Job Description

Reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), The Linux Foundation seeks an experienced Vice President of Communications to lead its full-spectrum, integrated communications programs and to create a center of excellence serving each business unit within the organization. This position will be critical to championing the communications, voice, brand reputation, and core messaging of the Linux Foundation’ as a leader at the center of the global open source community.  

The Linux Foundation is a 100% remote organization.  This position can be based anywhere in the United States.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

In your role as VP of Corporate Communications, you will be responsible for leading the company’s integrated communications team responsible for media relations, social media, executive communications, crisis management, and internal communications to help further our vision of creating the greatest shared technology resource in the world.

You will have the opportunity to leverage your strengths and skills to oversee the development, integration, execution and evolution of an innovative and strategic communications plan. Your plan will raise awareness of The Linux Foundation and its content, training, event and research offerings with the media and influencers, grow our audience, and cultivate our voice and brand in the community.  

You will be responsible for managing a team of direct reports and external communication agencies.  You will also collaborate with line of business leaders and PR professionals inside of our business units to share best practices, align editorial calendars, measure impact, and optimize operations.  You will also be responsible for building a center of excellence of communications and PR resources, services and technologies that support the business units in varying stages of growth.

The ideal candidate for this position will be mission driven, innovative, use data to support goals for audience and revenue, have strong media ties, and bring experience with managing multiple PR agencies.

We want you to bring a proven record of driving paid, earned, shared, and owned (PESO) media across markets and experience implementing and integrating them to drive market awareness, core revenue and growth strategies. The VP, who reports to the CMO, will work closely with the leadership team and regularly strategize with editorial, product, business intelligence, sales and marketing on the execution of effective external and internal communications and social strategies.

EXCITED TO COME ON BOARD?

We’re looking for someone who is a hands-on leader by nature. You’ll bring a highly creative, analytical and nimble growth mindset to take on:

Communications Strategy, Vision and Leadership

• Establish departmental and individual goals and metrics, and monitor performance and results for audience and revenue development

• Gain a deep understanding of The Linux Foundation’s technology sectors, thought leaders / spokespersons, content and revenue generating products in order to manage the communications team, plan, and strategy to help meet the Foundation’s revenue, growth and coverage targets

• Develop breakthrough ideas, new strategic partnerships and programs that will further the Foundation’s brand awareness and consideration

• Strategize with agency partners to achieve exceptional outcomes, evolve their engagement with us, and hold them accountable for results.

• Analyze data to inform strategic decisions and report findings to executive leadership. Use analytics tools to provide valuable performance insights for business unit stakeholders, agencies, and internal teams

• Provide strategic communications counsel to The Linux Foundation’s senior leadership team on: media relations; crisis preparedness and management; and regulatory, policy and legislative initiatives. This includes anticipating and identifying challenges and emerging issues that may affect the Foundation’s reputation, and proactively developing strategies to address them.

• Negotiate and manage contracts with external agencies/vendors for PR and social and other communication needs for the company.

• Direct and manage the communications budget

Team Development/Management

• Build, develop and lead a high performing, growth-focused communications team

• Mentor and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach on a consistent basis

• Establish and monitor staff performance and development goals, assign accountabilities, set objectives, establish priorities, conduct annual performance appraisals, and administer salary adjustments

Communications Operations

• Craft, manage, optimize and evolve our communication campaigns and editorial calendar that result in excellent coverage through a combination of paid, owned, earned, and shared media.  Communications will span: new product offerings, acquisitions, events, industry and foundation milestones, research findings, policy direction, partnerships, and open source community endeavors.

• Create and implement internal/executive communications tailored to an engaged and involved employee and community population; effectively partner with peer departments to align messages and timing of content

• Oversee the development and implementation of mixed-media media support materials (e.g., press kits, press releases, FAQs, bios, videos, vlogs/blogs, social, etc.) for The Linux Foundation - while guiding the same for internal business units - in order to deliver engaging, purposeful, and comprehensive content.

• Develop and implement social media strategies for distributing content across platforms  including, but not limited to, Facebook (443K followers), Twitter (373K followers), LinkedIn (159K followers) and YouTube (147K subscribers) designed to build audience engagement as well as leverage the platforms to grow qualified audience acquisition

• Provide strategic direction for PESO editorial and advertising initiatives across platforms as needed, and optimize to ensure ROI goals/KPIs are met

• Coordinate with various internal marketing and business unit teams to support announcements, program updates, and more.

• Lead and support communications and PR research projects to help internal teams and executives better understand and act on community directions trends.  Strengthen our employees’ connection to our mission, our strategy, and the community.

• Leverage news-jacking approaches to generate opportunistic public relations outreach.

• Lead the creation and on-going maintenance of messaging and communication frameworks that ensure a consistent “one voice” presence in our target markets

Qualifications

A PROVEN TRACK-RECORD

• Demonstrated track record of success developing and executing successful communication programs and driving business growth and concrete results for an organization.

• Experience with providing strategic communications guidance to senior executives and key stakeholders.

• Recognized as a leader that people want to work with and for.  Someone that not only focuses on delivering their personal best, but developing the career experiences of those around them.

THE RIGHT MINDSET

• Impeccable judgment and the ability to remain calm under pressure, including representing senior leadership in a variety of situations

• A nimble mindset, that uses a combination of proven and experimental approaches, to deliver winning outcome. You’ll bring a creative and thoughtful on how new media technologies can be utilized

• Strong analytical skills, with ability to drive meaningful actions from large data sets

• Ability to flourish in a fast-paced, diverse, and growing digital environment

• Avid consumer of media and passion for all things communications

• A willingness to experiment with new approaches to communications and PR in order to drive unfair mindshare.

THE RIGHT SKILLS

• Excellent managerial skills, with experience managing a combination of in-house and agency resources

• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal and has strong emotional intelligence

• Well versed with modern social and public relations strategies and practices and emerging platforms

• Strong analytical skills, with ability to drive meaningful actions from large data sets

• Experience using CPV/CPC/CPM-based business models and paid search

• Knowledge and experience with PR, sentiment and social tools, such as or similar to Meltwater, Sprout, HubSpot, Sprinklr

WHAT YOU’LL LIKELY BRING TO THE TABLE

• Minimum 5 years of experience in progressive senior leadership roles responsible for public relations, social media and corporate communications

• Minimum 15 years of experience across PR, social media, digital, marketing/ audience development, including responsibilities for planning, writing, editing, and production of newsletters, press releases, annual reports, marketing literature, and other print publications and directories

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing or Social Sciences

Additional Information

WHAT IT IS LIKE TO WORK ON OUR TEAM

• Talent is our best asset!

• We invest in people with passion and potential who understand The Linux Foundation’s dedication to the open source community.

• Entrepreneurial, mission-driven culture with core values of quality and integrity

• Focus on fostering personal and professional growth

• Competitive benefits including paid vacation time, medical, tuition reimbursement, and training

• Collaborative Work Environment ~ Fun, diverse, inclusive and ambitious co-workers