Advertising Vice President (Electoral & Advocacy)
United States
Advertising /
Full-time /
Remote
We’re looking for a Vice President to join our Advertising Area.
When you come work with us, here’s what you’ll find:
- Work that is meaningful. We are a fast-paced, deadline-driven consulting firm that only works with nonprofit clients who are essential to advancing the cause of justice, alleviating suffering, and solving the greatest challenges we face.
- Commitment to Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion (AEI). We envision an anti-oppressive workplace that ensures an inclusive employee experience, promotes equitable outcomes for staff, and supports clients to center accessibility and anti-racism in their programs.
- Colleagues you can count on. Kind, dedicated, passionate people who work collaboratively to get things done and help you do your best.
- An organization that embraces change. We strive to improve and adapt and always seek new ways that we can contribute to a just, inclusive, and sustainable world. We are also continually working on making M+R a better place for our staff.
So that’s us. Now about the work:
- We run innovative and strategic digital organizing, electoral, and narrative campaigns that build grassroots power and create lasting change. We partner with progressive groups working on everything from economic justice to climate change to global poverty – think Planned Parenthood, big national unions, NRDC, healthcare advocacy groups, and more. We work exclusively with outside organizations, not candidate campaigns, because our goal is not just to win an election but to build long-term organizing infrastructure that can hold people in power accountable.
- Day-to-day, we’re figuring out how to drive the narrative, influence policy, hold corporations and politicians accountable, recruit activists, make the most of news moments, and leave no idea unconsidered that might build power. We have a particular focus on developing new models to mobilize infrequent voters of color.
Here’s what you’ll be doing in this role:
- Drive overall strategy for client advertising programs and organizing efforts for our integrated campaigns that focus on: Passing laws at the federal, state, or local levels; driving changes to administrative and executive policies; changing corporate behavior; electoral turnout, persuasion, or motivation.
- Define goals, design strategies and campaigns, and develop smart advertising plans to meet those goals while effectively overseeing budgets and client teams.
- Work across multiple clients and client teams, leading both large digital programs as well as smaller engagements. Teams can include colleagues across M+R who work in: Campaign Strategy, Digital Organizing, Media Relations, and Digital Fundraising and Advocacy.
- Work with creative and messaging colleagues to develop and implement message testing, using tools such as Swayable and Grow Progress.
- Build and own relationships with client senior executives and expand your network of industry leaders, keeping them informed and engaged with M+R’s news and updates.
- Identify new opportunities for clients to grow their programs, including new channels, technologies, strategies, and partnerships.
- Seek out meaningful opportunities to expand client accounts and lead compelling proposals and pitches to win new business.
- Serve as a leader in our Advertising Practice Area, and across the firm, advancing M+R’s culture and values, helping to develop and market new services, and sharing ideas across teams to better serve our clients and support our staff.
- Drive client strategy and planning meetings. Persuasively present ideas and results to clients.
- Lead strong teams -- rally staff behind client goals, set clear expectations, build relationships with teammates at all levels, ensure time for the team to connect, and be accountable for resolving issues.
- Coach and mentor junior staff -- providing consistent feedback, coaching, and guidance on deliverables.
- Directly supervise staff -- being proactive about their professional development and well-being.
- Drive conversations and processes that help build inclusive spaces and advance equitable outcomes within your teams and across M+R.
- Do your part to help us run smoothly, including carefully tracking all of your hours.
Skills and experiences required for this role:
- 10-12 years of political campaign experience with candidate campaigns, issue advocacy organizations, or with agencies that work with these clients. At least 4 of those years should be focused on digital advertising strategy in a leadership role where you were responsible for the success of the program.
- Ability to develop multi-channel media plans for social, programmatic display, video, and CTV that effectively reach target audiences and hit campaign KPIs.
- Experience with cross-channel digital strategies (email, field, SMS, P2P) and ability to effectively integrate advertising into larger organizing efforts that drive results, not just online, but in the field and with the media.
- Experience setting cross-channel creative strategy (ads, email and SMS) using polling, message research, and message testing.
- Experience providing guidance and direction on creative deliverables -- ensuring high-quality, compelling creative that hits KPIs.
- Understanding of key advertising metrics and ability to translate them into key takeaways.
- A commitment to ethical data use, transparent data management, and audience building that reflect M+R's own values.
- Demonstrated ability to bring an equity lens (and a recognition of your own position in social power structures) to campaigns that mobilize traditionally underrepresented communities.
- A strong network of contacts in the digital marketing and nonprofit/political sector as well as a presence in the industry via participation in conferences, webinars, or other thought leadership.
- Experience experimenting with new and innovative digital advertising strategies and tactics.
- Experience supporting the professional development of more junior staff or interns, and directly supervising and coaching staff.
We love hearing from anyone who strives to make the world a better place! Not sure if you meet all of the qualifications? There is no harm in applying! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply!
Skills and experiences we expect of all M+R employees:
- Demonstrated commitment to anti-racism, equity, and inclusion.
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively to gain trust and give respect to others through honesty, integrity, kindness, empathy, and authenticity.
- Acute attention to detail and demonstrated ability to prioritize time to meet deadlines for multiple projects.
- Proven track record to successfully pick up new skills, including learning new technologies.
- Drive to seek what can be improved and offer ways to fix any potential roadblocks.
- Comfort admitting what you don’t know and recognizing that feedback is part of the learning process.
- Ability to communicate persuasively in a way that articulates your ideas and conveys your expertise, whether on the phone, in-person, or in writing.
- Able to work within equitable and inclusive decision making models in moving decisions and initiatives forward.
Skills and experiences that are preferred, but not required:
- Experience working at a political agency or advertising agency.
- Experience with message testing tools such as Swayable and Grow Progress.
Salary and Benefits:
- This is an exempt position. The annual base compensation for this position is $132,609 (dependent on years of experience) and total compensation for this position includes eligibility for our bonus program. The bonus is based on a combination of firmwide and individual performance and has averaged $16,000-$24,000 in past years. As part of M+R’s commitment to compensation equity and transparency, we have a no negotiation policy. Salary negotiations can introduce bias and perpetuate wage inequality. If your years of relevant experience for this position are more than what is required above, we may offer a higher starting salary to reflect that, and compensation will be discussed more in depth in the initial interview.
- Three weeks vacation, three personal days, and 15 paid sick days;
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits with premiums fully paid for by M+R for individual employees;
- 401(k) plan with employer match;
- Quarterly discretionary profit-sharing contributions;
- Flexible work schedules and the option to work remotely anywhere within the United States and its territories with broadband internet;
- Annual $1,000 professional development stipend;
- Flexible Spending Accounts for medical, dependent care, and transit.
We also offer a generous benefits package:
The fine print:
M+R staff have the option to be fully remote within the United States, or work from one of M+R’s office locations (Washington DC, New York City, or Oakland).
Staff working from an M+R office are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and all staff will be asked to provide information regarding their vaccine status.
To apply, use the button on this page. No calls please.
Our Hiring Process:
We aim to be transparent and efficient in our hiring process. Each question you will be asked throughout our hiring process ties directly back to one of the skills and experiences listed above. In each interview, you will be asked to provide examples of these skills and experiences or how you would draw on your experience to handle a scenario commonly found at M+R. Our typical hiring process includes:
1) Phone Interview
2) Written Skills Assessment
3) Video Interview(s)
4) Reference Check
Depending on logistics and scheduling, our hiring process generally takes about 4-5 weeks from phone interview to a job offer. There is no application deadline; we review applications on a rolling basis. We let candidates know after each step in the process, once we’ve made a decision, whether they are moving forward to the next stage or not, so candidates know the status of their application. If you need accommodations for this application process or any of the hiring process steps listed above, please email accommodations@mrss.com or call 202-681-8743.
M+R is an equal opportunity employer and all applicants will be considered. As a firm we are committed to being an anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive organization where all staff feel welcomed, valued, and empowered, resulting in meaningful, rewarding, and enriching experiences throughout their careers here. We work to center our AEI values in all aspects of our work, so our culture, clientele, policies, and practices are reflective and affirming of people -- inclusive of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, immigration status, citizenship status, and so much more. We strongly encourage folks from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.
