Chief Communications Strategist

Chief Communications Strategist

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Location: Washington, DC

Reports to: Chief of Staff

Salary: $162,520.47

Organizational Overview

We are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union of about 2 million diverse members in healthcare, the public sector, and property services. We believe in and fight for our Vision for a Just Society: where all workers are valued and all people respected, no matter where we come from or what color we are; where all families and communities can thrive; and where we leave a better and more equitable world for generations to come. We are an anti-racist union determined to check corporate power and uproot structural racism through unions, worker power, collective action, and government, legislative, and political action. We fight for Unions for All and a Government that Works for All so that all of us, across race and place, can have power together in unions and participate fully in our democracy.

Purpose

The Chief Communications Strategist provides executive leadership for SEIU’s transformation into a modern, digitally fluent, and culturally resonant communications operation that builds political power, shapes public narratives, and centers workers’ voices. This role elevates communications as a core strategic lever—integrating storytelling, creative expression, digital engagement, and media strategy into organizing, political, and campaign work from inception. As a senior member of SEIU’s leadership and in close partnership with the Chief of Staff and Design Committee, the Chief Communications Strategist helps shape and implement the union’s strategic vision, ensuring communications advance SEIU’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization and a 21st-century labor movement leader.

Primary Responsibilities

Any one position may not include all of the specific duties and responsibilities listed. Examples provide a general summary of the work required and should not be treated as a total and complete list of expected duties to be performed by employees in the classification.

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Transformation

• Develop and execute comprehensive communications strategies that advance SEIU’s campaigns, organizational goals, and political priorities, with measurable impact on membership growth, public perception, cultural relevance, and policy outcomes.
• Serve as a core member of SEIU’s leadership, contributing to high-level strategic direction and translating the vision of the Chief of Staff and Design Committee into clear, executable communications priorities.
• Lead the modernization of SEIU’s communications infrastructure, including transition to video-first production, enhanced digital capacity, creative standards, and data-informed decision-making.
• Support organizational change management, ensuring communications capacity aligns with organizing, political, and campaign priorities and functions coherently across the union.
• Establish innovation frameworks that encourage creative experimentation, cultural relevance, and rapid iteration while maintaining message discipline, accountability, and strategic coherence.
• Oversee press, media relations, and external communications, ensuring consistent, values-aligned, and strategically targeted messaging across traditional and emerging platforms.

Digital Strategy & Audience Development

• Build institutional capacity for video production and creative content, including studio infrastructure, production standards, talent development, and training systems that position SEIU as a video-first organization.
• Lead comprehensive digital strategy across owned, earned, and paid channels, prioritizing audience ownership, engagement, and long-term movement-building rather than reliance on traditional media intermediaries.
• Integrate research, data analytics, and audience insights into communications planning, establishing systems for message testing, content performance tracking, and impact measurement.
• Expand narrative reach beyond core membership to include potential members, younger workers, culturally influential communities, diverse geographies, and values-aligned publics.

Narrative Development & Message Discipline

• Craft compelling narratives grounded in race-class analysis that center workers’ lived experiences, advance SEIU’s values, influence public debate, and articulate a bold vision for a just society.
• Embed racial equity and justice into all communications strategies, practices, narratives, and team culture, advancing SEIU’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization.
• Ensure message discipline across decentralized operations while empowering authentic, member-led storytelling within shared strategic narratives.
• Lead crisis communications planning and rapid response operations with clarity, humanity, and political acuity, protecting marginalized communities while maintaining strategic focus.
• Monitor media trends, cultural shifts, political developments, and public opinion to inform proactive strategy and anticipate narrative opportunities and threats.

Cross-Functional Integration & Partnership

• Partner with hub directors, organizing leaders, and political teams to integrate communications into union-wide initiatives from inception, ensuring communications functions as a strategic driver rather than tactical support.
• Collaborate across communications, digital, organizing, research, and political functions to break down silos and create integrated, efficient workflows.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, helping frame decisions, anticipate narrative implications, and align internal and external messaging.
• Provide strategic communications support, capacity-building, and training to SEIU locals and allied organizations.
• Establish shared accountability systems around clearly defined goals, decision rights, and measurable outcomes, enabling faster decision-making and responsive communications.

External Representation & Stakeholder Relations

• Serve as senior spokesperson with national media, elected officials, coalition partners, cultural leaders, and key stakeholders, representing SEIU’s strategic interests in high-level forums.
• Build shared narrative power across the labor and social justice ecosystem, aligning communications efforts with movement partners and amplifying worker voices in national and international discourse.
• Strengthen SEIU’s reputation as a communications and cultural leader in economic and racial justice movements.
• Cultivate strategic relationships with media leaders, cultural influencers, and digital platforms to expand SEIU’s reach beyond traditional labor communications channels.

Team Leadership & Organizational Management

• Manage communications staff, consultants, and resources while fostering a culture of inclusion, equity, creative excellence, accountability, and professional development within a 40+ person team.
• Supervise department directors and senior staff, providing clear direction, performance management, mentorship, and support while empowering distributed leadership and innovation.
• Recruit, develop, and retain diverse communications and digital talent, building long-term organizational capacity and advancement pathways for emerging leaders.
• Oversee the Communications Department budget, ensuring strategic, responsible resource allocation aligned with SEIU’s values while investing in modernization and creative infrastructure.

Direction and Decision Making

This position reports to the Chief of Staff. The Chief Communications Strategist exercises significant independent judgment in strategic planning, resource allocation, crisis response, and external representation. Multiple directors report to this position, which serves as a principal voice in executive-level strategic decisions and long-term narrative direction.

Education and Experience

Minimum ten (10) years of progressively responsible leadership in communications, digital strategy, or integrated media operations, primarily with unions, nonprofits, campaigns, or mission-driven organizations.

Essential Experience:

• Leading digital transformation or modernization initiatives within complex organizations, including implementation of new platforms, workflows, and production capabilities
• Managing press relations, digital communications, and multi-channel campaigns for large-scale organizations with documented impact on public perception or organizational goals
• Leading organizational change, including restructuring teams, shifting operating models, and building stakeholder buy-in
• Serving as organizational spokesperson in high-stakes environments with media organizations, elected officials, and coalition partners
• Building and leading high-performing teams while creating inclusive cultures of accountability and excellence
• Strategic planning and execution that connects communications to long-term organizing, political, and institutional objectives

Essential Skills:

• Deep fluency in contemporary digital communications ecosystems, including video production and strategy, social media platform dynamics, content analytics, and emerging media trends
• Proven ability to craft messages that resonate across diverse audiences, translating complex issues into clear, compelling narratives
• Data-informed decision-making using research, analytics, and performance metrics to guide strategy and resource allocation
• Budget management including strategic resource allocation, vendor management, and financial oversight
• Exceptional writing, editing, and verbal communication skills with ability to produce high-quality content across formats
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, high-pressure environments, exercising sound judgment while managing competing priorities
• Deep commitment to anti-racism and social justice, with demonstrated understanding of structural racism and determination to embed racial equity into communications strategies and organizational culture

Preferred: Experience in labor communications or union organizing campaigns; background in video production or media production operations; track record building or managing newsrooms or content studios; established relationships within progressive media or movement communications networks; bilingual capacity, particularly Spanish fluency.

Physical Requirements

Work is typically conducted in an office environment, but may also take place in various settings that support the organization's objectives. This can include conferences, worker mobilizations, union halls, campaign events, and other union activities. The position requires frequent travel, including overnight stays, and the ability to work long and irregular hours, particularly during campaign periods and organizational critical moments.

SEIU is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans. SEIU is an equal opportunity employer.