Communications & Storytelling Lead

The IAN Center for the Future of Learning

Job Posting
Sep. 14, 2026

The IAN Center for the Future of Learning (CFL) is seeking a strategic, creative, and highly collaborative Communications & Storytelling Lead to facilitate how CFL communicates its mission, ideas, people, and impact to the field.

This is a hands-on leadership role. The Lead will own CFL’s communications strategy while also serving as a primary writer, storyteller, content creator, and producer. This person will identify the stories worth telling, develop the content, capture stories in the field, manage publishing across channels, and bring in external creative partners when specialized capacity or additional scale is needed.

The Lead will work closely with senior leadership and program teams to translate CFL’s work into clear, compelling narratives that build visibility, deepen engagement, and advance CFL’s influence. They will establish practical systems for consistent content development while remaining close to the work itself: attending events, interviewing educators and learners, capturing moments and stories, writing content, and turning ideas into finished communications products.

This is an ideal opportunity for a player-coach communicator who can move fluidly between strategy and execution. You are someone who can see the big picture, write the first draft, capture the story, create the post, manage the calendar, activate a designer or youth creator when needed, and ensure the work gets across the finish line.

Own and evolve CFL’s communications strategy, ensuring communications efforts are aligned with organizational priorities and contribute to CFL’s visibility, influence, and impact.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop and maintain a cohesive communications strategy and annual communications priorities in partnership with CFL senior leadership.
• Shape CFL’s core narrative, messaging architecture, positioning, and voice across audiences and channels.
• Identify opportunities to increase CFL’s visibility and ensure the organization’s ideas, expertise, people, and impact reach the audiences who matter most.
• Translate organizational priorities into clear communications plans, campaigns, editorial priorities, and implementation roadmaps.
• Advise senior leaders on messaging, public positioning, thought leadership, and communications opportunities.
• Build practical systems that make it easier for the team to identify, develop, capture, and share stories consistently.
• Establish meaningful measures of communications effectiveness focused on visibility, engagement, audience growth, influence, and learning.
• Regularly assess what is working and adapt the communications strategy accordingly.

Own both the editorial direction and day-to-day production of CFL’s owned content ecosystem.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop and manage CFL’s editorial calendar across newsletters, website content, social media, blogs, podcasts, reports, campaigns, and other storytelling channels.
• Write, edit, and produce a significant portion of CFL’s communications content.
• Identify stories, ideas, people, partnerships, and examples of impact across CFL initiatives and networks.
• Attend CFL events, convenings, site visits, and community activities to capture stories, quotes, photos, video, interviews, and other content in real time.
• Conduct interviews with learners, educators, partners, community members, and other stakeholders and turn those conversations into compelling stories and content.
• Develop accessible narratives that translate complex systems-change and learning innovation work for different audiences.
• Produce short-form and long-form content for social media,…