Vice President, Digital Communications and Storytelling

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) is one of the largest integrated sports and entertainment companies in the country with one of the most diverse partnership groups in all of sports. MSE owns and operates seven major and minor sports teams: 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals, NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s 2019 Championship Washington Mystics, NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go, 2021 & 2020 NBA 2K League Champion Wizards District Gaming and Caps Gaming, an esports sub-brand of the Capitals. Additionally, it holds a significant investment in a seventh professional team, Team Liquid, an endemic esports team owned and operated by aXiomatic, in which MSE is an investor.

In September 2022, MSE acquired the regional sports network, then-called NBC Sports Washington and newly rebranded as Monumental Sports Network. Monumental Sports Network now holds the exclusive local television media rights to Capitals’, Wizards’, and Mystics’ games. The network is both a linear channel and a digital operation. Prior to acquiring the linear platform, the digital platform was launched by MSE in 2016, as the first-of-its-kind regional sports network for digital, mobile, and streaming platforms. Those linear and digital platforms are now combined and join Caps Radio, Wizards Radio, MSE Outdoor and Monumental Productions for a full suite of six media enterprises.

In addition to Capital One Arena – a venue which hosts 3M+ visitors across over 250 events annually, MSE also manages MedStar Capitals Iceplex (training facility for the Capitals), MedStar Health Performance Center (training facility for the Wizards, Mystics, and Go-Go) and EagleBank Arena (a 12,000+ live event venue on George Mason University’s campus).

In July 2020, MSE partnered with William Hill (subsequently acquired by Caesars Entertainment) to open the first ever in-arena sportsbook in North America, now called Caesars Sportsbook.

MSE opened “District E powered by Ticketmaster” in the spring of 2023, a flagship esports and entertainment venue. This 14,000-square-foot live-event theater offers a 365-day-a-year series of immersive experiences in esports, music, culinary excellence, event programming, and community events.

MSE proudly promotes its core values for all those that interact with the company. As a member of our team:

1. You will provide first-class customer service and value for our fans.
2. You will champion a double-bottom line that engages, unifies, and gives back to the community we serve.
3. You will work tirelessly to build generationally exceptional teams that compete for championships year after year and create lifelong memories for our fans.
4. You will measure performance with specific objectives and metrics and our analysis and decisions are compelled by data.
5. You will prize leadership, but you should value teamwork and collaboration and transparency even more. We treat each other with respect. We act with honesty and integrity. We remain humble.
6. You will innovate. We are nimble and first to market. We are not averse to risk.
7. You will have fun. We are in the business of happiness.

Position Overview: 

The Vice President, Digital Communications and Storytelling sets and leads MSE’s brand experience story to life in new, powerful ways. Based in Washington, DC this role leads the development and execution of MSE’s digital communications and brand storytelling strategy, ensuring a meaningful, cohesive, and differentiated brand experience across all traditional and digital touchpoints. Reporting directly to the Chief Strategic and Corporate Communications Officer, this position is a member of the Strategic and Corporate Communications Leadership team. An important responsibility of this team is to advance, elevate, protect and celebrate the largest integrated sports and entertainment company in the country with one of the most diverse partnership groups in all of sports.

This leader will work in close partnership with the marketing teams to ensure a seamless connection between brand-building efforts and commercial growth strategies. They will supervise key brand storytelling functions-including strategy, creative, digital communications, community engagement storytelling, and partnerships-while collaborating to ensure the brand storytelling resonates, strengthens awareness, builds lasting connections, shaping compelling narratives, and driving impact in the world of sports and media-entertainment.

Primary responsibilities include:

The VP will lead MSE’s efforts to craft and deliver a narrative that promotes our values, mission and vision and is harmonized internally and externally across stakeholders and partners. They will be key in building MSE’s brand and increasing our visibility, influence and recognition as best in class.

Working closely with MSE leadership they will engage with the other teams to ensure alignment of efforts across all aspects of the organization, nimbly meeting stakeholder/client needs and maximizing MSE’s positioning and impact.

Are you passionate about building and delivering a strong brand narrative to promote company mission, values, and vision? We would love to hear from you!

Influence amplification

• Elevate MSE’s influence, brand positioning and thought leadership among existing and new target audiences on issues that advance our mission through well-developed and driven marketing and communications efforts grounded in MSE and our partners’ expertise, experiences and impact.
• Explore external engagement efforts across the organization, including new opportunities and leading strategies to maximize the visibility of MSE’s messaging in our key influence areas across traditional and digital mediums and fora.
• Further leverage MSE leadership’s voice and expertise to amplify the organization, positioning it as an inspiring leader in the industry that serves a niche need for sports and media-entertainment.
• Work collaboratively with the executive team to build and implement a medium-term strategy to advance key areas of influence and positioning in the sector.
• Recognize opportunities and oversee resource allocation.
• Identify challenges, risks, and emerging issues the organization faces in advancing the narrative of our mission and proposing mitigation measures.
• Use data-driven insights to identify untapped markets and opportunities and tailor storytelling campaigns and messaging to attract and engage new fans, sponsors and partners.

Storytelling and brand enhancement

• Strengthen brand awareness and ensure targeted, consistent messaging and voice across internal and external communications channels regarding MSE’s mission, values, positioning, teams and related impact.
• Lead the development and implementation of a storytelling engagement strategy that guides MSE leadership and staff in cultivating meaningful relationships with external audiences, including digital and traditional media and other key influencers.
• Lead top-of-funnel brand raising for funding opportunities in collaboration with other teams, specifically our teams, venues, network, corporate development and business operations.
• Elevate MSE impact storytelling in creative, engaging and compelling ways across all content and communications platforms in ways that respect the communities and organizations supported by MSE.
• Train leadership and staff on the communication of essential storytelling narratives and stories of MSE.
• Ensure effective messaging and narratives tailored to target audiences to achieve strategic goals and boost engagement.
• Develop digital crisis communication strategies and protocols to protect and enhance the MSE's reputation in times of crisis or controversy.
• Monitor key metrics to measure digital brand perception and adjust strategies accordingly.

Marketing & communications

• Provide high-level strategic support, thought partnership and counsel to team members on marketing and communications strategies, priorities, special initiatives, budgets and operations.
• Represent MSE with key influencers and stakeholders in pursuit of its mission and positioning.
• Leverage in-depth subject matter expertise, professional networks, data and thoughtful analyses to support the marketing and communications teams in delivering a cohesive brand storytelling strategy.
• Guide the team and other stakeholders in promising marketing, communication, and storytelling practices.
• Support – from a MarComm perspective – all of MSE’s events portfolio, including webinars, convenings, speaking engagements and conference participation.

Departmental and team leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and collaborate with team members to champion a culture of learning, respect and trust, harnessing the group's diverse experience and collective wisdom.
• Support the team through mentoring or coaching to ensure timely and successful completion of work plans and assist professional development.
• Manage the departmental budget and ensure the team is adequately resourced to deliver against strategic and operational goals and operates within appropriate operational and financial boundaries.
• Define critical metrics to determine the effectiveness of storytelling and digital campaigns and report the results to leadership, staff and board.
• Cultivate and craft internal and employee culture through engagement in brand stories in collaboration with the executive team.
• Participate on the executive teams in service to the organization and as a representative of the work under the position’s purview.
• Regular travel to represent MSE at events, professional development and in-person team meetings.
• Serve on committees and task forces at MSE as appropriate and as available.
• Represent MSE in a positive, professional manner in meetings and other external engagements.

Required qualifications

• ≥ 10 years of relevant, progressive professional experience in digital marketing, storytelling and communications.
• Proven ability to lead, inspire and mentor a team.
• Masters in a related field or equivalent work experience.
• Proven experience optimizing the different disciplines of marketing and communications to develop and execute strategies that boost brand awareness, grow influence, enhance reputation and support organizational growth strategies.
• Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills to drive data-informed decision-making.
• Experience applying insights from changing market dynamics to organization-wide growth strategies.
• Demonstrated skills in mentoring or coaching team members to support their professional development and the organization’s growth.
• Excellent communication, presentation and writing skills.
• Ability to effectively synthesize and distill complex information clearly and persuasively to multiple audiences.
• Ability to think creatively and outside the box.

Preferred skills and qualifications

• Well-rounded marketing or business development experience in positions of increasing responsibility, focusing on market expansion.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and nurture a productive network of professional relationships with industry influencers, partners and stakeholders that can support brand objectives.
• An ability to adapt branding strategies to resonate with different demographics and audiences.
• Familiarity with, although not necessarily a professional background in, philanthropy, the humanitarian sector and/or social impact.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Experience helping groups integrate evidence and data into their decisions.
• Experience designing and implementing learning practices, with strong facilitation skills.
• An understanding of nonprofit fundraising and relationship cultivation.
• Proven track record to independently manage various operational functions, stand-alone workstreams and/or supervise staff.
• Ability to establish relationships with and empower dispersed team members with diverse personalities and backgrounds.

Pay Range: $200 - 250k USD.

Benefit Eligibility: This role is eligible to participate in health and welfare benefits.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.