Director of Marketing & Communications

Description:

Annual Salary Range is $80,000-$85,000 depending on experience. Spanish-speaking differential: Additional $1.00 per hour for employees who demonstrate and maintain Spanish language proficiency and are willing to use this skill for Wayside Waifs' business purposes.

Position Summary:

Wayside Waifs is hiring a full-time Director of Marketing & Communications. This is a newly created position to support Wayside’s expanding needs. This position will create and implement mission-driven marketing and communications strategies to raise awareness, engage community, and support adoption and fundraising goals for Wayside Waifs, an 82-year-old organization serving 40,000+ pets and people annually.

Responsibilities

• Team leadership and collaboration across the organization.
• Marketing, communications, and media strategy; includes content creation for internal and external audiences and Organization’s 10 lines of business.
• Brand management
• Website management for all Wayside websites (currently includes: waysidewaifs.org, Furballkc.org, Strutt With Your Mutt, and nomorebullying.org)
• Create, track, and report KPI performance.
• Manage three full-time staff, volunteers, and contractors.

Essential Functions/Key Competencies

• Passion for animal welfare, community engagement, and creating a Culture of Philanthropy.
• Proven experience in marketing, communications, or related roles — ideally in nonprofit, social-impact, or similar field. Extensive experience creating and implementing content for integrated marketing campaigns, including websites, and marketing and fundraising videos.
• Strong digital marketing skills and social media savvy; comfortable with content creation, storytelling, and managing multiple communication channels.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; public relations and media outreach experience preferred. Highly skilled in storytelling.
• Leadership, project management, and cross-functional collaboration skills — ability to juggle multiple projects, budgets, timelines, and create a supportive environment for the Team to grow, shine, and have a positive impact.
• Experience using data, analytics, and performance metrics to inform marketing and communications strategy; evaluate audience behavior, campaign/fundraising effectiveness, and engagement trends to optimize messaging, improve outcomes, and demonstrate impact.
• Creativity, resourcefulness, and flexibility — ability to adapt to a small/lean nonprofit environment with limited resources.

Requirements:

Requirements

• 7 years of experience or more in marketing, communications, or related fields. Nonprofit experience preferred.
• Expert storyteller requiring excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Graphic design skills.
• Project management skills.
• A collaborative and curious mindset that embraces innovation and growth.
• Ability to approach emotionally sensitive aspects of animal welfare with professionalism, empathy, and resilience.

Physical/Environmental

• Due to collaboration required, position is not hybrid/remote.
• Must be able to lift 50lbs to waist-height.
• Must be able to physically restrain dogs weighing up to and including 50lbs.
• Exposure to wet and/or humid conditions and outside weather conditions.
• Exposure to fumes, animal smells, airborne particles, and hot and cool temperatures.
• The noise level is moderate to high.
• Sporadic, limited travel involved, less than 10%.

Education

• College degree in marketing, communications, or journalism is preferred.
• High school graduate or equivalent required.
• Bilingual (English and Spanish) preferred, but not required.