The posting
Director of Communications & Events
Department: Schoolwide
Reports to: Head of School
ROLE SUMMARY
The Director of Communications & Events is responsible for ensuring that all parent-facing communication, schoolwide events, and community engagement experiences at YISS are aligned, proactive, operationally excellent, and reflective of the school's mission and culture.
Success in this role is measured not only by task completion but by the consistency, clarity, hospitality, organization, and trust experienced by the YISS community.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing, Organizational Leadership, or related field
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in communications, event coordination, project management, hospitality, school operations, advancement, or organizational leadership
- Experience leading and coordinating events, communications, or institutional initiatives
- Excellent written, verbal, organizational, and interpersonal communication skills
- Strong project management, operational coordination, and systems leadership ability
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and stakeholders simultaneously
- Professional judgment, initiative, discretion, and relational leadership capacity
PRIMARY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
1. Strategic Communications Leadership
Core Responsibility
Provide leadership, oversight, coordination, and quality control for all schoolwide parent-facing communications to ensure information is timely, accurate, organized, aligned, and mission-centered.
Key Expectations
- Maintain a unified schoolwide communications calendar.
- Coordinate communication timelines across all divisions and departments.
- Ensure all communications are concise, clear, professionally written, and strategically sequenced.
- Reduce communication overlap, inconsistency, and parent confusion.
- Establish communication workflows, approval systems, and deadlines.
- Support the Head of School with strategic messaging and institutional communication priorities.
- Ensure communications reflect YISS branding, tone, and values.
- Oversee newsletters, event messaging, website updates, social media coordination, and schoolwide announcements.
2. Schoolwide Events & Project Management
Core Responsibility
Lead the planning, coordination, execution, and evaluation of schoolwide events and major parent-facing programs to ensure operational excellence and exceptional community experience.
Key Expectations
- Maintain a comprehensive master calendar for schoolwide events.
- Coordinate timelines, logistics, staffing, communication, facilities, and operational readiness for major events.
- Ensure departments collaborate effectively during planning processes.
- Create systems for event preparation, implementation, and follow-up.
- Oversee event communication and hospitality details.
- Anticipate operational challenges before they arise.
- Conduct post-event evaluations and improvement planning.
3. Community Experience & Hospitality
Core Responsibility
Cultivate a culture of hospitality, welcome, professionalism, and intentional care throughout all parent-facing experiences and school events.
Key Expectations
- Ensure parents and guests feel informed, welcomed, valued, and cared for.
- Improve the overall parent experience through communication flow, organization, and thoughtful planning.
- Create hospitality standards for school events and community interactions.
- Anticipate community needs and proactively remove friction points.
- Support relational trust between school leadership and families.
- Integrate principles of intentional hospitality into event planning and communication systems.
4. Branding & Institutional Alignment
Core Responsibility
Protect and strengthen the YISS brand by ensuring consistency, professionalism, and excellence across communications, events, publications, and public-facing experiences.
Key Expectations
- Ensure visual and communication consistency across school platforms.
- Support institutional storytelling and strategic messaging.
- Maintain high standards for professionalism in all publications and presentations.
- Ensure that events and communications align with YISS's mission and identity.
5. Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
Core Responsibility
Serve as a collaborative systems leader who strengthens organizational clarity, accountability, communication flow, and cross-departmental coordination.
Key Expectations
- Build strong working relationships across all divisions and departments.
- Operate proactively rather than reactively.
- Develop efficient systems and workflows.
- Support leadership decision-making through organization and planning.
- Maintain professionalism, discretion, adaptability, and solution-oriented leadership.
Contractual Requirements:
The Director of Communications & Events position is a year-round administrative role. The Director of Communications & Events is expected to be available, as needed, beyond the standard teacher contract calendar to support summer planning, program development, facility coordination, staffing, and preparation for the upcoming school year.
All employees and associates are required to adhere to a Safeguarding Code of Conduct that contains expectations about their relationships with children, social media use, and the use of children's photographs and identifying information.
