Digital Content & Design Manager

The Position

National Center for Youth Law
The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) works to amplify youth power, dismantle racism and other structural inequities, and build just policies, practices, and culture in support of young people. Our efforts advance justice through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation’s approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every young person thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.

Communications Team 
The National Center for Youth Law’s Communications team is strategic, production-oriented, and is responsible for increasing awareness of the organization as a respected, go-to source on children and youth issues. The team executes communications strategies that promote policy changes, improve services for youth, and elevates legal precedent that benefits children and youth autonomy and opportunities. We use storytelling, advocacy, and design to highlight challenges confronting children and youth, and solutions that improve the lives of children, youth, families, and communities.

Position
Are you a creative thinker who loves designing eye-catching graphics and crafting engaging social media posts? Do you enjoy collaborating with others to bring ideas to life? We’re looking for a dynamic, versatile communications expert to serve as our Digital Content and Design Manager.

In this role, you’ll use your design skills and digital know-how to help NCYL tell powerful stories and connect with our audiences. You’ll manage our social media presence, create compelling content, and support various design and communications projects.

This role requires a creative and detail-oriented multitasker who can seamlessly shift between graphic design, social media management, content creation, and digital strategy. The ideal candidate loves telling a story for change from multiple angles, has a strong portfolio of design work and possess exceptional project management skills.

The ideal candidate will also be a strategist with experience across many digital platforms and a keen understanding of launching complex messaging, advocacy, and/or fundraising campaigns at the national level. They will have an extraordinary eye for design and an excellent sense of how news and content is consumed across demographics and mediums.

The position reports to the organization’s Director of Communications.

Essential Functions 

• Social Media: Lead social media for NCYL and its policy teams, including discussing and brainstorming content opportunities, creating content, and publishing content. This role will be responsible for creating NCYL’s weekly and monthly social media content and calendar.
• Graphic Design: Lead all graphic design efforts, including reports, fact sheets, one-pagers, social media graphics, and other branded materials. Video Content Creation: Produce compelling short-form videos that elevate the expertise of NCYL’s leaders and the voices of the youth we serve.
• Project Management:  In collaboration with the Director of Communications, project manage the execution of digital campaigns across social medial, email, and the website, ensuring that NCYL’s impact is communicated to supporters and external audiences in a consistent, timely, and compelling manner.
• Monitoring & Engagement: Track digital trends and engagement metrics, manage online interactions, and identify opportunities to drive policy conversations in digital spaces.
• Collaboration: Attend frequent meetings with policy teams, external partners, and other Communications team members to project manage and clarify content needs and otherwise assist the Communications team

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of experience in digital communications, content creation, and social media management for a nonprofit, campaign, agency, or other organization
• A positive, inspiring communicator, with strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write engaging and clear copy
• Deep expertise in graphic design, including proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign and Photoshop) and Canva
• Video production experience (campaign ads, social media videos, explainer videos, etc.)
• Experience with HTML, Drupal, and other CMS systems preferred
• Demonstrated support of and commitment to NCYL’s mission, including the advancement of racial justice
• Exceptional project management skills and a high level of initiative, able to map out and adhere to deadlines in a proactive, independent manner in an environment with competing priorities and rapid turnaround
• Ability to adhere to the high standards of a national communications department, maintaining a high quality of work and impeccable attention to detail
• Ability to operate in “rapid response” context when quick turnarounds are needed and/or when crisis situations develop
• Experience creating communications materials with an equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist lens

Physical Requirements
Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer. This position may require some travel.

Salary, Benefits, and Location
This is a full-time, exempt position. Salary is competitive at $122,731.00 annually. A geographic salary differential may be applied if the candidate resides somewhere other than the Oakland, CA, Los Angeles, CA, New York City, Boston, or Washington, DC metro areas. This means that the salary would be reduced if the candidate resides in an area where the cost of labor is less than that of the San Francisco Bay Area.

NCYL provides a robust benefits package including health, dental, vision, and life insurances, generous vacation and sick benefits, paid family leave, flexible spending account, commuter benefits, employer contribution to a retirement plan, paid sabbatical, and short-term and long-term disability insurance.

NCYL is registered to do business in the following 13 locations: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin. If a candidate is hired but lives in a state where NCYL is not currently registered to do business, their start date may need to be delayed until registration can be completed in the new state. This process may take as much as three months to complete.

It is anticipated but not guaranteed that NCYL’s remote work approach will be in place through 2026. If this policy is revoked prior to 2026, staff will be given at least one year’s notice before being recalled to a NCYL office.

All positions at NCYL are at-will and paid for by grants and donations, thus employment with NCYL will be contingent upon continued receipt of funding. Nothing in the statement changes the at-will employment relationship.

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter and resume at the link below. Please, no emails or calls.

Applicants who meet the above criteria with lived experiences within any of our practice areas, including Black, Indigenous, or other people of color, are strongly encouraged to apply. 

It is the policy of NCYL to provide equal employment opportunities to all Applicants (including Employees) regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding, national origin, age, abilities/disabilities, neurotypicality, socioeconomic status, veteran status, marital status, prior convictions, or any other protected classifications under federal, state, or local law.