Chief Brand & Communications Officer

Healthy Building Network (HBN) is seeking a Chief Brand and Communications Officer who will lead HBN’s brand experience and communications by setting the brand strategy and ensuring it is consistently delivered to increase audience engagement, advance our business objectives and accelerate our impact.

Healthy Building Network is a national non-profit with a vision that all people and the planet thrive when the environment is free of toxic chemicals. For over 20 years, we have worked with multinational corporations, academia, scientists, non-profits, retailers, and governments to advance solutions in green chemistry and safer products that improve global health and environmental justice. HBN is embarking on an exciting growth phase, including a 2023 organizational re-branding – including a new name, new website, and evolving our narrative to one that compellingly captures the breadth and results of our work.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Executive Team, you will develop and guide the company’s brand strategy and direct the implementation of all communications and marketing activities across the organization. You will be the point of contact for all marketing and communications topics and drive our digital marketing positioning (localization of Website, SEO, SEM, Digital campaigns, etc.). Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that will measure growth in terms of elevating our voice, acquiring new users and customers, and helping advance business objectives through increasing revenue streams.

Critical Competencies for Success:

• Creativity: Strategic, bold, and compelling idea generator. Able to develop effective ways to connect with and influence audiences, as well as help reach new customers.
• Story making and Storytelling: Aptitude to create engaging content that educates, motivates, and wins the target audience’s minds, resources, and loyalty. Experienced at translating science into accessible, actionable, and interesting narratives. Able to effectively connect to and communicate with diverse audiences.
• Stakeholder Centric: Alert and sensitive to audience feedback and trends, and able to convert them into insights and value propositions that advance HBN’s business objectives and impact.
• Leader + Implementer: Motivating leader that builds high quality internal and external relationships. Able to set the strategic brand vision, design an implementable plan, and ensure delivery of high quality results. For our current small team, it also means rolling up your sleeves and crafting the work, and overseeing the work of external communications contractors. Advance our resources and build towards developing and growing a larger communications team over time.

Responsibilities:

• Define and create the brand vision, communications and marketing strategy for the future of all HBN initiatives
• Implement the communications and marketing strategies supporting our vision and purpose, including creating and managing systems that promote brand consistency and improvement for all audiences, staff, shareholders and customers alike
• Provide guidance to our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) strategy throughout all our communications initiatives
• Coach and mentor staff to collectively deliver the best possible customer experience that will build the right brand for our audiences, partners, board, and staff – including future hires who want to be part of our team
• Measure the performance of all activities and campaigns and assess them against goals (ROI, Key Performance Indicators) continuously adjusting strategy & activities as needed

Qualifications:

• A successful brand and communications leader with demonstrable experience working in sectors related to environmental health, sustainability, climate, science, or related fields.
• Experienced storyteller inside and outside the organization
• Strong business acumen
• Ability to listen deeply and translate feedback and trends into new ideas that meet audience needs
• Influencer: Proactively builds relationships and ability to influence others
• Able to accurately assess problems and quickly arrive at solutions
• Strategic thinker and doer: a person that knows the current state, visualizes the ideal state and rolls up their sleeves as needed to achieve it. Someone who takes initiative and remedies problems
• Agility: Focus on efficiency, effectiveness, innovation, and continuous improvement
• Constructive Engager: Expresses ideas and disagreements, constructively resolves conflict, and encourages others to do the same. Creates a safe and engaging space for robust conversation and debate.

About HBN:

HBN is an organization that is focused on making the world a healthier place.

HBN envisions a future where all people and the planet thrive when the environment is free of toxic chemicals. Since 2000, HBN has been the leading national organization to pioneer technology platforms, research, and policies that elevate human health and environmental justice to a top priority in the green chemistry and safer product industry.

HBN serves both a technical and non-technical audience with tools and information developed with the primary intention of serving business-to-business (B2B) customers, vs the public.

• Pharos, our software platform that houses our chemical and materials library, has customer representation from nearly all sectors, including government; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) interested in green chemistry and safer products; academia; and manufacturers and retailers in areas such as the built environment, electronics, beauty and personal care, food packaging, apparel, transportation, and more.
• Our research and product guidance is focused on the built environment audiences including architects, developers, contractors, green building standards, product certifications, sustainability leaders, and related stakeholders. It includes our key new initiative called Informed which is advancing safer product selection, and an affordable housing community of practice called HomeFree.
• Our Fiscal Sponsor innovation hub is open to a broad range of projects with mission alignment, and currently includes ChemFORWARD, a safer chemicals platform supporting multi-sector customers; and, SUM'D, creators of the Understanding Packaging scorecard to reduce food packaging waste.

Location:

HBN is a national organization with staff working flexibly from home or cooperative workspaces around the US.

Salary:

Salary commensurate with experience and geographic location, in the range of $145,000 - $160,000 annually.

HBN is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to providing staff with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and candidate qualifications, without regard to age, race, color, religion or belief, gender identification, family or parental status.

Comprehensive benefits package includes generous employer-paid health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans, robust vacation and sick leave, and employer contributions to a 401(k)-retirement program.

How to Apply:

• Email in PDF format a letter of interest, resume, and writing samples or other portfolio projects to jobs@healthybuilding.net.
• Please, no phone calls. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.