Content and Communications Lead

Location: Remote, New York City, or Oakland

Role Type: Full-time

Compensation: For employees based in the Oakland, CA, and New York City, NY, metropolitan areas, the salary for this role is $111,500. For employees based elsewhere in the United States, the salary for this role is $102,000.

Visa sponsorship: Not available

Hires remotely in: United States

Experience: 5+ Years

Recidiviz is thrilled to be hiring a Content & Communications Lead to join our marketing team! We’re a small, fast-moving group that creates moments and messages that drive our mission forward.

That’s where you come in. We’re looking for a master storyteller with a strategist’s eye for reputation. You will own our narrative across both owned and earned channels, building the content engine that shapes how the world perceives Recidiviz and our work.

About us

Recidiviz is creating safer, healthier communities by improving outcomes for people in the criminal justice system. We build technology to reduce the number of people in prison and to help criminal justice leaders embrace data-driven decision-making.

Using software tools and thoughtful product design, we’ve been able to safely and permanently reduce incarceration and improve outcomes. We work side-by-side with leaders of the criminal justice system, people in prison and on supervision, and ecosystem partners to build a better path forward. In addition to the revenue we earn from state partners, some of the most respected philanthropists and foundations support our work.

People who succeed at Recidiviz lead with kindness and humility, assume good intent, learn from failure, and fix problems when they see them. They are excited to work arm in arm with government leadership and staff to improve outcomes. They are great listeners. They build deep relationships with and empathy for the people we work with and the people who our mission serves, even when those two groups feel at odds. 

About the role

As the Content & Communications Lead, your work will bridge the gap between content marketing and strategic communications, ensuring that every blog post, case study, and press pitch positions Recidiviz to drive greater impact with our government partners. 

You will not just be writing; you will be hunting for impact. You will interview pilot users to uncover success stories and translate them into assets that inspire adoption in other states. You will partner with our data analysts to understand and communicate industry-leading metrics and insights. Simultaneously, you will manage a highly targeted PR and speaking engagement strategy, securing high-value industry placements that validate our work while limiting our exposure to the risks of a highly polarized media environment. 

You will report to the CMO and work closely with the State Engagement and Business Development teams to ensure they have the narrative tools to build deep high trust relationships.

This role requires occasional domestic travel (2-3x year) to collaborate with teammates in person, attend our annual Partner Summit, and support on-site content production with state partners. 

Core responsibilities

• The Perception Drumbeat: Own the editorial calendar and execute a content strategy designed to shift specific brand perceptions about Recidiviz and the challenges we are solving.
  
  
• Storytelling Engine: Build the internal infrastructure to regularly surface impact stories—from data wins to user quotes—and package them into case studies, blog posts, and whitepapers.
  
  
• Targeted Earned Media: Identify and evaluate press and award opportunities that reach specific audiences rather than chasing vanity metrics in broad outlets. You will manage our reputation by balancing visibility with thoughtful context.
  
  
• Roadmap Enablement: Partner with Product Marketing to build a library of state case studies that help our partnership teams show new agencies what is possible, and existing partners the case for more ambitious impact.
  
  
• Ghostwriting & Thought Leadership: Capture the voice of our executive team to ghostwrite Op-Eds, LinkedIn articles, and speeches that position Recidiviz as a leading govtech innovator.
  
  

Wild success

Here are a few things you might accomplish in your first year at Recidiviz that would demonstrate wild success in this role:

• Develop a New Thought Leadership Angle: Identify and build out a presentation topic for our annual Partner Summit, including pre and post-summit content.
  
  
• Unlock Support for our Partners: Corrections leaders often only make the news for crises. Collaborate with our state partners to drive awareness of alternative narratives about their work, unlocking support for ambitious and impactful reforms. 

Minimum qualifications

• Storytelling Expertise: 7+ years of experience in content marketing, communications, or journalism, with a portfolio of complex topics translated into compelling narratives.
  
  
• Navigating Complex Narratives: You have a finely tuned sense of "safe" vs. "risky" media. You understand how to steer in polarized environments and can judge which stories will build trust and support the goals of government leaders.
  
  
• Strategic Versatility: You are comfortable toggling between "Marketing Mode" (AEO, case studies) and "Comms Mode" (reputation, media relations).
  
  
• Project Management: Ability to manage an editorial calendar independently, coordinating with internal subject matter experts (SEMs) to extract insights without burdening them.

Preferred qualifications

• Data/Technology Experience: Experience humanizing deeply technical or data-driven content for diverse audiences.
• Journalism Experience: A proven ability to interview subjects, find the "hook," and meet strict deadlines.
• Multimedia Experience: Producing content across video, podcasts, events, long and short-form writing, and interactive formats. 

Compensation

Compensation is standardized based on roles and responsibilities. This ensures equitable compensation and responsible stewardship of our resources. As such, we do not negotiate compensation offers.

For employees based in the Oakland, CA, and New York City, NY, metropolitan areas, the salary for this role is $111,500. For employees based elsewhere in the United States, the salary for this role is $102,000.

What we offer

• Effective, extremely thoughtful colleagues, working together on a mission that matters
• 90% medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage for you and your dependents
• Flexible time off, including 20 days of PTO, 3 days of paid volunteering time, and 13 paid holidays per year
• 401(k) retirement plan with 5% company match and no vesting period
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Complimentary One Medical membership (availability based on location)
• Partnership with Carrot to provide employees with inclusive fertility and family-forming benefits, as well as a small but growing number of hormonal health and gender-affirming care benefits
• Monthly ClassPass credit for personal wellness
• Free mental health support via Talkspace
• Well-located offices in Oakland and Manhattan, with the flexibility to work remotely or go into either office as you choose
• An annual company offsite and other ad-hoc gatherings
• All the exhilarating challenges and stretch opportunities of a tech startup, combined with the mission-driven heart of a nonprofit

More about Recidiviz

Recidiviz was an all-volunteer effort until early 2019, when Clementine, Andrew, and Joshua founded the organization. Since then, we’ve built an A-team of software engineers, designers, product managers and domain experts, from companies like Google, Apple, Dropbox, Opower, and Sidewalk Labs. Recidiviz was part of Y-Combinator’s 2019 class and has received support from some of the most respected philanthropists and foundations, including Ford Foundation, Mackenzie Scott, Schmidt Futures, Arnold Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the Mozilla Foundation.

Today, Recidiviz works with (and earns revenue from) over 19 state partners - big and small, red and blue - and touches over 45% of the country’s incarcerated population. We have helped to get hundreds of thousands of people out of the criminal justice system, safely and equitably. In addition to partnering with state Departments of Corrections, Recidiviz collaborates with and learns from partners – from organizations like the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA) to community based organizations and justice-impacted individuals, whose perspectives guide our work.

To learn more about how we do what we do, check out our 2024 Year in Review, read some press coverage, or watch our TED Talk. And if you’re really keen to see our work, you can dive into our Github :).

An important note

Lasting change is always built on diversity. Recidiviz recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, gender identity and all protected status as required by applicable law. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a special need that requires accommodation, please let us know in your application. Even if you don't think you meet all the criteria above, drop your resume, and we'll take a look – you might be great for another role or another time!