Responsibilities

• Lead CDI's communications strategy and narrative
• Set the annual communications and thought leadership strategy, defining editorial priorities and narrative direction in service of CDI's mission and earned revenue goals.
• Serve as a trusted communications advisor to the Executive Director and Chief Growth Officer, helping assess trade-offs, evaluate reputational risk, and align leadership on key messaging decisions before work advances.
• Own CDI's messaging guide and narrative framework, ensuring consistent, politically grounded communication across all external channels.
• Monitor CDI's reputational landscape — including dynamics around partners, founders, and key stakeholders — alongside political, cultural, and higher education trends, to proactively identify risks and opportunities and advise leadership.
• Lead CDI's executive visibility program, building the Executive Director and other key CDI figures' profiles through op-eds, podcast appearances, conference keynotes, and media placements, and preparing and coaching the Executive Director for public appearances and interviews.
• Partner with CDI's thought-leadership bench (across the Research, Education, Culture Change teams) to translate research findings into media-ready narratives and public-facing content.
• Drive proactive media outreach to national, higher education, and mission-aligned press; build and maintain relationships with journalists, editors, and influencers.
• Lead rapid response and crisis communications, managing reputational risk with speed and sound judgment.
• Provide editorial leadership for CDI's higher education newsletter and blog; manage the Communications & Content Manager to maintain publishing cadence and quality.

Requirements

• 10–12 years of experience in strategic communications, or PR, with demonstrated success building organizational reputation and growing audiences in complex, politically sensitive environments.

Preferred

• Familiarity with the higher education landscape strongly preferred.

Benefits

• A Mission-Driven Culture — our work culture genuinely reflects our mission, characterized by intellectual humility, continuous improvement, and open-mindedness
• Remote-First — CDI was founded as a remote-first organization, and we work hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances
• Unlimited PTO — As well as 13 company holidays
• Other Benefits — Employer-supported health, vision, and dental plans, subsidized parental leave, 3% 401(k) match, short- and long-term disability insurance, life and AD&D insurance, and a $1,000 annual professional development budget.