External Relations Director

Summary of position: The Idaho Conservation League is seeking a creative, energetic, results-oriented leader with marketing and communications experience and demonstrated staff management skills to lead our team of communications, marketing and grassroots organizing professionals.

Opportunity for impact:  If you are worried about climate change, want to protect wildlands, rivers and wildlife, and care about communities, this position is an opportunity for you to use your experience and skills to live your values and make a difference. Help attract a bigger audience, empower activists, build trust, change minds and cause positive change for Idaho’s environment!

As the state’s oldest and largest statewide conservation advocacy organization, the Idaho Conservation League (ICL) is well established as the leading voice for conservation in Idaho. Be part of our passionate team working to tackle climate change, protect public lands, restore Idaho’s rivers and protect our native fish and wildlife. You will have the opportunity to work on important conservation issues and promote the organization through development and implementation of communications and marketing strategies that support ICL’s priority conservation goals, connect ICL to new audiences, empower conservation advocates, gain new supporters, communicate with our current members and promote and strengthen ICL’s brand.

• Supervisor: Executive Director
• Salary: $70,000+ depending on experience
• Benefits: Generous benefits—paid health, dental, and vision insurance, Simple IRA with 3% match, 16 days vacation (to start, increases over time), 2 personal days, 10 paid holidays plus the days between Christmas and New Year’s, 3 paid volunteer service days; access to a sabbatical after 7 years, and every 5 years thereafter.
• Start date: ASAP

This Job:  The External Relations Director is a senior level position responsible for overseeing the external relations department at the Idaho Conservation League. This department carries out communications, marketing and grassroots engagement work to help ICL succeed in its mission to create a conservation community and pragmatic, enduring solutions that protect and restore the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the land and wildlife you love. The work of the external relations department is done in partnership with, and in service to, ICL’s conservation and development departments. In this regard, our external relations department functions like an in-house public relations and marketing agency and the hub of our community engagement and grassroots activism.

The external relations department currently has seven staff. The director supervises three staff (one each in communications, marketing, and grassroots engagement) and is also responsible for contributing to the work. The department undertakes work directed at both an ‘internal audience’ (our membership base and grassroots action takers) and also at an ‘external audience’ (the public). We do this via communications that we control, like our printed newsletters, mailers, digital and social media and also via traditional paid and earned media in print, video, radio. Through this work we seek to support and grow the number and impact of our supporters and grassroots advocates.

Our team is currently very successful and operates at a high level using a variety of tools including Salesforce, Pardot, Quorum, Hustle, WordPress, Sprout Social and other platforms. There is also a significant in-person component to this work as we do community organizing, outreach, and events statewide.

An important component of this work is ensuring that the external relations department’s planning and work is coordinated with, and contributing to the success of, our conservation and development departments. We are a conservation advocacy organization and the work of our external relations department ensures that we are delivering the right message, at the right time, to the right audience, to get the right action.

Duties: 

• Work with staff to develop and implement long term communications and marketing plans, while ensuring outreach and advocacy efforts help us achieve our conservation and development goals.
• Supervise communications, marketing, and community engagement leads, and ensure they have the support and resources necessary to achieve ICL’s goals.
• Ensure the work of the external relations department is coordinated with our conservation and development departments.
• Carry out senior level communications and marketing work and assist the communications and marketing staff as needed to complete tasks.
• Identify and monitor metrics to show progress towards achieving our goals.
• Ensure that ICL’s work is appropriately messaged and branded.
• Represent ICL to diverse audiences.
• Serve as a senior leader within ICL.

The ideal candidate will have: 

• Proven leadership skills.
• Minimum of five years of experience in communications and marketing and developing and implementing sophisticated, multi-pronged, long-term campaigns.
• Minimum of three years experience supervising staff and managing projects.
• Broad experience with public policy or environmental issues and how communication and marketing may be used to promote an agenda of activism, campaign support and membership.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to make complicated issues interesting and understandable to our target audiences.
• Experiences developing compelling messaging to drive results.
• Experience segmenting audiences and developing targeted communications.
• Experience with the platforms that we use: Salesforce, Pardot, Quorum, Hustle, WordPress, Sprout Social. If not these, then very robust experience and strategy on similar platforms.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

Compensation and Benefits:   This position is full-time and located in Boise, Idaho, with some travel required throughout the state and region. Idaho Conservation League offers a comprehensive wage and benefits package, generous benefits—paid health, dental, and vision insurance, Simple IRA with 3% match, 16 days vacation (to start, increases over time), 2 personal days, 10 paid holidays plus the days between Christmas and New Year’s, 3 paid volunteer service days; access to a sabbatical after 7 years, and every 5 years thereafter. Salary for this position is $70,000+ depending on experience.

To apply: 

Submit a cover letter, resume, and three to five references to ICLjobs@idahoconservation.org. Please include the position title, EXTERNAL RELATIONS DIRECTOR, in the subject line. Review of applications will begin immediately. To be considered, applications must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, March 31.

The Idaho Conservation League’s programs and employment are open to all. ICL does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or ability. Idaho Conservation League is an equal opportunity employer and complies with federal and Idaho employment laws.