Title: Communications Manager
Reports to: President
FSLA Status: Part-time at 25 hours a week, Exempt
Salary: $75,000 to $82,500
Start Date: January 2027
Work Location: Remote with option to work out of L.A. office. Candidates based in California or New York are preferred
Required Travel: Approximately 20% for programs and staff retreats
About HARNESS
Founded by America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama, and Ryan Piers Williams after the 2016 election, we are a community that builds relational power among leaders across advocacy, culture, and politics, igniting changemakers to drive cultural shifts to build a democracy that works for everyone.
Role Overview
HARNESS is seeking a Communications Manager to serve as the steward of our communications engine. This role is a high-level operational partner to our programs and development teams. You will act as the lead implementer for the HARNESS brand story, serving as both a creative strategist who translates high-level vision into compelling narratives and an operational manager who drives the execution of these projects with precision. You will take our existing foundation and build it out further, actively developing and scaling essential brand assets—including manifestos, web copy, and program narrative materials—while project managing their execution. You will manage and guide our voice, positioning, and messaging across platforms to ensure our mission reaches the right community members with clarity and impact, without the friction of “inbox fatigue.”
Core Responsibilities
1. Strategic Brand & Content Project Management
- Integrated Narrative Strategy: Define and steward an integrated brand narrative across newsletters, social media, internal and community communications, ensuring alignment and consistency between our Programs and Development departments storytelling.
- Development & Fundraising Support: Support in creating donor-facing materials, including decks, one-pagers, and newsletter design.
- Brand Stewardship: Create, maintain, and enforce a centralized “Style and Tone Guide” and asset library to empower the team to communicate while maintaining brand integrity.
- Contractor Oversight: Act as the project lead for external creative resources (additional copywriters, designers), ensuring output aligns with our brand voice and strategic goals.
- Copywriting & Content Creation: Lead all organizational copywriting efforts, serving as the principal writer for the HARNESS materials (website, decks, external facing docs).
2. Systems & Operational Strategy
- Workflow Optimization: Utilize CRM technology (NationBuilder) to support communications functions.
- Digital Channel Management: Partner with President and VP of Programs to oversee the strategy and lead execution for website content, social media, and email newsletters to reflect current priorities across Programs and Development. Ensure our digital infrastructure is optimized to reduce friction and eliminate inbox fatigue.
- Process Governance: Regularly audit communications infrastructure/platforms to ensure scalable, high-value engagement for our community.
3. Cross-Functional Leadership
- Program-Development Bridge: Serve as the narrative liaison between Programs and Development across all outreach channels. Facilitate regular synchronization meetings to ensure integrated storytelling.
- Stakeholder Management: Support the President / other team members in soliciting input from a variety of stakeholders (board, founders, community, team members, advisors) to ensure cohesive contribution and smooth shared editing/input.
- Public Positioning: Support the executive team with communications for strategic initiatives and public positioning, including press moments, as applicable.
4. Performance & Impact Measurement
- Impact Reporting: Establish KPIs and reporting cadences for all communication activities.
- Data-Driven Iteration: Regularly audit channel performance (e.g., open rates, conversion, engagement) and present actionable insights to leadership to drive continuous improvement.
Key Qualifications
- Strategic & Systems Thinking: Proven experience designing and managing communication systems. You are as comfortable building a clear project management strategy as you are in designing a creative brief.
- Professional Communications Expertise: 3-5+ years of experience in communications, marketing, or PR, ideally in a mission-driven or nonprofit setting.
- Tactical Competency: Proficient in content management systems (CMS), email platforms (e.g., NationBuilder), and social media tools. Basic graphic design skills (Canva, Adobe Creative Suite) are strongly preferred.
- Project & Stakeholder Management: Ability to manage complex project teams to achieve shared goals and facilitate collaboration across internal departments.
- Exceptional Writing Skills: Excellence in translating complex program data and theory of change concepts into accessible, compelling narratives. You possess great versatility, with the ability to adapt style, tone, and content for diverse formats and audiences.
- Growth Mindset & Self Awareness: Proactively seeks growth opportunities, engages in generative feedback loops, and demonstrates self-awareness of how identities and biases impact interactions.
- Operational Discipline: Experience building and refining Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure operational excellence and scalability.
What we offer you in return and why you would love being a part of our team!
- Generous virtual office budget which includes support for home office equipment, cell phone, and internet monthly stipend
- Office space available in Downtown Los Angeles
- A monthly health and wellness stipend
- Paid Sick Time
- Learning opportunities and an annual professional development budget
- Fun and collaborative team environment
HARNESS is committed to fostering and maintaining a work environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are fully integrated into everything we do. HARNESS provides equal employment opportunities to all employees, contractors, and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
How to Apply
Please send a resumé and cover letter to talent@iwillharness.com with the subject line “Communications Manager.”
Candidates will be considered on a rolling basis until it is filled, but preference will be given to those who apply by November 1, 2026.