems, processes, workflows, and tools that make the organization more efficient and effective.
• Establish clear processes for planning, prioritizing, requesting, reviewing, approving, and executing communications work.
• Help colleagues across GEEARS become stronger communicators while ensuring the communications team is focused on the highest-value work.
• Support internal communications and uphold confidentiality, ensuring staff have timely, clear, and consistent information about organizational priorities, decisions, initiatives, and changes.

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage, mentor, and inspire a high-performing communications team currently consisting of a Staff Writer and Digital Media Manager, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, creative, and high-performing team culture.
• Determine when external consultants, agencies, freelancers, or other partners can best meet organizational needs versus building capacity internally, and manage those vendors and consultants as needed.

Fundraising & Development Support

• Partner closely with development staff to create donor-facing communications and support fundraising events that articulate GEEARS’ impact and value.
• Help ensure that GEEARS’ communications consistently demonstrate the connection between investment and measurable impact.

Who We’re Looking For Our ideal candidate

• Has a genuine passion for GEEARS’ mission and a commitment to changing public policy and investments to improve outcomes for all young children and families in Georgia.
• Has a bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations or a related field and at least seven years of progressively more responsible communications or public relations experience, preferably in a nonprofit, campaign, or advocacy setting.
• Has demonstrated success developing and implementing integrated marketing, communications, public relations, and/or campaign strategies for a non-profit, advocacy organization, political campaign, or similar organization.
• Is collaborative, inclusive, and able to build trust across an organization and with partners.
• Is energized by working in a small, mission-driven organization where leadership means both setting strategy and occasionally rolling up your sleeves to edit a Canva template.
• Is curious about and comfortable using evolving technology, media platforms, and AI tools to improve productivity, workflows, creativity, and team performance.
• Has experience building communications systems, processes, and workflows that improve organizational effectiveness.
• Has strong storytelling skills and the ability to make complex issues understandable, relevant, and compelling.
• Has experience with brand development and/or rebranding.
• Is familiar with WordPress, Canva, Monday.com, Bloomerang, Voter Voice, social media platforms (currently Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, but we’d love to explore TikTok and other platforms to reach our key audiences) and Microsoft Office systems.
• Brings strong media relations experience and either has deep relationships with Georgia media or has demonstrated the ability to build productive media relationships in a similar geographic or organizational context.

We encourage candidates who are excited about this opportunity to apply even if they do not meet every qualification listed. GEEARS values diverse experiences, perspectives, identities, and paths, and we welcome candidates from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in nonprofit leadership, communications, and public policy.

Please answer all applicant questions and submit a cover letter and resume/CV to be considered for this position: https://payroll.justworks.com/jobs/01fe5b98-0d4c-4fbd-88cc-9ac57d1b73f2-job

Pay: $110,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year

Benefits

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Caregiver leave
• Cell phone reimbursement
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance
• Work from home

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Atlanta, GA 30326