Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative

Communications Specialist

• Build Something from Scratch: SPEND is a new organization with a still-developing external presence—and this role is how that changes. You won't be maintaining someone else's communications infrastructure. You'll be designing it, building the audience, and establishing the voice that the field will come to associate with SPEND.
• Work at the Intersection of Technical Rigor and Public Impact: The data SPEND produces underpins billions of dollars in education funding and decades of research on resource allocation. The communications challenge here is real: making technically complex, genuinely important work accessible and findable to the researchers, state and district leaders, and policymakers who need it.
• Shape How a Field Understands a Critical Problem: Education finance data infrastructure is fragmented, inconsistent, and at risk. SPEND exists to fix that—and this role is how we make sure the right people know it. You'll have a direct hand in how the field perceives and engages with one of the most consequential data challenges in public education.
• Join a Mission-Focused Team with Institutional Stability: Contribute as a foundational member of a new initiative supported by a multi-year general operating grant and the established operational infrastructure of ERS.

Role Overview

• Lead strategy and execution for building SPEND's organic audience across owned digital channels, with a focus on direct cultivation rather than traditional media outreach.
• Develop and maintain a content cadence and editorial calendar that keeps SPEND publishing consistently and purposefully.
• Build and segment SPEND's distribution list, ensuring we are reaching the right audiences—researchers, policy analysts, state and district leaders, journalists, and field partners—with content that is relevant to each.
• Support SPEND's positioning as a technical subject matter expert through earned media and direct channel publishing.

• Optimize SPEND's content and web presence for discoverability in both traditional search engines and AI-generated results—understanding that search increasingly means appearing in LLM responses, not just blue links.
• Ensure SPEND's technical products and publications are structured and described in ways that make them findable, citable, and useful to the researchers and analysts who need them.
• Monitor how SPEND surfaces across search channels and identify concrete opportunities to improve visibility with priority audiences.

• Develop style guides, content templates, and review processes so that all external outputs reflect a consistent, recognizable SPEND voice.
• Provide editorial review and formatting support to ensure content quality and consistency across all external outputs.
• Create and refine presentations tailored to different stakeholder audiences, including researchers, district leaders, and funders.
• Maintain brand consistency across all communications materials and marketing outputs.

• Support SPEND's thought leadership strategy by identifying opportunities for direct channel publishing, conference presence, and field engagement.
• Collaborate closely with the team to develop communications materials that reflect SPEND's objective, non-partisan posture as a technical subject matter expert—not an advocacy organization or rapid-response quote machine.

Qualifications

• Experience in digital communications, content strategy, or a related field; a background in communications, journalism, marketing, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding of modern digital communications strategy, including organic audience building, multi-platform content management, and distribution list development—not traditional PR or media relations.
• A working understanding of SEO and generative engine optimization (GEO) - how AI platforms like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity cite, recommend, or mention the organization when users search for information; genuine curiosity about where the Web is heading and what it means for organizations like SPEND.
• Strong written communication skills with an eye for editorial quality, formatting, and brand consistency.
• Ability to work with and present technical content accessibly without oversimplifying or editorializing.
• Proficiency in Google Docs, Google Slides, PowerPoint or equivalent presentation tools, with the ability to tailor materials to varied stakeholder audiences.
• Availability: Must be available for core working hours of 10 AM – 5 PM ET to support national team collaboration.
• Travel: Ability to travel approximately 6–8 times per year for in-person team collaboration and external partner engagement.
• Physical & Environmental: Ability to operate a computer and other office productivity machinery for extended periods; ability to remain in a stationary position for a significant portion of the workday; ability to communicate and exchange information via video conference, phone, and email.
• Remote Work: Access to a quiet, professional remote work environment with a reliable, high-speed internet connection.
• Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work for an employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for new team members at this time.

• Hands-on experience with SEO tools and familiarity with how AI crawlers surface and decide to cite content based on various technical formats.
• Experience optimizing customer relationship management (CRM) systems for use with nonprofit or government audiences.
• Experience building or growing a digital audience or subscriber list from a small base.
• Experience using Substack and LinkedIn to disseminate products and track engagement.
• Experience supporting thought leadership or communications strategy in a research, policy, education, or data-focused organization.
• Serving as an initial point-of-contact for journalists, monitoring general inboxes or social media posts for media requests and referring to the right leader based on topic, deadline, state of interest, and national prominence of the publication or story.
• Desire or willingness to serve as a coach for staffers at all levels to practice and develop skills in writing, public speaking, and interviewing with the media.
• Knowledge of or interest in education policy, school finance, or public data systems.

Compensation and Transparency

ERS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, ancestry, pregnancy, or military service.