Chaloner has partnered with ConwayStrategic on their search for a Vice President, Strategic Communications.

Vice President, Strategic Communications

Reports to: Co-CEOs, COMS Project

Direct reports: Senior Director of Data and Insights, others TBD

Location: Remote, U.S.-based (movement is national in scope)

The Opportunity

The COMS Project has built deep expertise, relationships, and communications capacity for the Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice (RHRJ) movement for over a decade, providing trusted messaging expertise, research, resources, and connections across the field. Now, as the communications ecosystem is being reshaped by platforms, algorithms, creators, and rapidly shifting audience behaviors, COMS Project is building on that foundation and bringing new expertise and capabilities to the field, meeting this moment with greater ambition, creativity, and scale.

COMS Project is expanding into new areas through two new initiatives: one focused on shared audience insights, digital strategy, content creation, and distribution, and another on workforce development. Together, these efforts will connect insight to action in new ways, creating a dynamic cycle of learning, creating, testing, and deploying that can help the field communicate with greater relevance, reach, and impact.

The COMS Project is currently an initiative of ConwayStrategic, a boutique communications firm. This new VP role is a rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this initiative and build a next-generation team and program that meet the realities of the current communications ecosystem and the current political and policy landscape impacting RHRJ organizations and people in communities across the U.S.

Role Summary

Building on the COMS Project's existing portfolio of trusted resources and expertise, this role expands and develops the overarching communications strategy for the COMS Project, in service to the RHRJ movement and informed by new audience intelligence and insights. The VP of Strategic Communications helps ensure that what we learn about audiences shapes the messages and content the program produces, and what communicators learn in practice feeds back into the communications strategy. Who we reach, what we say, and how we deliver the messages work best when they are shaped together, guided by a shared picture of the audience. 

Key Responsibilities

Communications, Content, and Media

• Leveraging new intelligence and insights, develop the overarching, high-level COMS Project communications strategy, including narrative frames, content, distribution strategy (with paid media), and influencer engagement.
• Set the priorities that guide content and media investment and use performance results to refine strategy over time.
• Oversee and guide the staff who build out and manage content production and distribution strategies.  
• Provide strategic guidance to RHRJ organizations on content and distribution strategies to reach their priority audiences.
• Direct vendor partners for content creation and distribution, including paid media strategies that scale reach beyond organic and creator-led content.

Audience Intelligence and Insights

• Own the program's responsible AI posture, ensuring AI use across intelligence is documented, human-reviewed, and consistent with the standards the program commits to publicly. Along with COMS Project leadership, maintain awareness of new tools, trends, and shifts in the RHRJ landscape (actors, opposition narratives, platform and algorithm changes, and policy) and the broader "attention economy."
• Provide strategic direction to the Senior Director of Data + Insights, who manages the audience-modeling and online listening platform (and vendor relationships). At a high level, ensure that emerging signals and trends are surfaced to the team and the movement in digestible ways.
• Spearhead ongoing collaboration within the COMS Project team to identify if and when additional research is needed and map out a strategy for designing and executing it. 

Creator Network

• Set the strategy and direction for a creator network and oversee staff who build and manage the creator network, including its infrastructure, roster, and content.

Learning + Evaluation

• Build and own a shared measurement framework and KPI guidance with COMS Project leadership and the Senior Director of Data + Insights.
• Partner with the COMS Project team to integrate insights, best practices, and emerging learnings into training, the community of practice, and fellowship programming.
• In partnership with the COMS Project team, design a technical assistance model (TA) that provides organizations with communications strategies that leverage their owned properties and paid efforts, and guides them on the best ways to reach their priority audiences.

Team Leadership

• Make the case, alongside leadership, for the multi-year investment required to take the new initiative from proof of concept to field-wide scale.
• Build out the team and oversee the recruitment, hiring, and management of additional team members as the program scales.
• Hold budget and contracting authority for the program.          

Qualifications

• 10+ years in strategic communications, audience strategy, or media and platform strategy, including senior leadership of cross-functional teams and managing directors and managers.
• Strong command of today's digital landscape, including creators and organic and paid distribution, and how each shapes communications strategy.
• Experience turning audience research into sophisticated communications strategies, including content and paid media.
• Experience setting KPIs and measurement frameworks, and a thoughtful approach to the responsible use of AI.
• Track record managing teams toward achievement of agreed-upon goals.
• Successful experience managing budgets and a range of relevant vendors.
• Strong relationship-builder who can convene organizations with differing perspectives, advise movement partners on reaching their priority audiences, and collaborate across programs.
• Deep commitment to reproductive health, rights, and justice and the movement's underlying values of bodily autonomy, health equity, and intersectionality.
• Understanding of the RHRJ field's communications landscape, and the opposition's, is a strong plus.
• Comfort operating in an early-stage environment and working closely with colleagues across teams and hierarchy.

You will thrive in this role if you are someone who:

• Excels in a fast-paced, collaborative environment and can balance multiple priorities while maintaining a high standard of strategic thinking and execution.
• Can work autonomously, manage competing priorities, and adapt quickly as needs and external circumstances evolve.
• Is comfortable working in a virtual environment and using online collaboration and project management tools.
• Is committed to advancing equity, inclusion, and justice in both project work and workplace culture.
• Values creativity, innovation, and continuous learning, while remaining focused on delivering measurable results.
• Enjoys collaborating with colleagues and contributing to a culture of accountability, trust, and shared success.
• Thrives in a low-ego, low-drama environment where people bring both excellence and generosity to their work.

Details:

• FLSA Status — Exempt.
• Location — Remote. 
• Salary — $155,000 to $175,000 and is commensurate with experience.
• Benefits — Health, vision, and dental insurance, paid vacation, 12 weeks paid family leave, 401(k) with 4% match after one year, professional development and work-from-home benefits, and a family-friendly workplace.

To apply: 

Interested candidates should apply by using the application form. Please submit a resume and cover letter. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered. Chaloner will review all applicants and, upon qualification, contact you to determine next steps.

About ConwayStrategic

ConwayStrategic is a boutique communications firm that combines research, creativity, and strategy to help organizations and companies navigate complex issues, shape conversations, and connect with the people who matter most.

Our team consists of talented, driven, curious people who have can-do attitudes, approach work with vigor and determination, learn quickly, and enjoy working in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment. We’ve led organizations and multimillion-dollar campaigns, so we know industry best practices and we bring our experience in grassroots organizing, politics, policy, advertising, marketing, coalition management and more to all our client work. ConwayStrategic has a collaborative, no-drama work setting, in which we respect each other’s work-life balance while doing what it takes to get the job done.