Communications & Marketing Coordinator

The Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) is seeking a communications and marketing coordinator to join a team of 16 staff who provide the state’s 1,477 school board members with research-based leadership development training, policy and legal resources, and legislative advocacy support.

Salary range: $45,000 to $55,000 depending upon qualifications
Closing date: screening will continue until the position is filled

General Description and Responsibilities

The communications and marketing coordinator works closely with the communications officer in meeting the internal and external communication needs of WSSDA. 

The communications coordinator, officer, and a graphic designer are a three-person team that acts as a hub for the agency by supporting every department. The communications team develops and safeguards brand standards and helps departments fulfill objectives set forth by the WSSDA Board of Directors in alignment with WSSDA’s mission, vision, and goals.

While the job description below is wide-ranging, our primary hope for the new coordinator is that they will help us increase the production of timely, relevant content for diverse audiences comprised of school boards, educational partners, and the general public.

Your work will contribute to supporting Washington’s 1,477 locally elected school board members in striving to provide visionary leadership, effective governance, and strategic advocacy for their local school districts and K-12 public education as a whole.

Why Work for WSSDA?

Director Ron Mabry
Ron Mabry
WSSDA President-elect

“This is an opportunity for you to be involved with a team that operates at the highest levels of engagement between elected officials, the public, and our state’s K-12 public education system.”

Sandy Hayes
WSSDA Vice President

“This is an opportunity to work in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment, serving those who serve Washington’s 1.2 million students. I encourage you to apply and come work with us.”

Roles and Responsibilities

Coordinate, and in consultation with the Communications Officer:

  • Take initiative with content production such as:
    • often writing for blog posts, email campaigns, social media, and webpages
    • occasional photography, if able
    • occasional video capture and production, if able
  • Take initiative with marketing efforts for revenue-generating products:
    • OnCall, a near monthly publication to review, edit, and send back to the producer
    • BoardDocs, an online platform marketed to school boards for displaying school board policies, procedures and more
  • Take initiative with these most common tasks that are foundational to the communications coordinator role:
    • Writing, editing, and proofing
    • Social media posting, monitoring, and moderation
    • Daily production of eClippings (wssda.org/eclippings)
    • Posting content and managing contributors for ourkidswa.org
    • Updating and developing the WSSDA website
  • Other related duties as assigned

Essential Skills and Attributes

Experience with technology:

  • WordPress or similar for updating website content
  • Buffer or similar for scheduling social media posts
  • MailChimp or similar for email campaigns

Other tools the communications coordinator may be asked to learn and use are:

  • Trumba
  • Formstack
  • Box
  • Smartsheet
  • Adobe Creative Suite

Experience with people and projects:

  • Skill in working and associating with a wide variety of people regardless of race, ideology, or culture in a respectful and professional manner as part of a non-partisan organization.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills.
  • Demonstrate a positive and collaborative attitude with WSSDA members, staff, education association partners, and others.
  • Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to calmly and competently manage multiple projects simultaneously. In other words, work well under pressure to meet competing deadlines.
  • Ability to prioritize workload, set deadlines, and work within established and shared timelines while maintaining accuracy and a strong attention to detail.
  • Participate in and contribute to the ongoing development of practices to strengthen agency-wide collaboration. See the WSSDA norms.
  • Demonstrated competency in using social media for business purposes.
  • Able to work some evenings and/or weekends for WSSDA’s annual conference. Other opportunities to travel within Washington may be offered.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts degree in communications or a related field
  • Two to five years of relevant experience
  • Ability to use Adobe Creative Suite

Closest Co-worker

Sean Duke
Communications Officer

Pardon my goofy picture, but hello! I’m the person who works closest with the communications coordinator. I’ve lived overseas, trained as a teacher of English to speakers of other languages (M.A. TESOL), worked in communications for private and public colleges, plus worked for just short of a year at Seattle Public Schools. WSSDA offers meaningful work in a great facility, plus one of the most supportive teams I’ve ever joined. One of our primary hopes for the new coordinator is that they will help us increase the production of timely, relevant content for diverse audiences comprised of school boards, educational partners, and the public.

Application Form

Please submit a completed application that includes the following: 

  1. Cover Letter
  2. Resume

For questions about recruitment, please contact Josh Collette at 360-890-5781 or j.collette@wssda.org.