Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative

Modernizing America’s Education Finance Data Infrastructure

Communications Specialist

Location: Remote (U.S.-based required) About the SPEND Initiative Accurate and comparable education finance data is the essential foundation for effective governance and robust research. The Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative is a non-partisan organization and a fiscally sponsored project of Education Resource Strategies (ERS). Our mission is to maintain and modernize the technical pipeline that improves the accuracy, comparability, and timeliness of education finance data. We aim to provide a stable, objective data foundation—a modern data utility that serves the needs of researchers, state and district leaders, and the broader education field. Why Work at SPEND?

• Build Something from Scratch: SPEND is a new organization with a still-developing external presence—and this role is how that changes. You won't be maintaining someone else's communications infrastructure. You'll be designing it, building the audience, and establishing the voice that the field will come to associate with SPEND.

• Work at the Intersection of Technical Rigor and Public Impact: The data SPEND produces underpins billions of dollars in education funding and decades of research on resource allocation. The communications challenge here is real: making technically complex, genuinely important work accessible and findable to the researchers, state and district leaders, and policymakers who need it.

• Shape How a Field Understands a Critical Problem: Education finance data infrastructure is fragmented, inconsistent, and at risk. SPEND exists to fix that—and this role is how we make sure the right people know it. You'll have a direct hand in how the field perceives and engages with one of the most consequential data challenges in public education.

• Join a Mission-Focused Team with Institutional Stability: Contribute as a foundational member of a new initiative supported by a multi-year general operating grant and the established operational infrastructure of ERS.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Communications Specialist to join our small, high-impact team and own the communications function for the SPEND Initiative. This is a mid-level role designed for someone with modern digital communications instincts—someone who understands how audiences are built organically, how content surfaces in both traditional and AI-driven search, and how to maintain a consistent, credible voice across platforms. In this role, you will take day-to-day ownership of SPEND's external presence, supporting a thought leadership strategy grounded in technical expertise rather than advocacy, and helping the organization grow a meaningful audience in the education finance research and policy, state education leader, policymaker and broader data and technology fields. Key Responsibilities Organic Audience Building

• Lead strategy and execution for building SPEND's organic audience across owned digital channels, with a focus on direct cultivation rather than traditional media outreach.

• Develop and maintain a content cadence and editorial calendar that keeps SPEND publishing consistently and purposefully.

• Build and segment SPEND's distribution list, ensuring we are reaching the right audiences—researchers, policy analysts, state and district leaders, journalists, and field partners—with content that is relevant to each.

• Support SPEND's positioning as a technical subject matter expert through earned media and direct channel publishing.

Search and Discoverability

• Optimize SPEND's content and web presence for discoverability in both traditional search engines and AI-generated results—understanding that search increasingly means appearing in LLM responses, not just blue links.

• Ensure SPEND's technical products and publications are structured and described in ways that make them findable, citable, and useful to the researchers and analysts who need them.

• Monitor how SPEND surfaces across search channels and identify concrete opportunities to improve visibility with priority audiences.

Editorial and Content Support

• Develop style guides, content templates, and review processes so that all external outputs reflect a consistent, recognizable SPEND voice.

• Provide editorial review and formatting support to ensure content quality and consistency across all external outputs.

• Create and refine presentations tailored to different stakeholder audiences, including researchers, district leaders, and funders.

• Maintain brand consistency across all communications materials and marketing outputs.

Thought Leadership and Communications Strategy

• Support SPEND's thought leadership strategy by identifying opportunities for direct channel publishing, conference presence, and field engagement.

• Collaborate closely with the team to develop communications materials that reflect SPEND's objective, non-partisan posture as a technical subject matter expert—not an advocacy organization or rapid-response quote machine.

Why This Role Matters The data SPEND produces underpins billions of dollars in education funding and decades of research on resource allocation and system effectiveness. SPEND's external credibility—and its ability to serve researchers, policymakers, and school district leaders—depends on clear, consistent, and modern communications. This role is the person who makes that happen. You will directly shape how the field understands and engages with SPEND's work, and help establish SPEND as the authoritative voice on education finance data infrastructure.

Qualifications

Required

• Experience in digital communications, content strategy, or a related field; a background in communications, journalism, marketing, or a related discipline is preferred.

• Demonstrated understanding of modern digital communications strategy, including organic audience building, multi-platform content management, and distribution list development—not traditional PR or media relations.

• A working understanding of SEO and generative engine optimization (GEO) - how AI platforms like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity cite, recommend, or mention the organization when users search for information; genuine curiosity about where the Web is heading and what it means for organizations like SPEND.

• Strong written communication skills with an eye for editorial quality, formatting, and brand consistency.

• Ability to work with and present technical content accessibly without oversimplifying or editorializing.

• Proficiency in Google Docs, Google Slides, PowerPoint or equivalent presentation tools, with the ability to tailor materials to varied stakeholder audiences.

• Availability: Must be available for core working hours of 10 AM – 5 PM ET to support national team collaboration.

• Travel: Ability to travel approximately 6–8 times per year for in-person team collaboration and external partner engagement.

• Physical & Environmental: Ability to operate a computer and other office productivity machinery for extended periods; ability to remain in a stationary position for a significant portion of the workday; ability to communicate and exchange information via video conference, phone, and email.

• Remote Work: Access to a quiet, professional remote work environment with a reliable, high-speed internet connection.

• Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work for an employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for new team members at this time.

Preferred

• Hands-on experience with SEO tools and familiarity with how AI crawlers surface and decide to cite content based on various technical formats.

• Experience optimizing customer relationship management (CRM) systems for use with nonprofit or government audiences.

• Experience building or growing a digital audience or subscriber list from a small base.

• Experience using Substack and LinkedIn to disseminate products and track engagement.

• Experience supporting thought leadership or communications strategy in a research, policy, education, or data-focused organization.

• Serving as an initial point-of-contact for journalists, monitoring general inboxes or social media posts for media requests and referring to the right leader based on topic, deadline, state of interest, and national prominence of the publication or story.

• Desire or willingness to serve as a coach for staffers at all levels to practice and develop skills in writing, public speaking, and interviewing with the media.

• Knowledge of or interest in education policy, school finance, or public data systems.

Compensation and Transparency

The salary range for this role is $70,000 to $85,000 annually. Because we are a fully remote team, geography is not a factor in salary; however, all team members must be U.S.-based. In modeling our commitment to openness and transparency, it's important to note that starting salaries aren't typically at or near the top of this range. This is to create opportunities for team members to earn raises throughout their tenure in the role. ERS equivalent job tier for benefits purposes: Level II Application Process Due to the volume of AI-generated applications, we have redesigned our process to prioritize genuine investment from candidates. In lieu of a cover letter, applicants are asked to submit a collateral design piece introducing the SPEND Initiative to a researcher or state official. This piece should be saved as a PDF and uploaded to your application as a required attachment.  Your one-pager should incorporate the SPEND logo and brand colors, but does not need to follow the look and feel of our current website—we are actively redesigning it and welcome creative latitude on layout and format. This application requirement is intentional: we want to see your own creativity and thinking for communicating technical work to a real audience, not a cover letter generated in seconds by a chatbot. You are free to use AI tools, however, to refine your work. Please include a short sentence that discloses which AI tools you used and where you used them in your process. Our process: Application screening (including design piece) → Skills exercise → Phone screen → Final interviews. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Our desired start date is August 1, 2026. About our Fiscal Sponsor: Education Resource Strategies (ERS) ERS is a national non-profit consulting firm that partners with school system leaders to transform how they use resources so that every student can learn and thrive.

ERS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, ancestry, pregnancy, or military service.