Responsibilities

• The Senior Communications Strategist builds and expresses LifeLine's brand and donor-facing narrative, working in close partnership with the Chief Marketing Officer, the marketing and development teams, and directly with the CEO to refine and elevate the brand and institutional story.
• The role helps establish LifeLine as the recognized authority (regionally and nationally) in its field, and develops strategies for donor, funder, and government partner conversations to drive fundraising and organizational growth.
• Strategic Responsibilities:
• Partner with the CMO to develop and refine brand positioning, messaging frameworks and audience growth strategy, bringing research and recommendations that inform final CMO decisions.
• Conduct audience and competitive research—donor segments, adopter and foster personas, comparable animal welfare and nonprofit organizations—to ground strategic recommendations.
• Identify and propose new audience growth opportunities, channels and approaches, presenting data and rationale.
• Stay current on nonprofit marketing trends, audience behavior shifts and platform changes, proactively bringing relevant insights to the CMO and broader team.
• Draft annual marketing plan to continue to help save lives and increase financial and community support.
• Serve as lead writer to refine and advance LifeLine's brand and institutional voice: brand narrative, thought leadership, major organizational moments, website, and CEO op-eds.
• Collaborate with development team and provide messaging for major-donor and grant conversations as needed.

Requirements

• Be compassionate for animals and the people who love and care for them; a deep love for animals and comfort in handling all types and sizes.
• Proven experience developing brand strategy, positioning and audience growth plans, ideally including nonprofit or mission-driven work.
• Strong research and analytical skills, with the ability to translate data and trends into clear strategic recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence and advise senior leadership.
• Confident offering direction and effective at influencing and advising senior leadership and cross-functional peers to move strategy forward.
• Demonstrated ability to build institutional credibility and authority with sophisticated external audiences, including government and philanthropic leaders, distinct from consumer or social marketing.
• Strong cross-functional collaborator who can work effectively with channel managers without direct supervisory authority over them.
• Deadline driven, reliable, responsible and accurate with an attention to detail.
• Experience with G Suite/Office tools and Asana helpful.
• Strategic, curious and a collaborative team player.

Preferred

• Experience with G Suite/Office tools and Asana helpful.