Associate Vice President, Communications Studio

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), located in Princeton, N.J., is a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime. To get there, we must work to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Since 1972, we have focused on developing and promoting innovations in health and healthcare to improve the lives of millions.

Through funding, convening, advocacy, and evidence-building, we work side-by-side with communities, practitioners, and institutions to achieve health equity faster and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

At RWJF, we work toward three Generational Goals to transform health in our lifetime:
Economic Inclusion for Family Wellbeing, Equitable and Accountable Public Health and Healthcare Systems, and Healthy and Equitable Community Conditions.

We take seriously our responsibilities, and we pledge to work in ways that reflect our Guiding Principles. These are rooted in equity and influence everything we do ity, diversity, inclusion, and collaboration enable our staff’s wide range of experiences, passions, and perspectives to strengthen our ability to address our nation’s most pressing health issues and support a culture of belonging. Part of this work includes actively shaping an inclusive organization where all staff members thrive as we build and use our capabilities, voice, and power to advance health equity.

RWJF offers a collaborative, collegial, and creative work environment. With a career at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, you will make a difference.

Reporting to the chief communications officer and vice president, Communications Programs, the associate vice president, Communications Studio, leads the team responsible for bringing RWJF’s communications strategy to life.

RWJF has redesigned its Communications Department around three integrated teams:
Voice Strategy sets direction, the Communications Studio brings that strategy to life, and Operations provides the infrastructure that enables the work. The Studio brings together digital, creative, media relations, messaging, and content as one multidisciplinary team.

The associate vice president will set the Studio’s creative direction, translate strategic priorities into integrated, high-impact communications, strengthen RWJF’s brand, and align people, resources, and external partners around the Foundation’s highest-priority work. This is an opportunity to lead a talented team in a new configuration—strengthening how the Studio works across disciplines, raising the quality and ambition of its work, and shaping how RWJF shows up at a consequential moment for health and health equity.

RWJF’s Truth, Repair, and Transformation (TRT) process has examined the origins of the Foundation’s wealth, its grantmaking, its culture, and the ways its practices have harmed communities most affected by health inequities. TRT is an institutional strategy and decision‑making framework that informs how RWJF works—including what we say, whose expertise we recognize and elevate, and which stories we tell.

The associate vice president will bring a deep commitment to equity, RWJF’s mission, and its Guiding Principles and will integrate the insights of TRT into communications, partnerships, workflows, and decision‑making. This leader will help ensure that equity is reflected not only in what RWJF communicates, but also in how the Studio works, whose voices are amplified, and how communications decisions are made.

RWJF is an institution in transformation, and the Communications Department’s redesign is one expression of that larger change. The successful candidate will bring experience leading through…