Communications Coordinator

The Chapin School, an independent K-12 day school for girls located in New York City, seeks a student-centered, collaborative, and innovative individual to serve as Communications Coordinator.

Chapin’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB): All Chapin students and professional community members are valued and appreciated for their unique identities, including their diverse backgrounds, perspectives, talents, and interests. We expect Chapin faculty to employ culturally informed, equity-focused teaching practices in order to reach all students and ensure they are known and understood. Each individual belongs to and is an integral part of our affirming and joyful learning community. To support this commitment, Chapin actively seeks diversity in its faculty, staff, and student body.

All candidates are encouraged to be familiar with Chapin’s DEIB commitment found on the School’s website.

THE POSITION

The Communications Department of The Chapin School seeks an individual with at least 2-4 years of experience to fill the position of Communications Coordinator. The primary responsibilities of this full-time, in-person position consist of creating editorial and visual content for Chapin’s website, printed publications and marketing materials and supporting the workflow/operations of the Communications Department. The position reports directly to the Chief Communications & Strategy Officer (CCSO). The department also includes a Director of Communications and a Communications Manager.

The individual we seek must be an excellent writer; extremely organized; familiar and comfortable with web duties outlined below; and able to work in the fast-paced environment of an independent K-12 school.

Submissions without cover letters and writing samples will not be considered.

Responsibilities

Writing/Content Duties

• Assist with the development and implementation of communications that support the School's mission and goals
• Work with the Communications Manager to conceive of, develop and track news story ideas
• Interview faculty/students/guests and writing weekly news items that cover Lower, Middle and Upper School for Chapin’s website and for “Chapin Today,” the School’s printed newsletter (3 issues per year)
• Assist with the writing of content for the Chapin website
• Support content creation efforts for Chapin’s social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook)
• Work with and support Advancement colleagues in writing and editing printed and digital materials that support fundraising initiatives, such as solicitation letters, acknowledgements, endowment reports, and possible grant applications
• Interview alumnae and writing profiles for Alumnae Bulletin
• Compile and edit faculty bios for the website
• Serve as an editor and proofreader for a variety of School communications
  
  

Administrative Duties

• Track the workflow/operations of the Communications Department
• Coordinate Communications department and Web Team (comprised of members across the School) meeting agendas, taking meeting notes, and distributing notes to group
• Support, and serve as backup for, the Communications Manager in coordinating, compiling, editing, and sending the School’s weekly e-newsletter to parents and professional community members
• Set up News posts in Finalsite, Chapin’s website host
• Maintain, with the Communications Manager & Director of Communications, in the department’s growing photo database (editing, organizing, tagging, labeling and sorting photo/video assets)
• Assist the CCSO with organizing and tracking vendor invoices and subscriptions (Issuu, AP Style, etc.)
• Provide staffing support for Advancement Department-run events held during the day and some evenings and occasionally weekends, as needed
  
  

Photography

• Photograph students during in-class activities and on field trips for social media, the website, Chapin Weekly stories and Chapin Today articles.
• Photograph events as requested
  
  

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing, English or a related field
• 2-4 years of experience
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, including editing and proofreading skills
• Ability to write quickly and in a range of styles for different end uses (talking points, newsletter stories, grant proposals, etc.)
• Discretion with confidential and sensitive information
• Excellent project management and organizational skills
• Patient, professional, flexible approach to working with and meeting the needs of different constituents
• A clear understanding and appreciation of the School’s mission
• Occasional night and weekend availability to attend events
  
  

Preferred

• Strong familiarity with AP Style
• Experience with Adobe Photoshop
• Familiarity using web CMS (Chapin’s host is Finalsite) a plus
• Experience with Veracross a plus
  
  

The salary range for this position is $60,000-70,000

How to apply: To be considered, applicants interested in this position must submit a cover letter expressing their interest, a resume and (2) writing samples. Submissions without a cover letter and writing samples will not be considered. The committee will begin review of applications on June 17 through July 15. Applications submitted after July 15 may be considered on a rolling basis.