Job Summary:

The Director of Communications & Brand is responsible for the strategic leadership of GEDP's communications, brand, and content function, shaping the organization's narrative, stewarding its visual and editorial identity, and ensuring that GEDP's work and impact are clearly and compellingly communicated to every audience it serves. The Director is the senior editorial, creative, and communications voice of the organization. The Director leads a team of two manager-level individual contributors — a Lead Designer and a Content & Social Media Manager — and provides active creative direction, editorial oversight, and day-to-day management to both. The Director is not a production role; it is a leadership role that sets the creative and strategic direction the team executes against. This includes direct art direction of the Lead Designer's work, editorial direction of all content across GEDP's channels, and strategic oversight of GEDP's full digital and communications presence. GEDP anticipates adding a Content & Social Media Coordinator as the function grows. The Director of Communications & Brand will lead GEDP through a significant period of organizational growth and public visibility, including an organizational rebrand, a capital campaign, and a destination marketing effort in partnership with the City of Easton. The Director serves as GEDP's primary liaison to outside communications, marketing, brand, and creative agency relationships.

Job Duties & Responsibilities:

Brand Strategy & Organizational Narrative Leads GEDP through an organizational rebrand in collaboration with the Executive Director, board, and outside creative partners; ensures the new identity reflects the organization's mission, voice, and strategic ambitions across all programs, events, and sub-brands Serves as primary staff liaison to the destination marketing firm engaged by GEDP and the City of Easton, providing institutional knowledge, content, and quality oversight Develops and stewards GEDP's brand standards, tone of voice, and messaging architecture across all channels, programs, and audiences — including GEDP-wide communications, the Easton Public Market, the Easton Farmers' Market, and other program-specific presences Champions GEDP's commitment to design that is intentional, human, and rooted — actively resisting generic, corporate, or AI-inflated visual and written output across all organizational materials Articulates GEDP's and Easton's identity — as a destination, a community, and a civic model — in language and images that resonate with residents, visitors, investors, and funders Creative Direction & Team Leadership Provides active, hands-on art direction to the Lead Designer — not approval of finished work, but engagement in the creative process: reviewing concepts, pushing quality, ensuring visual output reflects GEDP's brand sensibility and the handmade, craft-influenced aesthetic the organization values Provides editorial direction to the Content & Social Media Manager across all content channels — setting voice, approving strategy, reviewing key content, and ensuring the work reflects organizational priorities and brand standards Directly supervises both direct reports; provides clear expectations, regular feedback, professional development support, and active workload management Implements, maintains, and enforces GEDP's marketing intake and triage process to ensure requests from programs and events staff are captured, triaged, assigned, and executed with appropriate lead time and quality oversight. Establishes and sustains the operational systems the function depends on — project management workflows in Monday.com, content calendars, creative asset libraries, and platform administration — and ensures they are consistently used across the organization, not merely designed and documented Manages the marketing and communications budget with discipline and transparency; makes vendor and platform decisions in collaboration with the Executive Director Capital Campaign & Advancement Communications In partnership with the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, and fundraising counsel, develops the case for support, campaign narrative, and donor-facing materials for GEDP's capital campaign Drafts and edits grant proposals, reports, and funder communications that are accurate, compelling, and consistent with GEDP's brand voice Supports sponsorship outreach materials and corporate partnership communications in coordination with Sponsor Relations staff Develops communications strategy for major organizational announcements, capital project milestones, and institutional moments Editorial & Content Oversight Sets the editorial direction and content strategy across GEDP's channels — website, email, social media, print, and press — with a clear sense of audience, purpose, and voice for each Oversees GEDP's full content ecosystem, including program-specific channels for the Easton Public Market, Easton Farmers' Market, West Ward Community Initiative, Easton Garden Works, and other programs; provides strategic guidance and brand stewardship to program staff managing those channels Reviews and edits high-stakes content across the organization (press releases, Business Bugler copy, executive communications, major announcements, grant narratives) Develops, implements, and maintains a content calendar and production workflow that ensures marketing supports events and programs proactively, not reactively Oversees GEDP's direct communications platforms, including SMS and email marketing tools, ensuring they are maintained, operational, and deployed strategically Paid Media, Campaign Planning & Asset Management Owns recommendations on paid media investment — billboards, paid social, print, radio, and digital placement — including audience rationale, budget, and expected return; presents recommendations to the Executive Director for approval Leads marketing strategy conversations with program and event managers where the approach requires definition beyond a standard asset request, and translates those conversations into a defined deliverable set and budget Maintains the scheduled rotation of GEDP's standing placements, including billboards, ensuring creative is swapped promptly as events conclude and campaigns turn over; no expired event creative remains in a paid placement Maintains working knowledge of GEDP's existing creative inventory, including reusable and stored assets, and avoids avoidable production spend Tracks marketing spend against budget and reports on performance of paid placements Media Relations & Public Affairs Cultivates and maintains relationships with regional media, journalists, and content creators Proactively pitches stories that advance GEDP's profile and Easton's reputation as a destination Serves as organizational spokesperson or prepares the Executive Director for media engagement as appropriate Supports government and civic communications including presentations, public reports, and external summaries of GEDP's programs and impact Cross-Departmental Collaboration Functions as a service partner to program and event managers across GEDP — Special Events & Promotions, Easton Public Market, Easton Farmers' Market, Main Street Initiative, West Ward Community Initiative, Easton Garden Works, and the Easton Ambassadors Retains and acts on information and direction conveyed by program and event staff, whether in meetings or in writing, and follows through without requiring repetition or escalation Stewards each program's established voice when editing or producing its content, rather than overwriting it with a generic or centralized tone; program managers remain the authority on their program's identity Follows platform-specific and campaign-specific direction from event owners, and raises disagreement directly rather than departing from agreed approach Surfaces capacity conflicts and competing priorities to the Executive Director early, rather than allowing deadlines to slip or quality to degrade Events & Organizational Presence Attends GEDP signature events as a leader, creative director, and brand steward — PA Bacon Fest, Easton Criterium, Heritage Day, Easton Winter Village, Live at the Falls, Rosé on the River, and others — ensuring brand standards are upheld on the ground and content opportunities are maximized Supports EPM programming events — Acoustic Kitchen, Sunday Sounds, Plaza Parties — with communications and content strategy in collaboration with the Content & Social Media Manager and EPM staff Models the flexible, mission-driven presence expected of all GEDP senior staff, including availability for evening and weekend events as the calendar requires As job descriptions cannot possibly list all types of activities that one may encounter in a role like this, the person holding the position may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities as assigned by the Executive Director when necessary.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

Bachelor's degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Journalism, or related field; 7+ years of professional experience in communications, marketing, or public relations, including demonstrated experience leading or significantly shaping an organizational brand or communications function Exceptional writing ability across long-form, short-form, and digital formats; a portfolio of written work that demonstrates range, voice, and the ability to write for multiple audiences without losing a consistent organizational identity Demonstrated experience providing active creative direction — not just approving work, but engaging in the design and editorial process with a strong aesthetic point of view An appreciation for and working knowledge of handmade, craft-influenced, and process-based design aesthetics; the Director must be able to champion and protect this sensibility in GEDP's visual output and push back against generic or AI-generated creative work Disciplined and transparent use of AI tools Experience managing staff or directing creative teams; demonstrated ability to set expectations, deliver feedback, manage workload actively, and hold a team accountable to output and standards Comfort working directly with senior leadership, board members, major funders, and external institutional partners Strong project management discipline; ability to manage multiple high-stakes priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced, event-driven environment Demonstrated track record of implementing and sustaining operational processes, not only designing them; candidates should be prepared to describe systems they personally built and operated that remained in active use a year later Demonstrated ability to work as a peer and service partner to program and operations colleagues, including receiving direction from managers who own the events and programs being marketed Experience in nonprofit, civic, destination marketing, or community development contexts strongly preferred Background in capital campaign or major fundraising communications strongly preferred Experience managing agency, creative, and vendor relationships Proficiency with design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, or equivalent) and content management systems; enough design literacy to provide meaningful creative direction even when not producing work personally Familiarity with social media management platforms, email marketing tools, and direct communications platforms Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Google Workspace. Strong communicator with excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills; ability to represent GEDP professionally across civic, media, funder, and community audiences Ability to work a flexible schedule including evenings, weekends, and event days as required by GEDP's programming calendar

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to communicate, either verbally and/or in writing. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms; ability to see and distinguish color. The employee must have the ability to sit for the majority of the work day at a work station, at a computer. The employee frequently is required to lift up to 10 pounds frequently, and up to 25 pounds occasionally, with or without reasonable accommodation. Employee is occasionally required to travel offsite for business meetings, festivals, events, and donor visits as needed. The employee must be able to work outdoors in all types of weather during GEDP events and programs, including the ability to stand and move for extended periods.

Job Type:

Full-time Pay:

$70,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) Dental insurance Employee discount Health insurance Life insurance Paid time off Parental leave Vision insurance

Work Location:

In person