Senior Director of Cultural Strategy - Caring Across Generations

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Senior Director of Cultural Strategy

November 19th, 2023

Position: Full-Time
FLSA Status: Exempt
Reports To: Chief of Staff
Direct Reports: Director of Culture Change, Senior Manager of Culture Change
Salary: $125,000 – $130,000
Start Date: As soon as possible
Work Location: Remote within the United States, with travel for organizational events and retreats

This position is an exempt, confidential, non-bargaining unit position reporting to the Chief of Staff.

About Caring Across Generations

Caring Across Generations is a national campaign working to make care more affordable and accessible at every stage of life, while ensuring caregivers – both family caregivers and professional care workers – people with disabilities, and aging adults are treated with respect and dignity.

Founded in 2011 by Sarita Gupta and Ai-jen Poo (who were the executive directors of Jobs with Justice and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, respectively), we take an explicitly intersectional approach to our work, connecting the dots between the urgent need to build a strong care infrastructure and the need for bold action on immigration reform, gender, racial, economic and disability justice, and addressing the growing needs of our aging population.

Our campaign is focused on creating change in three ways:

  • Organizing a powerful movement of the Caring Majority – the majority of Americans who are directly affected by the need for care;
  • Fighting for groundbreaking policy at the state and federal levels;
  • Changing hearts and minds through storytelling and culture change campaigns to evolve the way our society relates to and values caregiving.

Our culture change work has included collaborating with the hit NBC series This Is Us on a multi-platform impact campaign; launching our Creative Care Council composed of creatives such as Bradley Cooper, Megan Thee Stallion, and Yvette Nicole Brown; initiating a series of TikTok care influencer activations; leading the development and production of a groundbreaking commercial advertisement; billboard campaigns in Times Square and Washington, D.C.; and the launch of dedicated work within the entertainment industry, including the Care Inclusion Playbook, a digital resource to support writers and showrunners in Hollywood as they rewrite the popular narrative on care.

Position Summary

Caring Across Generations has established its position as a national leader in culture and narrative change strategy and a catalyst for transformative change in the way care is represented in our culture. In this context, Caring Across is looking to hire a Senior Director of Cultural Strategy to take the campaign’s cultural strategy, working to establish a 360-degree narrative environment centered on care and caregivers, to the next level.

The Senior Director of Cultural Strategy will be responsible for designing and leading the culture change strategy for the organization, ensuring that it speaks to Caring Across’ long-term culture and narrative change goals, centered in the organization’s values, as well as supporting the campaign’s long-term advocacy and narrative goals.

In order to keep building a 360-degree narrative environment that centers caregiving and the Caring Majority (family caregivers, care workers, aging and disabled people), the Senior Director of Cultural Strategy is responsible for leading and managing the Culture Change team to work across multiple spheres of cultural influence including but not limited to paid and unpaid media and brand partnerships, film, tv, documentary, art, digital content, gaming, and advertising.

To ensure that the Organization’s strategy is informed by current narrative and cultural trends, the Senior Director of Cultural Strategy will lead the team to regularly commission narrative research, polling, and audience mapping that directly feeds the development of the work of the Culture Change team: work that involves seeding, influencing, producing, and collaborating on pop culture and other media products and content and designing culture and narrative change campaigns that accompany the content, with the goal of shifting attitudes, norms, and behavior related to care and caregiving.

The Senior Director of Cultural Strategy will be a thought leader and active contributor to the wider culture change space and work to advance shifts in the care narrative as a cornerstone of the meta-narrative strategy. They will lead and support their team to build partnerships with key players in the art, media, and entertainment industry and represent Caring Across at key culture change and narrative coalitions and tables.

As a member of the Strategy team, the Senior Director of Cultural Strategy will also inform and discuss strategy and work with other directors to ensure coherence and strategic prioritization, especially during key organizational moments.

The Senior Director of Cultural Strategy will work closely with the Development Team to support and develop fundraising opportunities and relationships specifically for narrative and culture change work. They will need to represent the organization in public settings including the press; provide leadership in coalitions; and provide timely opinion and analysis to the organization’s management, staff, constituents, organizational partners, and donors on the organization’s narrative strategy and opportunities in the wider cultural landscape.

They will bring deep experience and expertise in culture change strategy, a firm but generous management style, sharp and honed strategic and cultural intuition, impeccable discretion, and excellent relationship-building and problem-solving skills to the role. The position reports to the Chief of Staff and is permanently remote.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Strategic Development, Program Design and Implementation, Thought Leadership:

  • Lead the development, implementation, and amplification of strategy that builds a 360 degree narrative environment that centers care.
  • Oversee the development of powerful and high quality narrative and culture change campaigns, products, and events that advance our short- and
    long-term narrative goals and are underpinned by robust and rigorous audience and narrative research.
  • Lead the commissioning of audience research, narrative testing, and program evaluation that directly and continually shapes strategy, cultural interventions,
    and campaigns.
  • Support the team to develop and implement culture change strategy at the state level in key states in a way that furthers Caring Across’ overall goals,
    builds power amongst caregivers in those places, and supports the movement of state-level care policy.
  • Act as a guide and thought partner to the Culture Change team members to develop, oversee, and implement campaigns and products that advance the
    Campaign mission.
  • Provide leadership and direction in setting budgets, culture change goals, and advancing new ideas and innovations that align with our mission.
  • Leverage and steward strategic partnerships and relationships that help ensure the success of the organization and cultivate new relationships and
    networks to broaden the awareness and deepen the impact of the organization’s programmatic work, especially in the spheres of pop culture, media, entertainment, narrative and culture change.
  • Identify priorities, gaps, and trends in program areas and make recommendations accordingly.
  • Create and support efforts to document the progress, successes and problems of projects. Evaluate the efficacy of the campaigns and media products we produce and disseminate and shift tactics and strategies as necessary to achieve the campaign’s narrative change imperatives.
  • Work effectively with diverse coalition members and build alliances with organizations and companies across the narrative and cultural arena.

2. Team Management & Fundraising

  • Oversee the entire Culture Change team, directly managing the Director and Senior Manager of Culture Change and lead hiring as needed.
  • Develop an integrated strategy for the Culture Change team.
  • Develop & manage the Culture Change team budget.
  • Serve as an active member of the Strategy Team (composed of senior organization leaders), and work closely with the leads of all departments,
    including the advocacy and campaigns teams, and the digital team, to ensure our work is integrated and collaborative.
  • Work closely with Development Team members to raise funds from institutional funders and individual donors by cultivating current and new relationships with funders and soliciting and stewarding their investments.
  • Work with the Chief of Development and Operations to identify opportunities to generate funds for our narrative and culture change work, including
    audience mapping, narrative research, and the development of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for our narrative change work.
  • Assist with the development of fundraising proposals and with activities that support the strategic positioning of the organization and its culture and narrative work.
  • Participate in strategic planning processes, including annual and multi-year planning.
  • Help set annual organizational goals and be responsible for setting the annual goals and OKRs for the culture change team.
  • Ensure caregivers and consumers are central to our narrative, our stories, and the cultural products we produce and inspire, and work with the Culture Change team to ensure that we work with integrity and remain accountable to our constituencies in our work and the processes we undertake to make it happen.

Qualifications

  • A minimum of 12 years of progressive experience in culture and narrative change strategy including some familiarity with examples of theories of culture change. (Could be within the nonprofit sector, or on the outside, for example, from within the corporate social impact space, the DEIA space, etc).
  • A passion for cultural and narrative change strategy and tactics with advanced-level experience executing large-scale culture change projects and campaigns, including experience producing media content aimed to change attitudes, norms, and behavior.
  • Experience with cultivation and management of strategic partnerships, especially with creatives, artists, brands, filmmakers, and media companies.
  • Experience cultivating and collaborating with high profile individuals, including celebrities, artists, creatives, and influencers.
  • Some experience with cultural organizing strategies and tactics (even if it’s from a different perspective or context—eg. Organizing impact campaigns or community events and screenings).
  • A demonstrated ability to manage a team, develop annual goals and plans, and manage a budget of around $1 million annually.
  • A demonstrated commitment to racial equity, gender justice, and to empowering low- and moderate-income communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities.
  • Strong time and people management skills, including a demonstrated ability to think and work independently. Comfortable working with some ambiguity.
  • Excellent verbal communication skills, great with relationship management across teams and partners, and strong, versatile writing skills.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Suites, social media fluency, and comfort with communicating across multiple channels (Slack, What’s App, etc) in a remote environment.

Travel

  • Monthly travel is likely, in addition to quarterly staff retreats and occasional in-person meetings with campaign leadership.

What we offer you in return and why you would love being a part of our team!

  • We are 100% virtual (with occasional travel for events & retreats).
  • Care is in our name; it is deeply embedded in our culture and our team consists of mostly current or former caregivers. We are fully supportive of your wellbeing and offer a flexible work schedule to account for your care needs.
  • We offer a virtual office budget which includes a home office set up and a cell phone and Internet stipend.
  • Generous paid time off, including 15 paid holidays, 12 days of PTO, and 12 days of sick leave, Paid Family Leave, in addition to a full-org vacation of one week in the summer and two weeks at the end of the year.
  • 401k Contribution.
  • 100% paid Medical, Dental, Vision, Life and Short-Term Disability Insurance. Long-Term Disability Insurance is paid by the employee at a very minimal cost.
  • Work with a world-class team that looks and is like you (older adults, Black people and people of color, LGBTQIA+, disabled people and more are all fully represented here).
  • We offer learning and growth opportunities, including an annual allowance for professional development.
  • You have an opportunity to live a values-aligned work-life.
  • Employee discounts for select stores, travel packages and restaurants.
  • A fun team environment, even while we are busy changing the world.

How to Apply

Candidates will be considered on a rolling basis until it is filled, but preference will be given to those who apply by December 30th, 2023.
Please apply at the following link: https://caringacross.bamboohr.com/careers/37

Applications should include:

  • A resumé
  • Answers to the following questions
    • What motivates you to apply for this role at Caring Across? (suggested word limit: 200)
    • Tell us about a time you used a cultural product, like a movie or TV show, or another tactic to change attitudes or behaviors, moving people to action. (suggested word limit: 200)
    • Please provide a plan that you created for a cultural campaign or creative project which you managed. (suggested word limit: 200)

Caring Across Generations is committed to fostering and maintaining a work environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is fully integrated into everything we do. As such, we strongly prioritize and embrace Black, Indigenous, and people of color; a multigenerational workforce; LGBTQ+; those across religious and spiritual affiliations; and disabled people  to join our representative and highly talented team.

Interview Process

Our team is small but mighty, and each interview process varies just a little based on the specific hiring manager’s needs. However, our standard timeline is as follows:

Rolling review of applications for 2-3 weeks. Candidates are contacted if they are moving forward.

  • Week 1: Phone screen
  • Week 2: Team interview via video call
  • Week 3: Paid work assignment
  • Week 4: Second round team interview via video call and, when applicable, final interview