Communications Director

Location

Brooklyn, NY | United States

Job description

Full-time position
Hybrid: 2+ days a week in Brooklyn office
Compensation Range: $100,000-$125,000
Robust benefits package (details below)
Posted: February 23, 2024

Chicken & Egg Pictures is seeking a Communications Director to lead the strategy and execution of its communications program.

This senior level position is an exciting, unique opportunity to contribute to the growth of Chicken & Egg Pictures (C&E) at a pivotal moment in our nearly 20-year history. The communications program is a core priority of our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan . You will create and shape the communications-strategy to raise C&E’s profile within and beyond the documentary community; implement brand-building that reflects our new vision and expanded mission; and develop and execute new strategies that amplify Chicken & Egg Pictures and the filmmakers we support.

See our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan here:

We seek a colleague who has significant communications experience working in a nonprofit or mission-driven organization or company, ideally working in one or more of the following fields: gender justice, documentary film, human rights, and social justice. If you do not have experience in the documentary film industry, you are deeply curious about it. You are inspired by Chicken & Egg Pictures’ vision of an inclusive and equitable media industry and our mission to amplify diverse voices in nonfiction film, and you are motivated by a culture of openness and learning. Every day, we strive to put our values into practice.

Who We Are

Chicken & Egg Pictures is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides a global community of women and gender expansive documentary filmmakers with creative and financial support to realize their cinematic visions and build fulfilling careers in a gender inclusive media industry. We envision an equitable and just world shaped by the power of documentary films. Our work responds to the reality that sexism, racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia can still slow or even halt too many people’s careers. Our mission lays the groundwork to disrupt these barriers.

Filmmakers need resources, opportunities, and access to thrive in an unbalanced film landscape. We match strategically timed grants with creative mentorship and community, build peer networks, and bring artists together to learn from and champion one another. This support system is tailored for the unique challenges women and non-binary people experience in their filmmaking and career trajectories.

Since our founding, Chicken & Egg Pictures has awarded over $12 million in grants and devoted thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 500 filmmakers from around the world. Films supported by our work have been nationally and internationally recognized with the industry’s highest honors, including Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Peabody Awards. They have raised visibility and driven social change on urgent issues.

Since 2013, the organization has been led by Jenni Wolfson, Chief Executive Officer. Under her leadership, the budget and programs have consistently grown as the organization expanded its impact. Chicken & Egg Pictures has received the Social Impact Media Award, Vanguard Award, the International Documentary Association’s Amicus Award and was a finalist for the Nonprofit Excellence Awards. Additional information may be found at

What You’ll Do

This position reports to the CEO and will oversee and manage the Communications Manager. This role also works closely with every member of our team, as well as with filmmakers, industry, and partners. Your responsibilities will include:

Communications Strategy and Implementation 

• Develop and implement C&E’s communications strategy and plan, in alignment with our new 2023-2025 Strategic Plan.
• Roll-out and integrate a refreshed brand identity for the organization.
• Generate key narratives and communications materials that tell the story of C&E’s programmatic strategy and role in building a more inclusive and sustainable documentary ecosystem.
• Create tailored action plans for owned, earned, shared, and paid media.
• Build and maintain relationships with PR firms, journalists, thought leaders, and media outlets.
• Ensure that organizational commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism are prioritized in our communications.
• Review external messaging to donors, partners, and filmmakers to ensure framework consistency, as needed.
• In the event of a crisis, oversee the communications process in collaboration with senior management, design and deploy strategy, and advise on tactics.

Team Collaboration and Management 

• As a member of the senior management team, engage with the CEO, COO, and Program Director in identifying opportunities that promote the sustainability, growth, reputation, and visibility of C&E and its team.
• Provide guidance and coaching to team members in public speaking; and identify opportunities for external positioning.
• Identify and manage communications and communications related resources and consultants.
• Supervise the Communications Manager, providing guidance and professional development.

Who You Are

You must have significant experience - ideally at least 10 years - successfully leading and managing communication and branding strategies, as well as in media relations; this includes in leadership roles, people management, and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.

While no one candidate will embody all the qualifications below, a strong candidate will be ready to hit the ground running and possess many of the following abilities, attributes, and experiences.

Minimum Requirements

• Vision and Strategy: Creating and developing innovative communication strategies, institutional messaging, and measurable plans to reach organizational goals.
• Storytelling: Telling powerful, forward thinking stories that synthesize complex issues and cut through a crowded media landscape, positioning the organization as a thought leader.
• Mission-Driven: Working in a nonprofit or mission-driven organization/company.
• Partnerships and Collaboration: Meeting industry peers to explore partnerships and collaborations; managing agencies and consultants.
• Technology: Demonstrated knowledge and proficiency with communications technologies.

Desired Qualifications

• Network: Pitching and landing top tier media.
• Media: Coaching others to be effective communicators in diverse outlets.
• Field: Working in one or more of the following fields: gender justice, documentary film, human rights, and social justice.
• External Representation: Representing an organization as a speaker on panels, public events, and film festivals.
• Advertising: Optimizing marketing strategies and processes with advertising tools (e.g. Google and Microsoft Ad Grants).

Professional Competencies

To be successful in this position, you excel in the following professional areas that contribute to the foundational elements of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ work culture:

• Leadership: You know how to communicate a vision and are able to facilitate collaboration cross-departmentally to make that vision a reality. You are comfortable dealing with ambiguity and leading others through it.
• Supervision: You have proven experience developing and empowering high-performing staff and learning the strengths and challenges so as to place staff in a position to succeed. Your approach to supervision is oriented toward coaching, facilitating, and leading through influence rather than authority.
• Project Management Skills: You enjoy creating and implementing new initiatives. You are adept at managing and executing complex projects that require ingenuity, attention to detail, and accuracy. Highly agile, you are able to synthesize information and be decisive and thoughtful in responding to rapid-response scenarios and tight deadlines.
• Communication: You are a clear, concise, and innovative writer with expertise in working across platforms and materials that reach different audiences. You prioritize advancing equity through external communications; you are able to write persuasively about documentary filmmaking as well as the nuances of films exploring complex social justice issues. You are adept at building new relationships and serving as a spokesperson.
• Work Habits and Approach: ​​You have excellent judgment, a strong work ethic, resourcefulness, and problem-solving skills. Good humor, initiative, and flexibility are among the traits you bring to the table as a collaborative team member. You are curious, a life-long learner, and you value a diversity of thought, background, and perspective.

What Else You Should Know

Start Date: As soon as possible.

Deadline: Applications will be processed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Early submission of your application is recommended. We anticipate holding interviews in March and April.

Application Process: If your application moves forward, the application process may include up to three interview rounds with Chicken & Egg Pictures team members. Finalists will be sent a prompt and prepare an exercise, for which they will receive an honorarium.

Location and Hybrid Work Policy: This position is based in NYC. Staff are working a hybrid schedule with a standard schedule of at least two days a week in our Brooklyn office.

Compensation: Chicken & Egg Pictures offers a salary informed by the organization’s Total Rewards Philosophy and Practices, which is grounded in market data. The salary range for this full-time position is $100,000-$125,000. Actual salary from this range will be based on the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

Benefits: 100% premium coverage of health, dental, and vision insurance, plus life and short and long-term disability insurances. Flexible spending accounts for medical, dependent care, transit, and parking expenses. A 403(b) plan with a matching employer contribution. Annually 15 vacation days (20 at the two-year mark), 10 safe and sick leave days, and 4 personal days. The office is closed for 10 holidays, in addition to December 24 - 31, and offers a Summer Fridays schedule. Professional development opportunities and home office stipends offered. Employees are eligible for a paid six-week sabbatical after every five years of continuous employment.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Chicken & Egg Pictures is an at-will and equal opportunity employer. As such, we strongly encourage and seek applications from all backgrounds, including but not limited to women and non-binary individuals, people of color, bilingual and multicultural individuals, people with working class backgrounds, people with disabilities, as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

We take great pride in providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, genetics, protected veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, marital or familial status, arrest or conviction record, status as a victim of domestic violence, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

E-Verify: We participate in the E-Verify Program .

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