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About Us: The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) is a nonprofit of police, judges, prosecutors, and others in law enforcement who support evidence-based policy solutions that provide alternatives to arrest and incarceration, foster police accountability, expand harm reduction programs, and keep our communities safe. Since 2002 (then called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), LEAP has played a key role in state and national policy reforms by advancing key legislation through interviews and publications in top media outlets, testimony before state legislatures and the House of Representatives, speaking at in-person and virtual events, meeting with editorial boards, and much more.

LEAP is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to promoting fairness in the hiring process. We support Second-Chance Hiring and Fair Chance Act legislation, and we strongly encourage formerly incarcerated and other justice-impacted individuals to apply.

Job Summary: LEAP is seeking a full-time media relations director to expand the media department’s capacity and the organization’s presence in the news and social media. The ideal applicant is a highly motivated, adept communicator eager to contribute to a fast-growing organization working at the leading edge of public policy reform.

Supervisor: Chief Operating Officer, Darby Beck

Hours of Work/Schedule: 40 hours per week / Monday – Friday

Requirements: 

• Minimum of 5 years professional experience in media relations, journalism, marketing, or a related communications field;
• Exceptional writing and editing skills;
• Experience managing employees;
• Strong strategic-thinking and problem-solving skills;
• Accuracy, relationship building, and consistency;
• Strong understanding of organizational branding;
• Experience with social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Optional Qualifications: 

• Personal or professional knowledge of criminal justice, drug policy, and policing issues;
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in communications, marketing, journalism, media production, criminal justice, public policy, or other social sciences;
• Experience with visual content creation (social media posts, etc).

The Ideal Candidate: 

• Has a proven track record of strong written and verbal communication;
• Responds effectively to crisis situations;
• Behaves and communicates strategically, tactfully, and mindfully;
• Is self-motivated, doesn’t need constant supervision;
• Is organized and detail-oriented;
• Practices integrity;
• Learns quickly, and readily accepts and integrates feedback;
• Knows how to balance high professional standards with a supportive, laid-back workplace culture.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• May supervise one or more employees, volunteers, and/or interns;
• Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with organization policy.

General Responsibilities:

• Oversees LEAP’s relationships with journalists and producers;
• Writes/edits op-eds, and LTEs, and testimony for speakers;
• Writes/edits quotes for pitches and requests from journalists;
• Pitches/places all op-eds and LTEs not pitched/placed by allies;
• Ensures speaker quality by overseeing preparation, review, and feedback on interviews;
• Oversees many outward-facing materials including social media accounts, multimedia content, and blog;
• Oversees data organization on all media hits, op-eds/LTEs, and blog content;
• Reports media hits, op-eds/LTEs in monthly and annual reports and notes to relevant staffers/speakers;
• Creates/organizes speaker training materials, including talking points and communication strategy guides for specific issues;
• Writes/sends press releases;
• Writes strategic organizational statements on important issues;
• Organizes/manages media lists;
• Creates new press kit annually;
• Updates newsfeed hits for the website weekly;
• Sends top media hits and issue-focused news stories to communications director and COO for consideration for front page sliders on the website as needed (every two weeks, approximately);
• Sends weekly News and Resource Roundup email to speakers and staff;
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Physical Abilities: 

Must be physically able to work at a computer and make phone calls.

Important Note:

Our entire organization works remotely from multiple locations and communicates mostly by video conference, and not just during COVID-19. We do not gather in an office. On occasion there may be some in-person events and meetings that will require travel and attendance. We offer funds to cover the tools necessary to perform the job remotely according to our technology policy, which will be communicated with the candidate at the appropriate time.