Director of Communications

The role

The Forecasting Research Institute (FRI) seeks a Director of Communications to increase our visibility in national media and build connections with policymakers. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll create and implement our communications strategy, engage with key decisionmakers, and improve our digital presence to help FRI bring rigorous forecasting methods to high-stakes decisions.

We're looking for someone with a track record in media outreach, online communications, and building relationships with policymakers. You'll develop a strategy to expand our influence through media engagement, partnerships, and outreach to funders.

Key Goals & Responsibilities

• Strategy Development: Create clear plans for how FRI shares its research and ideas. You'll decide the best ways to communicate our work to different audiences, handle potential communication challenges, and make sure our message fits with FRI's broader aims.

• Impact Measurement: Find practical ways to track whether our communications are working. You'll set up clear metrics to measure our progress, create regular reports on what we've achieved, and recommend improvements.

• Media Relations: Build relationships with journalists and editors, create press materials and blog posts, and actively find opportunities to share FRI's work through interviews, articles, and media coverage.

• Policymaker Outreach: Identify key policymakers to connect with and create opportunities to share our research through briefings, roundtable discussions, and workshops in Washington DC. You'll work to make our research accessible and useful to policymakers and their staff.

• Digital Communications: Plan and oversee how we share our research online. This includes managing our social media strategy, email updates, website content, and creating engaging ways to present our research online to reach new audiences.

• Fundraising Support: Work with the CEO to connect with potential funders, focusing on major donors and institutions. You'll help create materials that clearly communicate our impact and vision.

• Working with External Teams: Identify when we need outside help with specific projects, select and coordinate with external contractors and professionals (like designers or communications specialists) and ensure they deliver high-quality work.

This role is new and we expect it to evolve over time. Depending on what excites you and where we see opportunities for impact, you may take on additional responsibilities related to expanding our strategic partnerships, fundraising, and advocacy efforts.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate would have the following characteristics:

• Proven track record planning and executing communications strategies

• Experience building relationships with journalists and policymakers, with good understanding of the U.S. media landscape

• Experience creating effective content across web, email, and social media platforms

• Excellent writing and editing abilities, particularly in making complex research clear and compelling

• Strong judgment in handling sensitive topics and understanding how different audiences will respond

• Ability to coordinate with external contractors and partners to achieve goals

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work well across teams

• Deep interest in improving how we make decisions about complex challenges

Experience with fundraising communications or quantitative forecasting is helpful but not required. We also welcome candidates with event planning or team management experience.

We highly encourage you to apply, even if you don't feel completely qualified. Some of the best people we’ve worked with in our careers felt underqualified when they first applied, and we’re glad they did so anyway.

About the Forecasting Research Institute

The Forecasting Research Institute aims to advance the science of forecasting and support decision-making on high-stakes policy issues. We build on proven forecasting techniques and test new approaches through large-scale experiments. Our research helps policymakers and organizations better anticipate and prepare for future developments. You can see an overview of our research here.