The Role: 

The Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs will play a critical role in developing and executing Newsela’s external strategic communications plan. From the classroom, to the community, to policy-making, you will be responsible for uncovering and sharing compelling stories of Newsela’s impact to drive brand awareness and media attention across various channels and audiences including, K-12 district leaders and teachers, policy makers and influencers, investors, research institutions, and publishers. Additionally, you will develop and implement a rapid response program that identifies opportunities to weigh in on breaking news and trending topics and shape our thought leadership programs. Reporting to the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, you will also help scale our growing government relations program, including managing a team of consultants / state lobbyists, building public affairs campaigns, and helping to identify new areas for engagement. This role works closely with the Product, Customer, and User Engagement teams to ensure a coordinated, aligned, company-wide effort. 

Why You’ll Love This Role:

As a member of our growing Corporate Communications and Public Affairs team, you will have the opportunity to directly shape the  corporate narrative of an organization that is solving real challenges in K-12 education. You’ll have the opportunity to work with a passionate, talented team of individuals  who are constantly pushing each other for fresh innovative ideas that break the box of traditional communications. You will also gain exposure to scaling a government relations program during a time when education policy has never been more important. Your work will be highly visible, both internally and externally, and will have a direct impact on our mission, which will ultimately scale Newsela’s ability to bring engaging, culturally responsive learning content to K-12 classrooms nationwide. 

Why We’ll Love You: 

You are a passionate, strong writer who has 10+ years of experience in communications. You have demonstrated success in crafting compelling narratives and pitching media. You have a strong understanding of our various audiences and how to best employ strategies that ensure the highest impact across our various media channels.  You understand how government works and are able to effectively build strategic public affairs campaigns that leverage third party voices and impact policy makers.  While not required, experience in K-12 education is a plus. 

About Newsela: 

One of the fastest growing tech companies in K-12 education, Newsela was founded on the principle that while every child may have unique learning preferences, they all deserve a rich learning experience that ignites a love of learning. We built our platform based on learning science research to deliver the most engaging, authentic content to modernize how teaching happens in the classroom. Along with interactive assessments and tools, we provide teachers with digital content at five reading levels -- from +100 of the best sources -- that is relevant to the diverse backgrounds and interests of their students. Since we started in 2013, we’ve established a presence in 90% of U.S. K-12 schools and over 2.5M teachers and 37M students have registered with Newsela.