Senior Manager, Community Relations

Spoonfuls keeps good food from going to waste. Through food recovery and distribution, education, and advocacy, we work to address the health, environmental, and economic impacts that wasted food has on people and the planet. To learn more about our work, visit spoonfuls.org. 
To be considered for this position, please upload your cover letter and resume.
This position is advertised externally as Senior Manager, Community Relations. The internal job title is Senior Manager, Public Affairs and this position sits in our Communication and Public Affairs team.

This position manages Spoonfuls’ outreach, education, advocacy, and general community engagement work, including informing and executing Spoonfuls’ Public Affairs Strategy. It's a great opportunity for a strategic thinker who excels at relationship-building and enjoys being a public “face” of the organization. Reporting to the Chief of Communications & Public Affairs, the Senior Manager will work closely with Spoonfuls’ Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to forge and deepen connections and drive community conversations about wasted food, food insecurity, the climate emergency, Spoonfuls' impact, and the benefits of food recovery. The Senior Manager will funnel individuals to a range of opportunities to support our work. Familiarity with the communities in which we operate is a plus.  

Duties and Responsibilities:

Community & Stakeholder Engagement

• Positions Spoonfuls to be a known and trusted thought leader in the fields of food loss and waste prevention and food recovery 

• Develops and refines strategies for building awareness of Spoonfuls’ work and opportunities to become involved in it

• Identifies engagement opportunities and, with the Public Affairs Coordinator, manages our Public Affairs calendar, ensuring Spoonfuls is represented in community meetings, conversations, and events that have the potential to grow our reach and impact 

• Frequently represents Spoonfuls in the community including at meetings, on panels, before school and civic groups, media, etc. 

• Elevates community conversations, trends, opportunities, and concerns

• Routinely leads conversations with food retailers, brands, elected officials and more and makes strategic introductions for other members of the team in order to advance programming and funding partnerships

• Routinely pitches and provides presentations to community groups, organizations, businesses, and others interested in learning more about the issue of wasted food, Spoonfuls’ work, and ways to get involved
  

Education & Advocacy

• Working with Spoonfuls’ SLT  and colleagues across verticals, informs and advances Spoonfuls’ Advocacy Priorities

• Routinely evaluates advocacy priorities and identifies advocacy opportunities

• Interfaces with outside policy/advocacy stakeholders including community partners, elected officials, donors, organizers, and others who help set local, regional, and national food and environmental policy agendas; works to elevate important calls to action

• Outreaches to elected officials and their staff to keep policymakers informed of Spoonfuls’ initiatives in their districts; builds and deepens relationships with elected officials

• May organize or participate in public actions and awareness campaigns
  

Communications Support 

• Works closely with the Communications team to inform strategies and ensure our online and offline engagement and advocacy strategies are well-aligned 

• With Communications staff, informs Advocacy Updates and as-needed Advocacy Action Alerts

• Identifies and shares opportunities to engage media around our community engagement and education/advocacy priorities

• Supporting fact-checking around advocacy-centric communications
  

Administration

• Supervises  junior engagement staff and/or interns (currently one FT Coordinator)

• With teammates, works to ensure that Spoonfuls’ Public Affairs strategies and Advocacy Priorities represent the organization’s core values

• Sets, reports out on, and analyzes Public Affairs performance metrics metrics 

• Attends and participates actively in 1:1s and team and company meetings 

• Routinely interfaces with Senior Leadership Team, raises new ideas, asks questions, and offers perspective 

Qualifications:

• 5+ years’ relevant experience at a Manager level or higher (if you haven’t worked at a Manager level before but you have applicable experience and/or transferable skills that would translate well to this role, we encourage you to apply) 

• A passion for, and familiarity with, food and/or environmental justice issues – candidates with lived experience are encouraged to apply

• Familiarity with legislative process and movement-building 

• Strong communication skills - verbal and written; previous public speaking and/or group facilitation experience required  

• Must be highly organized with strong project management experience 

• Good judgment; ability to problem-solve 

• Demonstrated experience in deadline-driven roles/environments

• Comfortable giving and receiving feedback

• Flexibility; able to comfortably re-prioritize as needed 

• Comfortable with hybrid work environments - remote and in-person (position reports into our Greater Boston office two days per week) 

• People management experience (experience managing hybrid/remote teams preferred)

• Reliable personal vehicle for reporting into our Greater Boston-based office (off public transportation) and to offsite meetings, across our service territory, as needed 

Hours:

Full-Time, Exempt (typically Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm with flexible scheduling for occasional evening and weekend hours to accommodate events and speaking opportunities). 

Benefits:

Spoonfuls provides health, vision, and dental insurance through our PEO partner, as well as generous PTO and holiday closures.

Physical Demands: 

(Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job): 

• Sitting for long periods

• Standing, walking, stooping, and bending 

• Occasionally lifting up to 50 lbs. 
  

Work Environment:

Our work environment is hybrid (remote and in-person) for applicants in commuting distance to our headquarters in Greater Boston. The Senior Manager, Public Affairs role is heavily community-facing, so it is also expected this person will, as needed, participate in virtual and in-person meetings and events, which may take place in any of our geographic regions. Occasionally, and most often with ample notice, the Senior Manager may work evenings and weekends to accommodate community meetings and events that fall outside our standard business hours. In that case, flexible scheduling is provided. Expected travel to national conferences roughly 2-3 times per year.