About the MacArthur Justice Center
The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) is a national, nonprofit civil rights law firm. We advocate for people harmed by America’s criminal legal system to vindicate their rights, hold people with power accountable, and transform the system. Our advocacy includes cutting-edge litigation across the country, addressing end-to-end issues in the criminal legal system: from police and prosecutorial misconduct to mass incarceration, to the conditions of jails and prisons, to wrongful convictions.
MJC is a 501(c)(3) organization that uses the U.S legal system to work with and for communities affected by institutional racism and oppression by standing with communities, ending the punishment of poverty, holding police and prosecutors accountable, and advocating for the rights of the incarcerated. We have a total operating budget of approximately $10M, a team of 50 dedicated legal professionals, and offices in Chicago, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; Oxford, Mississippi; and Washington, D.C.
For more information about MJC, visit www.macarthurjustice.org.
Position Summary
MJC seeks a seasoned, strategic, and creative Director of Communications to lead our growing communications team and function—a core part of our work toward creating a more just, equal, and humane legal system. As part of senior leadership, the Director of Communications reports to the Executive Director and will be the lead architect and executor of all aspects of MJC’s communications, including media relations, issue-based campaigns, thought leadership, events and partnerships, rapid response, and overall visibility. This senior-level role leads communications across our expansive list of cases, campaigns, and initiatives.
In consultation with MJC’s Executive Director, the Director of Communications will formulate the organization’s long-term communications vision and strategy and set its short-term priorities. The Director of Communications must be comfortable working in a highly nuanced communications environment and will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive communications strategy, messaging and planning special communications events/programs across our five offices. This includes the full scope of communications operations, including creating and evaluating short and long-range strategies, managing high-pressure media demands in rapid response situations, attracting high-profile coverage locally and nationally, driving a robust social media and digital operation, and executive communications, including speechwriting.
Notably, the Director will lead and work in partnership with others on the communications team. We seek a working director who is energized by both thinking and doing. The successful candidate will be someone who places value on the contributions of the entire team and takes seriously the opportunity and responsibility to develop and mentor the team and individual team members. This is an exciting opportunity to grow the communications team and impact at a pivotal moment in MJC’s work.
The ideal candidate will be based in Washington, D.C. Occasional travel is required, including to our offices in Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri, as well as other places where our clients and cases are located.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Develop and Oversee Communications Strategy
Practice
Serve as MJC’s Communications Expert
The criminal legal system disproportionately harms people of color, people from low-income communities, the formerly incarcerated, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. We strongly encourage those who identify within these and other communities underrepresented in the legal profession to apply.
Qualifications:
The successful applicant should have the following experience and qualifications:
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Commitments:
Compensation: The salary range for the Communications Director role is $140,000 to $155,000 depending on experience, with excellent benefits including employer-sponsored health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, EAP programming, access to FSA plans, a retirement plan that includes employer matching, and a generous paid-time-off policy.
Additional Information:
This is a full-time, exempt position based in Washington, D.C. Occasional travel is required, including to our offices in Chicago, IL; St. Louis, MO; New Orleans, LA; and Oxford, MS.
We are currently a hybrid organization, with all DC-based staff working together from the office each Tuesday and Wednesday and remotely for the remainder of the week, except when meetings and events require otherwise. We expect to maintain hybrid schedules in the future but may increase the number of days each week that staff are expected to report to the office. The selected applicant must reside in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia by the first day of employment.
To Apply: MJC has retained the executive search firm LeaderFit to lead this search. Please submit the following:
Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed, and interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis until the position is filled.