Key Responsibilities

The Director of Communications & Marketing will lead a broad, strategic, and highly visible communications portfolio. The role requires both strategic and organizational thinking and hands-on execution, with responsibility for building a cohesive communications strategy, strengthening HSVC's public voice, supporting internal alignment, and increasing visibility of the organization's mission and impact. Success in the role will require the ability to balance long-term strategic communications leadership with the day-to-day realities of a dynamic and evolving organization.

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS LEADERSHIP

• Develop and execute a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy aligned with HSVC's mission, organizational priorities, and long-term growth goals.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Executive Director and leadership team on communications, messaging, visibility, reputation, and public engagement.
• Translate organizational strategy into clear communications priorities, plans, campaigns, and messages that can be understood and embraced by a range of audiences.
• Strengthen and steward HSVC's brand voice, messaging, and public narrative across all channels and materials.
• Integrate digital, media, marketing, donor, community, and internal communications into a cohesive organizational communications strategy.
• Establish appropriate goals, measures, and feedback loops to evaluate communications effectiveness, engagement, reach, and impact.

STORYTELLING & CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

• Lead organizational storytelling efforts that communicate HSVC's mission, impact, programs, services, and future direction with clarity and authenticity.
• Identify and elevate compelling stories from across shelter operations, veterinary services, adoptions, foster programs, community services, volunteers, donors, staff, and the people and animals HSVC serves.
• Translate complex animal welfare, veterinary, operational, and organizational initiatives into accessible, emotionally resonant, and accurate communications.
• Oversee the development of content across website, social media, email, video, print, donor communications, annual reports, newsletters, press materials, and community-facing collateral.
• Ensure stories and communications build awareness, understanding, engagement, and trust among constituents and the broader community.
• Partner with staff across department

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

• Strengthen public understanding of HSVC's work, services, mission, and evolving role throughout Ventura County.
• Develop communications strategies that deepen engagement with community members, adopters, volunteers, donors, veterinary clients, partners, media, and other constituents.
• Help build trust and credibility with diverse communities, including communities that may not yet know HSVC well or may have limited access to animal welfare resources.
• Support communications and outreach related to expanded services, including the Oxnard clinic and broader community-based animal welfare initiatives.
• Collaborate with Development and program teams to align community engagement, donor storytelling, and mission-based communications.
• Serve as an ambassador for HSVC's mission, values, and commitment to animals and the people who care for them.

ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCE & CHANGE LEADERSHIP

• Support leadership and staff through periods of organizational growth, change, and evolution by providing clear, thoughtful, and timely communications guidance.
• Build internal understanding and alignment around HSVC's strategic priorities, major initiatives, programmatic shifts, and future direction.
• Strengthen internal communications practices so team members have greater clarity about organizational priorities, changes, and opportunities.
• Partner with leaders across the organization to anticipate communications needs, identify potential areas of confusion or concern, and develop messages that support alignment and trust.
• Provide thoughtful communications counsel and support during highly visible, sensitive, or complex situations.
• Support the communication of HSVC's evolving vision, priorities, and impact to both internal and external audiences.

MEDIA RELATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

• Develop and maintain relationships with local, regional, and relevant media to increase understanding of HSVC's work and impact.
• Identify media opportunities tied to HSVC's mission, services, programs, community role, and future growth.
• Prepare press releases, media statements, talking points, op-eds, background materials, and other public-facing communications as needed.
• Support the Executive Director and other leaders in media preparation, public remarks, interviews, presentations, and external communications.
• Serve as a visible representative and communications ambassador for HSVC at community events, media opportunities, and public-facing engagements as appropriate.
• Monitor public dialogue, media coverage, and online conversations to identify opportunities, concerns, misinformation, and emerging communications needs.
• Develop and maintain thoughtful protocols and messaging approaches for high-visibility, sensitive, or crisis communications situations.

DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING

• Lead digital communications strategy across HSVC's website, social media, email marketing, and other digital channels.
• Ensure digital platforms clearly communicate HSVC's mission, services, programs, adoption opportunities, clinic resources, and community impact.
• Develop audience engagement strategies that expand reach, strengthen visibility, and deepen constituent connection with HSVC.
• Use analytics and engagement data to inform content planning, platform strategy, audience development, and ongoing improvement.
• Oversee digital campaigns related to adoption, foster recruitment, volunteer engagement, community services, clinic awareness, fundraising, and organizational storytelling.
• Ensure visual identity, tone, and messaging are consistent and compelling across digital channels.

TEAM LEADERSHIP & CROSS-FUNCTIONALCOLLABORATION

• Lead, mentor, and support communications and marketing staff, contractors, consultants, vendors, and creative partners.
• Recruit, develop, and retain high-performing communications talent while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Assess existing communications systems, workflows, roles, priorities, and capacity, and recommend improvements over time.
• Build strong working relationships across shelter operations, veterinary services, development, HR, finance, facilities, volunteer engagement, foster programs, and other functions.
• Manage projects, priorities, deadlines, vendors, budgets, anddeliverables with clarity, accountability, and follow-through.
• Create a collaborative communications culture that supportsresponsiveness, creativity, accuracy, and strategic focus.
• Balance long-term strategy with day-to-day communications needs in a dynamic, mission-driven environment.

HSVC seeks a strategic communications leader, compelling storyteller, collaborative manager, trusted advisor, and pas-sionate ambassador for the organization's mission. The ideal candidate will bring the communications discipline, maturity,creativity, and relationship-building skills needed to help HSVC tell its story, build trust, and deepen engagement during ameaningful chapter of growth and evolution.

The strongest candidates may come from animal welfare, nonprofit, healthcare, advocacy, public service, education, conservation,hospitality, lifestyle, consumer brands, creative agencies, or other mission-driven and community-facing environments. A genuineconnection to animals and enthusiasm for HSVC's mission are essential.

The successful candidate will be both strategic and hands-on. They will be able to set vision and direction, advise senior leadership,build systems and processes, and roll up their sleeves to write, edit, shape content, manage projects, and respond to evolving com-munications needs. They will be energized by the opportunity to build and strengthen a communications function in partnership withan Executive Director who values communications as a strategic leadership function.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE & CORE COMPETENCIES

• Strategic communications leadership, including experience developing and executing integrated communications strategies aligned with organizational priorities and long-term goals.
• Exceptional storytelling and content development skills, includingthe ability to translate mission, impact, and complexorganizational initiatives into clear and compelling messages fordiverse audiences.
• Strong community engagement and relationship-building skills,with the ability to build trust and credibility with constituents,partners, donors, volunteers, community members, media, andother key audiences.
• Experience supporting organizations through growth, change,public visibility, or strategic evolution, with the ability to buildunderstanding, alignment, and confidence throughcommunications.
• Demonstrated experience leading communications teams,managing projects, collaborating across departments, anddelivering high-quality work while balancing multiple priorities.
• Strong writing, editing, verbal communication, and message-development skills across multiple formats, platforms, andaudiences.
• Experience with public relations, media relations, digitalcommunications, social media strategy, reputation management,and audience engagement.
• Ability to advise and partner with executive leadership oncommunications priorities, messaging, public presence, andsensitive issues.
• Experience managing communications budgets, vendors,consultants, and external partners.
• Comfort working in an evolving, mission-driven environment that requires flexibility, responsiveness, sound decision-making, and thoughtful prioritization.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience in communications, marketing, public relations, journalism, or a related field.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in animal welfare, sheltering, veterinary services, rescue, animal advocacy, or related fields.
• Experience in nonprofit, social impact, public service, advocacy,community-based, or other mission-driven organizations.
• Experience supporting fundraising communications, donorengagement, annual campaigns, impact reporting, or developmentcommunications.
• Spanish language proficiency or experience developing bilingualor multilingual communications and outreach.
• Experience communicating with diverse communities and buildingtrust across lines of difference.
• Experience supporting organizations through new servicelaunches, geographic expansion, organizational repositioning, orperiods of increased public visibility.